Secret fantasy

For the past year, local fantasy novelist Jim Hines has led a double life. During the day, he plugged away as a demographer, compiling education statistics for the State of Michigan. But at the same time, he also was working on a top secret assignment.

Everything was hush-hush.

Tuesday, the result of his year-long double life will finally be revealed when his new novel, “Fable: Blood of Heroes,” is released. The book was written in almost total secret and is an official tie-in with the popular “Fable” video game series, which will release a new installment, “Fable Legends,” later this year.

“I knew it would be right up my alley,” Hines said, recalling the moment his agent contacted him to ask if he would be interested in writing the video game’s companion novel.

Video game development, especially for popular franchises, is usually done under a thick cloak of secrecy. Characters, plot lines and settings are tightly guarded. As the game is being developed, certain aspects of the game are often released to the public to build interest in the upcoming release.

There are still many details about the game and its characters that Hines still can’t talk about, but he said you can expect the wild action and ribald humor readers have come to expect from his own popular fantasy novels. Fans of Hines’ “Goblin,” “Magic Ex Libris” or “Princess” series will find some insider references in the new novel.

“Either you get it or you don’t,” Hines said. “If you don’t get it, it won’t knock you out of the book.”

“Fable: Blood of Heroes” follows a band of adventurers who find themselves called to save a kingdom. The adventure begins when these fantasy swashbucklers go out in search of the culprits who tried to burn down the Cock and Bard Inn, one of three taverns in the city of Brightlodge.

Hines is well-versed in fantasy worlds, but research for his top-secret project took him to a decidedly un-fantastic location: the chicken barn at the Ingham County

Fair. While others flocked to the fair for the rides or the corn dogs, he was on a secret mission to take pictures of chickens — including close ups of their feet. (Without violating the disclosure agreement, let’s just say that chickens can be fierce warriors in the “Fable” world.)

Hines created the personas for the various characters in close collaboration with the game developer, Lionhead Studio, but he was able to put his special touch on the villain and

bring his goblin-fantasy style to the book.

“The books have a nod to my goblin books, and they’ve got goblin humor,” he said.

There was a lot of back-and-forth with the UK-based developer, Hines said, and in the process he had to become familiar with British spelling.

“I flipped Microsoft Word to British spell check,” Hines said.

Linguistic troubles aside, he also found that the style of the novelization was a challenge.

“The writing was a lot more ‘point-ofview,’ with each characters having a distinct viewpoint and distinct voice,” he said.

Among the Heroes are Leech, a healer who wears an elaborate mask and is always wanting to dissect things, Sterling, who buys into stories of heroism and Inga, a small town girl who is large and strong.

Followers of the “Fable” series and Hines’ work will not be disappointed with the companion novel, and the world of fantasy blogs has been aglow about the upcoming release.

With his secret mission behind him, Hines said he is working on final revisions on the fourth book in his “Magic Ex Libris” series. He also works a few hours a week on his popular blog, which helped him win a Hugo Award in 2012 for best fan writer.

His blog is known for tackling some tough issues, including a recent foray into how rape is portrayed in fantasy novels. Hines is an ardent advocate for women and their portrayal in the fantasy realm, a stance that is certainly influenced by a stint as a volunteer crisis counselor. He has written one non-fantasy novel, which he calls a “mainstream rape awareness novel.”

“Hollywood and publishing has to stop shutting women out,” Hines said.

In a blog post this year, Hines referred to his covert writing project as “The Secret Project of Doom” and jokingly said it allowed him to sit around the house playing video games while being able to tell his kids, “Daddy’s working.”

He also has some big personal news, something every writer with a day job dreams of. In just five weeks, he will move on to a new phase in his career: retiring to write full-time.

Author talk and book signing with Jim C. Hines

7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4 FREE Schuler Books (Eastwood Towne Center) 2820 Towne Center Blvd., Lansing (517) 316-7495, schulerbooks.com