Matt Stover

Author of The Acts of Caine series, the Barra and Company bronze age fantasy books and several Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, including the novelization of Revenge of the Sith (which is commonly held to be as good as if not better than the actual movie), Shatterpoint, Traitor, and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.

He's a rather dark writer who enjoys grinding his characters down to see what's underneath, forcing them into incredibly vital situations when they're not at their best, and making them second-guess themselves and everything that they thought they knew. He also really likes putting a philosophical touch to the narrative, and seems to like getting meta about storytelling itself. For all that, his novels aren't without some trace of hope and light, although the surviving heroes are always incredibly weary by the time they're over.

He's also really good at writing action sequences.

Works
The Acts of Caine
 * Heroes Die
 * Blade of Tyshalle
 * Caine Black Knife
 * Caine's Law
 * "In The Sorrows" (a short story)

Barra and Co.
 * Iron Dawn
 * Jericho Moon

Star Wars Novels
 * Traitor (New Jedi Order)
 * Shatterpoint (Clone Wars)
 * Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (a novelisation of—you guessed it—Revenge of the Sith)
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
 * "Equipment" (a short story included in the Shatterpoint paperback)

Standalone Novels
 * God of War (novelisation of the video game; cowritten with Robert E. Vardeman)
 * Test of Metal: A Planeswalker Novel (a Magic: The Gathering) novel

Short Stories
 * "Precursor"
 * "Br'er Robert"
 * "The Persian, the Coon, and the Bullets"
 * "South Loop Whipsaw"