I haven't read TRIH. Cowboy Feng was the first experience I had with Brust, and although it's probably not everybody's cup of tea, the extraordinary, even awesome, thing about Cowboy Feng is that every chapter in the book is written in a different writing style-and there are a lot of chapters. It's like reading an anthology of 16 different short stories by 16 different authors, except that they're all the *same* author, and they all continue the *same* story. That's special, especially to me because, as a writer, I like to play with different styles and mimic other authors.
By the way, speaking of modern writers, this is what I'm reading now:
http://www.johndiesattheend.com/
I'm only on the first few chapters so far, but it's really, really good! not to mention free, and easily accessible online.