I think it's Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes In Amber when Corwin is waking up in the hospital.

SMEaton wrote:


Not quite, but hot hot hot. Correct author, though.

__________________
The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Just including the word "Amber" ain't good enough? Dadblammit... "NPIA" didn't seem quite right (nor verifiable since I don't currently own any of the series), and so I'm stuck for the moment.

Before Amber.

__________________
The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Jack of Shadows, still Zelazny

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

HenrikOlsen gets it. The games Zelazny played with words (and got away with). Baron Dreckheim. High Dudgeon. Loved it.

Your turn, Henrik.

__________________
The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Hah! Shows how much I know. Guess what I'm re-reading just now? The Great Big Heavy Book of Amber (well, it's the omnibus, with all 10 Amber novels in one volume; I don't think that's its actual title, but I think it's more accurate).

And I didn't recognise RZ's prose style.

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

... or as it's recently been renamed: The size of the latest Potter book Book of Amber.

That you didn't recognize his style was because he essentially forgot about the wonders of language in the Amber books except for brief flashes when describing hellrides and Luke's LSD trip.

And that it wasn't his prose style, it was his impressionist style.

Now for the next quote

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

Whoa! I have no idea what the story is, but it sounds pretty hot.

__________________
The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

The protagonist is male.

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

It's not Anne "I'm so deluded I believe I'm serious literature" Rice, is it?

Even if the protagonist is male, it's still pretty hot. Very sensual without being dirty, if you get me.

__________________
The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Train of thought from what Mike said... Poppy Z. Brite?

None of the above, though in a bilingual pun Paul did get part of it.
The author is British (brite in Danish)

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

More quotes, the AI poll pushed this way back

From a different place in the story.

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

Is this one of the recent proliferation of vampire / werewolf supernatural fantasy / horror - type novels?

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

There's neither vampires nor werewolves in it, and just to prevent lots of false guesses, it's a short story.

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

That puts me at a bit of a disadvantage, as I only rarely read short stories.

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

As an added hint, it's a retelling of an old fairytale, though no fae appears.

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

Not Little Red Riding Hood?

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

No.
Actually I have to say I would have expected Gillianren to post the answer already, but I can understand not having time for everything.