And it all started with a near-sighted goblin named Jig. . .well, actually, no. According to his web page it started in the early nineties while Jim was attending Michigan State University and working on a degree in psychology.

Sigmund Jig?

Let's ask Jim.

DE: So, there you were, in college and suddenly you were writing fantasy? What happened to kick off that little bit of focus drift?

JCH: I wrote my first story on a whim. I was a bit of a gaming geek (which I'm sure comes as a terrible shock), and I was jotting down some backstory for a character. Backstory evolved into story, and story eventually turned into the beginning of a novel. I showed it to my girlfriend, who told me she loved it. Looking back, I suspect she meant "love" in the rarely-used sense of "Please don't make me read another word of this overwrought garbage." But hey, how many of us write a bestseller our first time out? By the end of that year, I had finished the novel. At a time when I struggled to do a five-page term paper, I had written 80,000 or so words of fantasy for the sheer joy of it. That was when I decided to take a closer look at this writing thing and see what I could do.

DE: Interesting. So you hit the ground running with a full novel. Yet, your bibliography and web information seem to indicate that you ended up amassing a long list of successful short stories before Jig came along. Was that a conscious decision or was it something that just happened along the path?

JCH: Yes to both. I decided I wanted to try to get into Clarion, which required two short stories. I had zero. I never did get accepted to Clarion, but the application process got me started writing them. And of course, some of the advice I was hearing suggested I'd have a better chance breaking in with novels if I started with short fiction. I wanted to write novels, but short stories were fun too, so I ended up going back and forth. I'd do a novel, then spend a year writing short fiction, then jump back to another novel. Basically, the early part of my career meandered a lot. It worked, so I'm not going to complain, but if I had to do it over again I'd probably work a little more on the novels. I enjoy both, but novels are more fulfilling to write.

DE: As someone who's been actively writing and selling short fiction during some rather tumultuous times in the publishing world, how would you compare the short fiction market of today as to when you started selling?

JCH: Has there ever been an untumultuous time in the publishing world? I think one of the biggest changes I've seen is the growth of online and print-on-demand markets. While this has led to some wonderful projects, it also means it's much easier for anyone to throw up a web site or set up a Lulu.com account and put out a call for submissions. So there are more places to submit, but you have to be more careful about whether this magazine is ever going to publish another issue, or if the anthology will reach more than a handful of readers.

DE: Can't argue with your assessment of the risks inherent in web publishing. Let's go back to "fulfillment" for a moment, shall we? You mentioned that novels are more fulfilling than shorts to create and that makes a certain amount of intuitive sense. Yet fulfillment means different things to different people. What makes the creation of a novel "fulfilling" for Jim Hines? What does it satisfy within you?

JCH: A good deal of my joy comes from creating and developing these characters. In a short story, I've might have room to show Jig's special blend of cowardice and cleverness, and if I'm lucky his pet fire-spider Smudge can set something on fire. But a novel gives me more room to let Jig grow and change, as well as allowing me to develop some of his fellow goblins. Slash the hobgoblin, Braf the idiot, Trok the warrior, Oakbottom the human-hating tree ... I love these characters, and all of them are so much more than they appear. Except maybe Oakbottom. His wants are pretty simple. So long as he gets to toss a few humans around, he's happy.

DE: Obviously Jig and his friends are near and dear to your heart, and I see from your bibliography that he's featured in short stories several times as well. Can you share the genesis of Jig and how he and his companions have affected your approach to your newer works?

JCH: Jig is one of the few characters I've written who basically sprang fully-formed onto the page, like some sort of runty blue Athena. People have asked if there's anything of myself in Jig, but if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Sure, Jig and I are both small, nearsighted, with a history of being picked on, not to mention very little hair ... but Jig is BLUE. I'm not blue. We're really nothing alike. As for my newer works, the one thing I've learned from the goblin books is to have fun. Writing is hard work, but if I'm not entertaining myself, I'm going to have a hard time keeping readers entertained.

DE: Based off that, let's talk about humor next. Your goblin books have all had a solid strain of humor underlying the action and adventure. Does that humor carry forward in the next books coming out?

JCH: Oh, yes. The humor isn't the same, of course. Let's face it, there are things you can get away with when you're writing goblins that just don't work anywhere else. (In other words, I don't think there will be any nose-picking injuries in the new series.) There's also a more serious undertone to the new series, which goes back to the old fairy tales I'm working with. But I wouldn't be me if I wasn't having some fun along the way. Also, I apologize in advance for the donkey pun.

DE: How about an overview of the upcoming books and maybe a little about where they came from inside Jim's imagination?

JCH: Well, the book that just came out is Goblin War, which wraps up Jig the goblin's series for now. It's a send-up of typical fantasy tropes from the goblin's point of view, and includes everything from monster armies to angry gods to a walking tree with an attitude problem. Lots of fun.

The Stepsister Scheme is the one coming out in January of 2009. Imagine a mash-up of old fairy tale princess characters with Charlie's Angels, where Snow White is a witch in her own right, Sleeping Beauty can take out an armed warrior using nothing more than a spoon, and Cinderella's ability to talk to animals means you're never safe from dive-bombing doves. I've read excerpts to several crowds, and I've been getting a very enthusiastic response. I'm currently working on a sequel, tentatively called The Mermaid's Madness. Three guesses which fairy tale character joins the princesses in that one.

DE: So, after you clear the boards with your princesses here, what kind of projects would like to pursue?

JCH: What would I like to write next ... well, a Nebula acceptance speech could be fun. Seriously, I haven't thought a lot beyond the current series. I'm contracted to three princess books, which keeps me busy through August of 2009. I've also got ideas for a few more princess books, assuming my publisher is willing to keep buying them. A friend has talked about collaborating on a humorous SF novel, which could be interesting. Mostly though, I just plan to keep on writing and see what grabs my interest.

DE: Any final words of wisdom or greeting to the fans of Jig the Goblin and his creator, Jim Hines?

JCH: When you're out in the enchanted forest and you've really got to go, be very careful about which tree you choose to pee on. (What? I never claimed to be very good at wisdom.)

Thanks for giving me the chance to chat. It's been fun!