Vance’s work, Tales of the Dying Earth, is jaw-droppingly creative. Two aspects in particular stand out. The first is a ruthlessly Machiavellian main protagonist (Cugel) who is endlessly inventive in devising new scams to further his relatively straightforward goal of returning home. The second is Vance’s breathtaking use of stylized language. No word is too large for Vance, and if a sesquipedalian example isn’t handy, Vance doesn’t hesitate to improvise. Despite that proclivity, the prose has a gorgeous otherworldly flow to it that makes those often bizarre word choices seem somehow inevitable. Nothing else I’ve read even comes close. Of course, this peculiar combination won’t be for everyone, so if you read only a sample, make sure it’s Chapter 2 of Rhialto the Marvellous (entitled Fader’s Waft), in which rival magicians pursue the affections of the ravishing Lady Shaunica. When G’s spirits are flagging, I’ll pull that out for a reading, and regardless of the intensity of the current complaint, it never fails to elicit at least a grudging chuckle.
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Well now I have to read the book that draws begrudging chuckles from the Mrs. All in all, by your description it sounds like something that had a huge impact on your own style, so that's intriguing in itself.
Hi Mary! Perhaps its greatest impact is to remind me that when it comes to being stylistically "over the top," I'm not even close, but that "over the top" is a style that can absolutely still work. The books are entirely plot driven, with essentially no character growth, and in a way, that's exactly what the premise demands. Start with Rhialto for that grudging-smile-eliciting material--everything I've mentioned is on full display in those first two chapters. Given your more literary bent, I expect the rest may seem quite foreign, and may be a taste that requires a certain amount of acquiring.