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Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers and a bunch of other stuff.
Edgar Rice Borrough's Martian Chronicles
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
C.J. Cherreh (sp?)
Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series is up to something like 15 books. The naval battles therein are all taken from actual engagements described in British logbooks.
Robert E. Howard, of Conan fame.
Anne MacCaffery, the Dragonriders of Pern series

Tycho wrote:

Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers

A word of caution with this one - a lot of people read it assuming it's going to be like the movies/tv show - jam packed with action and adventure. It um ... isn't. It's a good book if you know what you're in for, just don't go into it thinking there's going to be lots of fighting/combat.

Too true. I've never bothered to watch the movie simply because the previews made it obvious that the movie had very little in common with the book.

If you don't mind webcomics, Schlock Mercenary is pretty good. Howard Taylor's artwork was pretty rough at first (he was a com sci guy at Novell?), but he's gotten into a style that works for him. Oh, and he's been running it daily for about seven years or so and has not missed a single day yet. He has also published the chapters in dead tree form if you'd prefer that.

There's also L. Ron Hubbard. Some folks like him, I'm not a fan. His protagonists are terribly Mary Sue-ish. Seriously, his bad guys can't win for losing, and his good guy protagonists can't lose for winning. It's probably Scientologist propaganda at some level.