Lord Dunsany!
I have discovered a new awesome author. The other night, I ran across some article talking about who Neil Gaiman has been influenced by in his writing, who he admired, and on that list was some guy named Lord Dunsany. Now, this sounded pretty interesting, so I looked him up. Apparently, Edward Plunkett (who wouldn't rather be named something as awesome as Lord Dunsany?) was an Irish author who lived from 1878 – 1957, and wrote a lot of fantasy stories. So, I looked on Gutenberg and found a lot of his works which were past their copyright dates. I began reading, and was amazed at his rich prose, and how interesting his stories were. I particularly liked a story titled "The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap." If you're at all into fantasy, I'd suggest reading at least that one story and seeing if you get hooked.
The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap, by Lord Dunsany
If you like him, I'd also highly suggest the Loot of Bombasharna, also in The Book of Wonder.