I read a tweet!

Thinking about Neil Gaiman because I get to see him in person on Monday.

I saw that today he tweeted a link to a blog post by a guy who thinks it's ridiculous that there's such a line between "literary" and "genre" fiction. As evidenced, he argues, by a book that has a similar theme to Gaiman's American Gods being proclaimed as a completely original idea.

The comments of the post include several declaiming Gaiman for unoriginality himself, which is funny because Gaiman makes no bones about taking ideas and themes from elsewhere and reworking them into something new.

I'd argue that all literature is that, at this point, so haters need to step off. That's right, I said it.

But one commenter in particular had this to say:

"You may also wish to have a look for any of the old Alan Moore Swamp Thing comics, God knows Neil Gaiman does - half of his ideas seem to originate there."

This is quite a charge, and I am rather dubious, so I decided I should check these comics out. Lo and behold, we have them at the library! I've requested the lot of them and shall soon report back to see if Alan Moore's Swamp Thing comics do indeed serve as inspiration for all of Neil Gaiman's work.

Same commenter recommended John Crowley's Little, Big, which has been on my shelf for a few years now, so I might actually read it. (Just because he's a jerk, doesn't mean he can't suggest a good book. I plan to enjoy Moore's comics too, because, hey, it's Alan Moore.)