Okay, first of all, I'd recommend Clavell's other novels -- he wrote other first-rate novels, much of it about the Far East. You might also enjoy Trevanian's Shibumi and Eric Ambler's spy thrillers -- Ambler was the guy who invented the modern realistic spy novel, and his settings are lively and exotic. Also, if you haven't read Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, you're missing a treat.

As for fantasy, that's not surprising. Most current fantasy is derivative and dull. Do you find H.P. Lovecraft entertaining at all? I'd also recommend Fletcher Pratt's The Well of the Unicorn and The Blue Star -- they're mid-20th century fantasies, vastly more realistic and interesting than anything being produced these days.