Yeah, I have to agree that Jordan probably isn't literature. I tried reading the first book in the wheel of time and I didn't like it. (Mike ducks while fantasy geeks throw stuff at me)
Since we're talking about favorite authours here, I just found the latest rumor on the release date for Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver... it's coming out July 31, 2003. I don't know what to believe any more... it was supposed to come out last year. His flaky new writing method is probably what's slowing him down... he's writing it with a feather quill and parchment.
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?NealStephenson
Neal Stephenson mainly does cypherpunk books. Kind of like a cross between indiana jones and the movie pi with a lot of influence from William Gibson (Gibson wrote Johnny Mneumonic, the first cyberpunk movie Keanau Reeves fucked up with some help from rapper Ice Tea). Good stuff. I've read all his books.
If you're into fantasy, his first book was the big U, which was kind of fantasy. Actually, I can't really recommend that book as anything other than a comedy. I thought it was funny, but most people thought it sucked. It's kind of like what you'd get if Pythagoras, Tolkien and an extremely stoned college freshman collaborated on a dream journal.
Stephenson's web page:
http://www.cryptonomicon.com/