Glen Cook
In case you're not aware, Glen Cook is quite possibly number one on my list of all-time great fantasy authors. Steven Erickson said that his stuff is "heroic fantasy by a Vietnam veteran." Which is pretty damned true, and probably part of his appeal: it's a time that's part of my history. (I managed to win the first draft lottery -- which means I did not get picked -- but I hung around with a couple of vets in school. They didn't want to talk about it much.) It's one of those things that shapes you, because it shapes your time.
At any rate, I've just gone through, again, the Black Company series, The Instrumentalities of the Night to date, and now have dropped back to the two prequels to the Dread Empire series, reissued as few years ago as A Fortress in Shadow. It's interesting comparing Cook's writing then and his writing now: it's become leaner, more inferential, more real in a lot of ways. But even back in the mid-80s, which is when these two novels were first published, it's eminently readable.
And both Dark Horse and Tor, who are publishing the reissues and the new books, respectively, have contracted with Raymond Swanland for the cover art, which is one of the happiest meetings of image and book that I've ever seen (having had a history of buying books in spite of their covers).
At any rate, I've just gone through, again, the Black Company series, The Instrumentalities of the Night to date, and now have dropped back to the two prequels to the Dread Empire series, reissued as few years ago as A Fortress in Shadow. It's interesting comparing Cook's writing then and his writing now: it's become leaner, more inferential, more real in a lot of ways. But even back in the mid-80s, which is when these two novels were first published, it's eminently readable.
And both Dark Horse and Tor, who are publishing the reissues and the new books, respectively, have contracted with Raymond Swanland for the cover art, which is one of the happiest meetings of image and book that I've ever seen (having had a history of buying books in spite of their covers).