Most of my favourites have already been mentioned and I can really only echo alot of the sentiments already said about Weis & Hickman, RA Salvatore and Tolkien. I was also happy to hear that there are Ursula Le Guin fans here, as I read the first two in the Wizard of Earthsea trilogy before I'd read Tolkien, and I must say her world and the mysticism her words often resound with, effected me greatly. I have university to thank however for alerting me to her great talent!
But perhaps quasi-controversially, I also have to mention the great duo
Steve Jackson & Ian Livingston as my ultimate childhood favourites. As without their form of fantasy literature, I would not have begun walking the long road to a deep love of fantasy and RPGness in the way that I have. Kudos to the British geniuses who saw a market for fantasy game books, I shall ever be taking the symbolic voyage into Firetop Mountain! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Cheers,
Cerebrodragon