The Dresden Files

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by alansplace

CORRECT!! Say the secret woid' and divide $100 (in monopoly money)!

Wow, that's an old post! Are you reading the enire thread?

WELCOME!

Why not read the thread? It is good entertainment between Harry books. I still need to catch up on page 26-80 - I skipped that part. But only after I finished Cold Days will I try to catch up

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Why not read the thread? It is good entertainment between Harry books. I still need to catch up on page 26-80 - I skipped that part. But only after I finished Cold Days will I try to catch up

I've read the entire thread and I swear I can't remember half of it. That's probably why I have no difficulty re-reading books, I can never remember everything in them

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Why not read the thread? It is good entertainment between Harry books. I still need to catch up on page 26-80 - I skipped that part. But only after I finished Cold Days will I try to catch up

The OP didn't say she'd not read, or was not planning to read the entire thread. I just asked her if she had, or if that was her ultimate intent.

[alansplace]

Quoted from Subterranean Death Cult

INTERVIEW WITH JIM BUTCHER


Posted on November 28, 2012 by Adam vanLangenberg

WARNING: Contains a spoiler if you haven’t read Ghost Story yet.

For years now my friends have been bugging me to get into The Dresden Files. I didn’t know what they were, other than a long series of books. They told me it was a fantasy series and I assumed from the title that it was some kind of weird Nazi/Tolkein crossover. Not exactly my cup of tea.

Then, at the start of this year I wound up having to make a long drive and decided to grab a couple of the audiobooks, read by James Marsters. I was hooked from the minute he said “detective wizard.”

So we meet our main character, Harry Dresden. Tall, sarcastic and able to take a beating with the best of them.

Also, fireballs.



If it seems tacky to you, well just go read them. They are without a doubt the most entertaining series I have ever read. Escalating from some incredibly dark and harrowing scenes to moments that made me laugh out loud and run to tell my wife what just happened.

Jim Butcher, the role playing, martial artsing, geek poster boy, creator of the series has just released the latest book in his series, Cold Days. Following a particularly dark and gritty storyline in Ghost Story, we can’t wait to see what truly awful fate is in store for Harry.

Jim was kind enough to answer a few questions for us, so here we go.

Ghost Story felt a lot grittier than the rest of the series, was this simply because Harry’s state of being brought on a new perspective or is it a foreshadowing of the darker times ahead?

Generally, when something is grittier, it means that it has a certain level of verisimilitude, that it seems very lifelike. Given that this book was, well, all about being as /un/alive as a fictional character can be, and still be interesting enough to write about, I’m not sure what you mean here. I’m pretty sure there’s no hard evidence on life after death, so how could I possibly make it real?

We did hit a little bit of unpleasant real-world stuff, with Fitz and the Lost Boys and their psychotic version of Fagan, but that was largely because it was a story that the standard, living Harry Dresden couldn’t really have done. Or rather, he would have done it, it would have been a slam dunk, and not really all that interesting to read.

Certainly, Ghost Story was darker in tone, in many ways, with much more in the way of emptiness and sadness–but hey, guy was dead. It’s not like there could be swing dancing and pie eating contests.

There have been some great moments in the Dresden Files. We’ve seen incredible action from the back of a Tyrannosaurus, inspirational camaraderie from the Knights of the Cross and a truly brilliant method for dealing with young crushes. Are there any moments from the series that make you want to stand up, stick your chest out and bellow from the rooftops, “I wrote that!”?

Well sure, but I pound my chest and bellow all the time anyway, even when it’s not about writing. But I’m pretty proud of the scene with Sue.

I already own all of the books, graphic novels and the role playing game but my hunger grows and I demand all of the following: a true-to-the-books tv series, board game, video game and fast food restaurant chain. What are your feelings about your work being adapted into different media and can we expect anything like that in the future?

I’ve got no objections to seeing the Dresden Files grow into other media, but it’s not something that I have a lot of control over. I would love seeing an animated version, or maybe an MMORPG.

Speaking of the role playing game, how does it feel to know that other people are living in your world, speaking for your characters and building on your stories?

As long as they’re having a good time, I think it’s great. I’ve been a gamer since the second day of first grade, and having people wanting to play in the world I made up is kind of the same feeling you get when there’s a lot of people who want to play in the campaign you GM, only turned to 11.

If Harry were asked to give an inspirational graduation speech to some high schoolers, what would he say?

“You all have a serious leg up on me already: I got a GED.”

Why are you still reading? Go order a copy of Cold Days now.

[Tony Richards]

I will! I will!

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Tony Richards

I will! I will!

Tony....welcome to The Dresden Files thread! A year and a half old and still going!

...er...you will...umm....what!?

[steven522]

Adam vanLangenberg told him to go order a copy of "Cold Days" now!

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by steven522

Adam vanLangenberg told him to go order a copy of "Cold Days" now!

DUH! Well now I feel really dumb! I guess I depend too much on quotes, or partial quotes..oh well. I sure hope he's already read the previous 13 books!

[steven522]

No guts, no glory! Spoilers have no sway over me! Jump right into the last book of the series first and read the chapters in descending order!

Huzzah!

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by steven522

No guts, no glory! Spoilers have no sway over me! Jump right into the last book of the series first and read the chapters in descending order!

Huzzah!

Hmmm...sounds similar to the way I speedread, I read just the first and last word of every page.

[alansplace]

I recommend the use of headphones or earbuds as the sound is really poor.

[Shushan]

Wow! Its not hard to see why this thread continues to thrive. Thanks for the great interview links!

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Shushan

Wow! Its not hard to see why this thread continues to thrive. Thanks for the great interview links!

Of course it will live. There is still books to write for Jim and for us to read.

[CWatkinsNash]

I had a dream Saturday morning that all the people in this thread were stuck in a house together. Especially odd in that I have no idea what most of you look like.

[alansplace]

Quoted from TV Tropes

Creator: Jim Butcher

The Man.

Jim Butcher is a fantasy author, best known for writing The Dresden Files and Codex Alera. His books are notable for their high levels of genre savviness, Crazy Awesomeness, and shout outs, as well as the frequency of Crowning Moments of Awesome, Funny, and Heartwarming.

He has also written a Spider-Man novel, entitled Spiderman The Darkest Hours.

He is now a big enough name that recommendations from him show up on the covers of other writers' novels, and other writers do Shout Outs to him.

You should read his stuff. Yes, that means you.

Tropes associated with Jim Butcher:

Badass Longhair: Unfortunately, not anymore. As Jim himself explained it once, his hair went out crime-fighting one night and never came back.
One of Us: It shouldn't be surprising, but not only was he directly inspired by Star Wars novels as a kid to become a writer, he's also an avid gamer.

He also has a TV Tropes account. Yes he is a troper.
Running Gag: At every public talk Jim gives, someone is bound to bring up the publishing/adaptation rights, prompting him to quip "My publisher still owns the rights to that for N years and M days... not that I am counting."

Not anymore, he's got the rights back.

Springtime for Hitler: Once upon a time, Jim Butcher was the unsuccessful author of High Fantasy novels that was told by the teacher of his writing class that, seeing as he liked Anita Blake and Buffy so much, he should write a novel like those using that teacher's method of book creation.

Jim Butcher: When I finally got tired of arguing with her and decided to write a novel as if I was some kind of formulaic, genre-writing drone, just to prove to her how awful it would be, I wrote the first book of The Dresden Files.

Word Of God: He pops into fan forums (including on this very site) every once in a while to confirm or joss plot points.