In an article about George Pelecanos in last week’s issue of The Washington Post Magazine, timed to coincide with the publication of his 15th novel, The Turnaround, several other writers who happen to be fans of his work are mentioned in order to show how popular he is, and how his books cross boundaries.

The first such writer mentioned is “distinguished novelist Jonathan Lethem.”

The second is “horror titan Stephen King.”

Am I the only one who’s irritated by these contrasting descriptions? I guess it’s further proof, if we needed any, that Jonathan has broken out of the ghetto (a hot topic of discussion at the recent Readercon), but … isn’t King also a distinguished novelist?

Perhaps I shouldn’t be annoyed by this. But I am.