Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is a pretty great sci-fi/fantasy author and, from reading his interviews and blogs, a really cool guy. His prose doesn't strike me a particularly great, but his plots/stories are some of the best. The stories are kind of like the ideal of what video-game stories or anime/manga try to go for. Saying that kind of sells it short, but that's how it is in my opinion. His stories always have great plot reveals that were foreshadowed throughout the book and magic systems that were well designed. He's also a very prolific author... it's great following an author who's able to regularly release really good books.

He has a few works online for free, the most notable of which is his novel Warbreaker. He's also got pretty good short stories.

Once you get into his writing, check out his blog and read the rest of his works, especially Mistborn.