Michael A. Stackpole is one of my favorite authors, but he doesn't seem to get a lot of love around these parts. A lot of his work as been in franchises like Star Wars and Battletech, sure, but he has a lot of his own original fantasy fiction as well. Personally I have read and loved the Dragoncrown War series, Once a Hero, Wolf and Raven (a Shadowrun short story collection), and my favorite, Talion: Revenant. He's prolific, and I've been lucky enough to take a few classes with him, so I can say in 'real life' he's personable and engaging. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a bit of a hero of mine. But yeah, if you haven't checked him out, maybe you should. Talion is a great starting point (and stand-alone), but I have yet to read a book by him that I haven't enjoyed.