I think the last "epic fantasy" SF series I tried to read was by Margaret Weiss. Ugh...it was like a SF Twilight for me - where she heavily referenced Star Wars, Daleks and the Magnificent Seven. I think it was the most badly written thing I'd ever read at the time (1998) but after reading the first book I had to follow through. Man, 12 years later and I'm still crabby about it!

The radio version of Nightfall frequently comes up on the X-Minus one queue, but no matter how carefully I listen to it, there's one point near the end where I just can't understand what's going on - when the fanatics are destroying everything. I really do need to read it!