Yes, I've read Wizardry and Wild Romance (at least, the original version; I haven't yet got around to the newer edition, so I don't know how much difference there is between the two) and found it quite interesting. I don' always agree with Moorcock's views, but I alway enjoy reading them. However, there are things about his views about both the writers mentioned above which indicate a very biased reading to begin with, and at times not a particularly careful reading either. This may be the cause of what I referred to earlier, which is his apparent shift (not turnaround, I wouldn't go that far by any means) in regard to Lovecraft. I'm surprised you couldn't open the link, but it is to a thread on Lovecraft's works at Moorcock's Miscellany, and what he essentially says is that he can't read it, has tried hard to as many of his friends like it so well, but the only ones he has been able to read are At the Mountains of Madness and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath which, as he puts it, "I understand aren't typical". Amusingly, he adds that he gets scared reading M. R. James as well.... In a later post, he mentions that he has the Penguin editions sitting on his shelf for "the proper moment" to read....
Point being: I'm not at all sure that Moorcock has read much of Lovecraft and, contrary to popular myth, Lovecraft did vary his manner a fair amount; certainly he used different stylistic approaches over the years; in the first five or so stories of his mature period (beginning with "The Tomb") he used quite different approaches for each.
I am not advocating a complete reading for those who have tried the man's work and found it not to their liking... such would almost certainly be a pointless endeavor. But I have found from experience that it often depends on what one has read by the man -- that valuable first impression -- as to how they react to him. There is a world of difference between, say, "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Quest of Iranon", "Sweet Ermengarde", The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and "The Shadow Out of Time"....
On Tolkien... I am curious, given your reactionn to The Silmarillion, what it was which so alienated you about LotR; that is, if you could pinpoint a particular element or set of elements. Different people tend to have different gripes about that one, and I'm always interested in hearing their views, whether or not I agree. (And at times I do indeed agree....)
I suppose one writer who has disappointed me is Mieville, though this is in connection to his novels that I've read more than his shorter fiction. Even there, I can appreciate (on an abstract level) his abilities and talent, but it just doesn't "connect" with me, which is why I haven't kept up with his work. I also quite respect the man's intelligence, and think his foreword to the Modern Library's edition of At the Mountains of Madness is one of the most thoughtful and perceptive brief pieces I've seen on HPL in a long time... and sure to rile anyone who still holds to the opinion that HPL was not a racist, or at least harbored very strong racist views.
Another is Storm Constantine, whom I have attempted to read a few times, but never got very far. This one, however, may be one of those "waiting for the right time", at which point I may alter my opinion.
But the strongest for me, by far, is Poppy Z. Brite. I have tried several times to read her work, each time going into it with a desire to truly like it, especially given the opinions of so many others whose judgment I respect... and each time I come away with a very strong sense not only of disappointment, but downright annoyance. Not at the concepts, but at the heavy-handedness of the whole thing. It just seems she wields a sledgehammer to make her points and, while that might be somewhat fitting with a tale such as "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood", which is sort of an alternate version of HPL's "The Hound", it makes even the excessive prose of that Lovecraft tale look downright restrained in comparison... and there is good reason to think HPL meant the tone of that to be parodic to begin with! I still wish I could like her work... there is undeniably something there; but so far, I ain't seen the light.....
