I was wondering if anyone would bring up Gemmell. Been a favourite of mine since I started reading him in high school (so we're talking 25+ years ago). Always thought the Jon Shannow stories would make for a good movie or TV series. Much like King with the Dark Tower series, I suspect DG was seeing Clint Eastwood in his mind's eye when writing about Shannow.... others I've found readable are ... David Gemmell ...