The Blade Itself and the rest of that series by Joe Abercrombie.
Altered Carbon and the rest of that series as well as Thirteen and The Steel Remains, and it's sequel (still waiting on book 3) by Richard K. Morgan. He's pretty amazing.
That would keep you busy for a long time and are all pretty amazing. Seconding Dune, which is amazing, and the Name of the Wind which is great but very popcorn.
But really, if you were to read everything by Iain M. Banks you would be a better person.
China Mievlle's The Scar. I can't vouch for his other books - reading in publication order would be to start with Perdito Street Station instead, but I haven't read it myself, yet.
Warren Hammond's Kop and sequels - I feel like this series has been a bit neglected by this subreddit, and I don't know why I rarely see it mentioned here. IMO this series is better than Morgan's sequels to Altered Carbon.
One of the most horrific stories I've ever read is Killer for this scene:
[spoiler](/s "A Roman Centurion accidentally kills the alien's mate and child. Later in the book, the centurion and his family are falsely accused, so they are locked in cells in a prison. One night the alien shows up and lets itself into the cells of the centurion's wife and children, while the Centurion is stuck in another cell and can only watch...")
I can't believe this thread has gone on so long without no mention of this book. Whole setup to the story is that the middle of the country seceded from the Union, splitting the country into three nation states.
Nickname for the new nation in the middle? Jesusland.
Use of Weapons and, everything else by Iain M. Banks. Amazing stuff. Trust me.
The Blade Itself and the rest of that series by Joe Abercrombie.
Altered Carbon and the rest of that series as well as Thirteen and The Steel Remains, and it's sequel (still waiting on book 3) by Richard K. Morgan. He's pretty amazing.
That would keep you busy for a long time and are all pretty amazing. Seconding Dune, which is amazing, and the Name of the Wind which is great but very popcorn.
But really, if you were to read everything by Iain M. Banks you would be a better person.
Edit: The Sparrow
not completely military, but Rickard K Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books are really good reads.
Altered Carbon
Broken Angels
Woken Furies
and there's his non Takeshi book:
Thirteen
One of the most horrific stories I've ever read is Killer for this scene:
[spoiler](/s "A Roman Centurion accidentally kills the alien's mate and child. Later in the book, the centurion and his family are falsely accused, so they are locked in cells in a prison. One night the alien shows up and lets itself into the cells of the centurion's wife and children, while the Centurion is stuck in another cell and can only watch...")
Christopher Rowley's The Vang: The Military Form is pure SF monster murder horror.
For a short story you could use the opening of Thirteen by Richard K Morgan.
For movies:
I can't believe this thread has gone on so long without no mention of this book. Whole setup to the story is that the middle of the country seceded from the Union, splitting the country into three nation states.
Nickname for the new nation in the middle? Jesusland.
Thirteen (US)/Black Man (UK) is a great novel by Richard Morgan with a pretty insane antagonist that should fit what you're looking for.
http://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345480899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395172304&sr=8-1&keywords=Thirteen+morgan