I personally swear by Michael A. Stackpole; Star Wars X-Wing series for sci fi, several series in fantasty (Age of Discovery series, DragonCrown War Cycle, and a new one called the Crown Colonies if i recall correctly). If you're dead set on a strong female figure, I'd recommend DragonCrown War Cycle (The Dark Glory War, Fortress Draconis, When Dragons Rage, and The Grand Crusade). He does some really different things in fantasy, which I personally enjoy.

Also

My avatar Honor Harrington Oo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Harrington

I LOVED The Dark Tower series from Stephen King. It's not horror/suspense like the rest of his work and I think you could appreciate the ending.

Yeah, I looked up the Harrington series, and there's some fairly widespread agreement that Honor is a fully fledged Mary Sue. The first book was decent, but the second went downhill, and I am no longer interested in the series.

The Dark Tower...I had assumed it would be like much of King's other work. I actually LIKE a lot of Stephen King's writing, just the horrorish factor he tends to include often puts me off a real archive-binge of his stuff, y'know? But if the Dark Tower series isn't like that, I'll definitely give it a look-see. Thanks

It's a Stephen King novel so it's darker sort of fantasy, just don't go into it hoping for elves, faeries and psychedelic unicorns.

Lovecraft if you dont want read about stupid semi-nude gods(greeks), or homo fairy tails,but if you searching for Unkown Kvlts,Powerfull gods and Lost civilitations Lovecraft is for you lol.

Lots of people have trouble getting through the first book because they just can't figure out what the hell is going on. Plow through it. Many of your questions will be answered in later books. Also, lots of characters and ideas from King's other books come into play during the Dark Tower series, so keep your eye out for familiar themes.

If you need to get away from a heavy series for awhile and want some great classic sci-fi, just pick up anything by Robert Heinlein. Yeah, some of the "future" technology is old and campy, but his stories are great, and they usually make for quick, light reading. When I get bogged down with some super involved series, I like to read something like Heinlein's stories for a little fun break.

Speaking of super involved series, check out the 1632 series by Eric Flint. He's kind of a socialist "unions should run the world" kind of guy, but the stories are great.

In case any fellow Tower Junkies didn't know this yet, a new book in the Dark Tower series, The Wind Through the Keyhole, just came out.

I love you.

Heh, I love Heinlein, I think I've read everything he's ever written

I had thought the Dark Tower series was done? I'll be traveling soon but maybe after that I'll check it out.

The main plot of the series is done. The new book is more of a side story set in the same Universe from what I understand. I haven't read it yet.

Rondevous with Rama Series!
If you are looking for strong characters you could really skip the first book altogether because it basically just sets up the scene for the rest of the books. The 2nd-4th books have really strong character development and you follow this girls journey through when she boarded this spacecraft thing when she was 30 till shes like 80 it's really good I read through the series in week. Plus there's all kinds of cool aliens and stuff