Who is your favorite atheist philosopher and religious philosopher?

Would writing a book about an alchemist who seeks the philosopher's stone be copying Full Metal Alchemist?

• FMA is pretty popular, but the genre itself, dealing with alchemy, is rather unexplored. There have been many books about witches and wizards for generations; and in most of those books, props such as wands and broomsticks, have been used. And since twilight, there have been many trends dealing with vampires, like True Blood (made before, but still popular after), Vampire diaries, and Vampire Academy. I've only ever heard of two stories with alchemy as it's main theme, FMA and The Alchemist, written in 1984. So i'm wondering, if I wrote a book about a young alchemist that seeks the philosopher's stone, would people say I was ripping off Full Metal Alchemist? I just see it as, since the 1500's people have known about alchemy and the philospher's stone, and that's what they've always looked for. To me, alchemy and the philosopher's stone are more like props? What do you think? Would it get published, would it be assumed a copy?

• Answer:

  Probably... You'd have to have a really good selling point or more. I've actually read a lot of books on alchemy, a popular and really well done series is by Micheal Scott, and there's more to it than alchemy. I've also read Angel with a hundred wings, which takes has the 1,001 Arabian Nights with historical twists added in, and various other books about it. I think just about every idea has been done, it's just how you execute it that will make it sell. Though I'm not an expert, I've devoted much of my 5th to 7th grade reading to fairy tales, folklore, and myths from all across the globe. Sometimes the props work, and sometimes they don't. Take your own twist on it, get it critiqued by workshops, and seek out what others have to say on your work, it might be more than you expected.