Not familiar with fantasy authors, and after just finishing Lord of the Rings i was wondering if anyone could suggest any authors who write pagan/nature/medieval type themed books,preferably very dark though, with gore a bit of torture that sort of thing.

Perhaps not super dark, but Patrick Rothfuss is making waves at the moment, "Name of The Wind" is a wonderful read. I love literature and I write a lot, but I'm a very slow reader so often gravitate towards shorter novels (generally in the sci-fi genre), but this guy's writing is worth it, and well written enough to stop even the slowest guy like me from stumbling.

read the Michael Moorcock "Elric" books. Some of the darkest fantasy ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9

I kind of really liked the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen Donaldson. The protagonist is an utter douchebag too, which is always good. I remember some moments (specifically in the first trilogy) that were extremely difficult to read due to the brutality of his actions.

Probably one of my favourite fantasy books is Duncton Wood, by William Horwood. It's about a society of moles living out in the English countryside (though it focuses more on two specific moles) and has a lot of violence and rape in it and stuff, along with some weird religious themes. Really gorgeous book. There's about five or so other books that are tied in with it by the same author but I've always been apprehensive about reading them considering how much I liked the first.

We have a literature thread already. Use that.