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Mine is admittedly a weird mix. In no particular order:

J.K. Rowling. I love how her books gradually get darker and more mature as her audience grows up with them. Her knowledge of folklore also comes through, and I love how she never goes overboard on her detail.

Edgar Allen Poe. Apparently a clear favorite, but his stories have always at least unnerved me, and his writing style is one you can pick out almost anywhere. I have always been a fan of more emotional/mental scares, and he provides this nicely.

Mary Shelley. Her views on the world through Frankenstein have left more than a mark on me, and have influenced my current story greatly with her themes of acceptance and humanity.

R.L. Stine. Child at heart, yes, but Stine's works have a wide range of what works and what does not (for example, My Best Friend is Invisible. One of the absolute worst books I have read in my life, but it gives a lot of good examples of how not to write a story. Contrast it with, say, The Haunted Mask. While it is not without its flaws, there is a reason that book is much more known).

Lois Lowry. I love her different societies within one world, and how she tackles tough issues while remaining both engaging and appropriate.

Bruce Coville. He writes in a variety of genres, and he is one of the few authors where I will read science fiction (Douglas Adams being another, but while he has entertained me, he has not really inspired me). Like Lowry, he is good at creating different alien worlds (even if we only get to see pieces of them) and handling tough issues (one book tackled truth, cancer, and homosexuality) without being offensive about it.

Christopher Golden and Ford Lytle Gilmore. I have admittedly only read their Hollow series, but I love how they took an old tale, spun it on its head, and made a wonderful monster mash with it. This is one of the few series I had to have after reading the first few chapters of the first book.

Stephen King. King is my go-to man for when I want to savor a story and not simply get through it in an hour or two for a quick burst of entertainment. His characters and their subtleties, the crafting of his plots, the connections from point A to point B---almost always beautifully done.

Stephanie Meyer. She gives me inspiration to do better and that if I ever get published, hopefully bring a bit more class and respect to Mormon authors. Because really, that whole series is candy: you read it to fill a temporary craving, but it leaves you feeling empty once you finish it. At least, that is how I felt after finishing the first book and reading parts and pieces of the rest.