Lunatic music

It seems rare to read a writer, particularly one who is just starting out, who is so confidently playful with language. Are there writers who have been an especially strong influence in this regard?

When I was a kid I had short legs and weak vision, and I quickly discovered that it was a lot easier for me to play with language than, say, the soccer ball. I'm grateful to the writers who extended my ideas of what was possible in fiction: Mark Richard, Flannery O'Connor, Kelly Link, George Saunders, Denis Johnson, García Márquez, Aleksandar Hemon, Katherine Dunn. I love their prose because they each play their own kind of lunatic music, strange and funny and sad, often lyrical, sometimes scary.

"Island Girl." Q&A with Karen Russell. The New Yorker [online only], Issue of 2005-06-13 and 20; Posted 2005-06-13.