1) As an author and musician, it seems as if creativity plays an integral role in your life. How were you creative as a child or was it something that developed later in life?

Hmmm. “Creative” is a tricky word. I’m not sure what it means, really. I think pretty much everyone is or could be creative in some way, to some degree. So I suppose I must have been.

2) As a musician and author, what music and books do you enjoy when taking a break from your own endeavors?

My current musical crush is Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. I’m also a fan of Greg Brown, Dave Van Ronk, the Grateful Dead, the Weavers, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, a lot of old R & B.

3) Cats Laughing included a collection of authors, can you discuss the advantages and challenges of working with so many creative people normally used to working alone?

Off hand, I can’t think of any challenges. The advantages are the advantages that are always there for collaborations: the synergy. Someone taking your idea and putting a spin on it you’d never thought of, someone coming with an idea that excites you, that kind of thing. It was pure joy.

4) It is clear from works such as the Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After that you take inspiration from classic literature. Can you please describe some authors that inspired you in your own work?
Dumas, of course. Twain, Roger Zelazny, Mary Stewart, Fritz Leiber, Mary Renault would be the first names that come to mind.

5) The Taltos series, in addition to being your longest lasting one, also has a rich and detailed history built into it. Can you describe your inspirations for Vlad and the world as a whole?

Pretty simple: it started as a home-brew tabletop RPG run by my friend Robert Charles Morgan. I was given the seed of “a sword and sorcery mafia” so I went with it and did some homework and just sort of ran with it.

6) The main character and themes presented in your Taltos series show an evolution over the course of the books. The first few novels involve stakes that are comparatively low in the grand scheme of the world you created. As the series progresses, Vlad and his story grow in both importance and scope. Was this evolution intended from the beginning or a natural progression as the years and books passed?

A natural progression. At first, I didn’t think I was writing a series–Jhereg was going to be a one-shot. Even after I wrote a couple more of them, I didn’t really admit to myself I was writing a series. By the time I had to face it that that was what I was doing, I had a pretty well worked out background and the character was already in motion, if you know what I mean.

7) With over 20 novels published within the same world, one would imagine that burn out may set in at some point. In the midst of the Taltos novels, you wrote books such as Gypsy, To Reign in Hell, Agyar, and Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille. Were these written as a way to distance yourself from your larger series or some other reason?

Really, it’s pretty simple: I get an idea that makes me go, “that would be cool,” and then I write it. If I stay away from Vlad for too long, I start itching to know what he’s up to. If there is any “distancing” it is happening at a subconscious level. Which, come to think of it, is very possible.

8) The majority of your novels have been written in the first person. Many authors struggle with this perspective in their own works, can you discuss your decision to do so?

Point of view solves everything; first person solves point of view. Also, well, every writer gets one or two things “for free.” In other words, aspects of writing that come naturally and don’t have to be struggled for. I got dialog and narrative voice. So having a strong narrative voice just means playing to a strength, and first person is perfectly suited for playing with narrative voice.

9) You have been quoted as saying that there is no distinction between Science Fiction and Fantasy. Can you expand upon that theory?

Did I say that? Hmmm. Maybe. Certainly there’s no distinction that will hold up to rigorous examination. But, really, why would want to? At the end of the day, what we’re writing is, at some level, adventure fiction. This means we are required to have strong story values, and the freedom to do a great deal more. I don’t know, catch me in another mood and I might give you a different answer.

10) As a widely published author, if you had one piece of advice to give others aspiring to follow in your footsteps, what would it be?

Write the book you wish someone else had written because it’s what you want to read.