One of my favorite writers is Steven Brust. He writes mostly fantasy, the occasional contemporary fiction novel and the occasional science fiction novel. He is also an amateur musician and has worked with the Worldbeat band Boiled in Lead and collaborated with author Emma Bull and others in a band called Cats Laughing.
One way I describe his writing style is, “it’s a little like Roger Zelazny’s, but I like his writing more than I like Zelazny.” What that basically means is that Brust writes deadpan humor with snappy repartee and science fiction flavored fantasy (and fantasy flavored science fiction). Brust has a gift for creating interestingly complex characters and situations that can go from dark to humorous from one paragraph to the next. (Or better yet, at the same time.)
The first book by Steven Brust I read was Taltos, which is part of his Vladimir Taltos/Dragaeran Empire series. From there I read all the other books in the series. (They are not written in a clear chronological order. This can be somewhat frustrating.)
The Vlad Taltos books tell the story of a human living in a non-human empire. Vlad starts out as an assassin working for a criminal organization. He eventually leaves the organization because his wife has joined a civil rights movement, and the organization does not approve of her hobby. (Vlad’s efforts at protecting his wife and foiling the efforts of the organization subsequently get him rewarded by the empire, divorced from his wife because he does not actually support the civil rights movement and puts a price on his head.) A secondary series of books based in the same universe are the Khaavren Romances. These are written in the style of Alexander Dumas, and a lot of fun to read.
Another novel by Brust that I like is The Sun, the Moon and the Stars, which is a contemporary fiction novel about a group of aspiring artists interspersed with a telling of the titular fairy tale. There is also Agyar, which has a very interesting gimmick and which I highly recommend if you can find it; it is not currently in print. Another favorite is Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grill, which features a mysteriously time and space traveling bar and a band of musicians. (This is also pretty hard to find, but well worth the search.)
I highly recommend just about everything by this author.
References
The Dream Café “Home Page” Steven Brust’s web page.
ISFDB “Steven Brust-Summary Bibliography” Internet Speculative Fiction Database