[Merkin]

No one has mentioned Charles DeLint! I think he's the best modern fantasist around, by a pretty big margin. Try "Yarrow", "Moonheart" or "Dreams Underfoot" Dreams Underfoot is my personal favorite, a collection of interwoven short stories set in a modern fictional city called Newford. He has an amazing talent for getting the reader to believe that magic exists, and that you just might see an elf ducking down an alley in your town. His prose is fluid, his characters believable, his stories are warm and full of heart, and his books are just plain fun!