Good science fiction and fantasy books?

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Oh wow...fantasy books were a minor obsession of mine for years. Here are just a few I can think of off the top of my head...if I think of more I'll add them later.

*Anything by Terry Pratchett, especially Good Omens and the Discworld series.
* The Hobbit.
* The Wolf of Winter
* Steve Brust's series about Vlad the Assassin
* Tamora Pierce's Allana and Daine series
* So You Want to be a Wizard
* The Artemis Fowl series, Patricia Wrede's Dealing with Dragons series, and the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones, if you like children's books.
* If you want huge sprawling epics, the Otherland serires by Tad Williams is really fascinating.
* Do Interview with the Vampire or The Master and Margarita count?

Startide Rising and The Uplift War by David Brin

There was a fantasy series I read about a world where humans are enslaved by elves. There are dragons. A halfling (in this series, a half human, half elf) plays a key role in the story. I don't remember the name of it but it was really good.

I second Marion Zimmer Bradley. Good stuff.

what do you mean by drama exactly - dialogue? situations that provoke strong emotional responses?

what elements do you find especially.

Adding some Terry Pratchett love. I wasn't completely sold when I read the first Discworld book, but now I love them all. I think it was Guards! Guards! that really sold me.

I think you might like Lisa Shearin. The first book is Magic Lost, Trouble Found, and there are sequels. Maybe Michelle Sagara West's Chronicles of Elantra series.

I don't usually go by books, but here are some good authors, with my personal favourites:
JRR Tolkien (The Silmarillion - it takes a bit more effort to get into than LOTR or The Hobbit, but it's really worth the effort)
Orson Scott Card (Speaker for the Dead or Xenocide I can't decide >.<)
HG Wells (The Time Machine)
Isaac Asimov (Robots and Empire)
Terry Pratchett (Mort)
Garth Nix (Sabriel)
Phillip Pullman (The Amber Spyglass)

good space opera-type authors;

alastair reynolds - really hard sci-fi (hes actually a proper space scientist)
iain m banks - 'culture' space civilization http://www.futurehi.net/archives/000061.html
neal asher - 'polity' space civilization - less humanoid species and more violent than banks.

I second Discworld and Temeraire. I'd also recommend A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, if you're into big medieval (low) fantasy epics with lots of characters.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
I only picked this one up a few months ago. I found it difficult to finish reading it because I didn't want it to end. I can't wait for the follow up novel(s).

Favorite authors are C.J. Cherryh and David Brin; also The Color of Distance, by an author whose name I don't currently recall.

That's one of my favorites. He has a blog.
Patrick Rothfuss Blog Link

I love hard scifi.
Robert Forward - Dragon's Egg - life on a neutron start. Forward is a gravitation physicist
Greg Bear - Blood Music - about nanotech and the gray goo scenario
Frederick Pohl - The Heechee Saga

Carolyn

I've been reading Iain M Banks and Alisdair Reynolds lately, I love discovering new authors, but I think I've read them all now:(

For fantasy you can't beat Diana Wynne Jones, many of them are for children, but so what?
Terry Pratchet is brilliant of course.
Ursula LeGuin is a long time favorite.

I know there are many many more I should mention but I've done a blank.....

Tolkien
Ursula le Guin
Pratchett
Neil Gaiman...

...almost anything by the above.

I also like:
Storm Constantine - especially her Wraeththu books, in which a freak mutation in a future world causes a new magically gifted hermaphrodite race to start taking over from humankind. (Her books generally have recurring themes of gender/sexual exploration, the occult, fallen angels and vampirism. Very cool.)
C. S. Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy - Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. They can get a bit annoying in places if (like me) you're not a Christian, but they're amazing feats of imagination.
Olaf Stapledon - Last and First Men is not so much a novel as a vast future history of the human race. Star Maker is a history of the universe and an exploration of whether there is such a thing as a 'cosmic mind'. He's often overlooked, but an amazing writer.
Also, Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time trilogy. Hubby's the real Moorcock fan (I think outsider teen boys all want to be Elric!) - I never really got into the other Eternal Champion stuff, but I like this one.
Oh yes, and a wild card but a fave of mine, John Varley's Millennium. Should you happen to have seen the really crap movie of the same name, the book is way better - a weird time-travel story which should not, on any account, be read on plane journeys...

the 'wizard of earthsea' is just a beautifully crafted piece of writing. anyone can head over to amazon right now and read the first few pages for free.

ive got sheri tepper on my to-read list as shes often recommended alongside u.k. le guin. im reading tricia sullivans 'maul' atm which is refreshing, if a little hard to follow initially (it has a sort-of non-verbal autistic character incidentally, but its not a serious study on autism or anything like that).

I expect female sci-fi writers tend toplace less emphasis on the dramatic action scenes, i like this as i find action a bit dull (i prefer dialogue, or new concepts)

Dune, for its complexity. There are also other Dune books (prelude series, legend of Dune series etc) that happen before the events of the original Dune and more are contemporary in the way they were written. Almost finshed reading all of the Dune books .Theres also the Abarat series by Clive Barker, it's supposed to be a series of childrens books but the story was entertaining

Also recommend the Dune books, but more the originals (Frank Herbert) than the newer ones (by Herbert's son and another writer).

Marion Zimmer Bradley for sure, I liked The Mists of Avalon the best. It's how I like to think of the Arthurian legend (ptui ptui on you, Malory! ).

I really enjoyed reading Orson Scott Card for a while, until I discovered how intolerant he is in real life. That killed my buzz right there. But that's my own issue.

Harlan Ellison. Anything.

I just finished Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars series. It's pretty good.

Anything by Dan Simmons is a good bet. The Hyperion series or the Olympus collection.

Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is good, but kid-like.