Kapture said:
For modern supernatural, my favorite is Tim Powers. He's dry, but smart, an manages to tuck in a good chunk of funky.
My favorites are: Anubis Gates and Last Call. Declare is very good, but more on the dry side than the funky side. Don't start with Earthquake Weather.
I second Pullman. He is really a talented fabulist, drawing from all sorts of things from Baum to Milton to create something very new. And he's smart as hell.
Yay! A Tim Powers fan!
Sorry, sometimes I think it's only my brother and I who like him.
Tim's best books (In order of best to still pretty good, in my opinion):
Last Call (Gangsters, Las Vagas and Gods of Chance!)
Anibus Gates (Time Traveling and Werewolves!)
On Stranger Tides (Pirates and Zombies!)
The Stress of her Regard (Vampires and Lord Byron!)
Drawing of the Dark (Mystical beer! Just don't read the back of the book. Totally spoils the fun)
There are others, but those are my favorite.
Other books I would recomend:
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Book 1: Storm Front): A modern wizard in Chicago. Lots of action, interesting characters and fun ideas about magic, the fey and vampires. I've read the entire series, and while some are stronger then others, they are always fun.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson (Book 1:Gardens of the Moon): I really enjoy these books, mainly for the amazing world that Erikson has created. The two criticisms that I would say is that a) he just throws things at you, and you just have to accept it and move on. The explaination might show up a few books later, or not at all. If this frustrates you, don't read this series. b) The writing and tying together of plot elements gets better in later books. The first book feels like a first attempt. He gets better every book, but the first is not his strongest. Other than that, it's an amazing world that is very original. Definatly not a Tolkien clone.
For Sci-Fi, I really like David Brin: Sundiver, Startide Rising and The Uplift War. The newest series was great too. I like how the aliens are very alien, and that everything that is introduced is used to solve the problem at the end. Very neat and tidy. I must admit, not everyone I lent these to enjoyed them as much as I did. Just remembered: The Practice Effect was a lot of fun too. Just re-read that one myself.
Another Sci-Fi author that I like is Daniel Keys Moran. Emeral Eyes and The Long Run are really fun near future, net-hacking gene-manipulating romp. I wouldn't read past that, but those two are really fun.
Hmmm... that's all I have for now.
I'll add that Armor (mentioned earlier) was a fantastic book. Didn't like Vampire$ as much, but that's just me.
Steven Brust is great, especially the Vlad and The Pheonix Guards. The latter always makes me smile, especially when he takes three pages to say just one thing (It's written this way deliberatly).
-Dhevan
) to suggest? Go ahead!
! Yes, books only. Great idea. 
