Neil Gaiman is the perfect modern writer. There, it has been said. He’s not your stuffy, closeted author, but a new breed who pillages from the past and interbreeds it with a modern aesthetic. Like a Viking, but with words. Some people are going to hate this new style, because it is new and they don’t understand the brilliance behind it. It isn't easy to re-imagine old stories and bring something fresh to them. I should say it’s not easy to do it well. The cinemas have a few examples where this has been achieved:

The Snow Queen -> Frozen
Batman -> Batman
Shakespeare -> Twilight.
Twilight -> 50SoG ;-)

But most fail.

How do we make it relevant to today? We are so saturated in media it is ridiculous to ignore it, yet most authors try to do so. Neil isn’t one of these. He embraces the present and infuses it into the mythology of the past. To do it well is not a gimmick or cheating, it’s just good writing.