Um...I guess my most direct, obvious, and significant influences are:
* Huge amounts of Dashiell Hammett (all of it, but especially
The Maltese Falcon, plus
Red Harvest and his other Continental Op stories) for plots, characters, and everything else
* Lots of Raymond Chandler (any of his Marlowe stories) and James Ellroy's novels for the same
* A bit of Roger Zelazny (the first 5 Amber books,
Lord of Light, and
Jack of Shadows) just because it's fun
* Some imagery from Paul Park (
Soldiers of Paradise,
Sugar Rain, and
The Cult of Loving Kindness)
* Some of the imagery and pathos from C.J. Cherryh's
Faded Sun trilogy
* A little of the social and political attitude of Hunter S. Thompson's
Fear and Loathing: on the Campaign Trail '72
* Healthy portions of various classic action and caper movies for plots and cool things
And some day, I hope to regularly incorporate the most surreal elements I can from Thomas Pynchon's
The Crying of Lot 49, Samuel R. Delany's
Dhalgren, various novels by Haruki Murakami, and a little of the odd atmosphere from John Crowley's novels. That's really tough, though, and I'm never quite sure if I'm pulling it off or not. But it's so much fun to try, y'know?
...did I mention that I really don't like fantasy authors (or epic fantasy in general, for that matter) at all?
--
noir detective fiction is where it's at, man
ryan