The Jim Butcher Files: Dresden . Codex Alera . Cinder Spires & More

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Tell us (who don't already know) more about The Iron Fey Books by Julie Kagawa?

Here is the synopsis of book 1 as per GoodReads:

Spoiler:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I'm about a quarter of the way through, not much has happened as yet - a lot of teenage, "my life sucks" and "ignoring the obvious" angst.

[JSWolf]

Tonight I've started reading B is for Bigfoot.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Here is the synopsis of book 1 as per GoodReads:

Spoiler:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I'm about a quarter of the way through, not much has happened as yet - a lot of teenage, "my life sucks" and "ignoring the obvious" angst.

Hmmmm....sounds a little too romancy (probably not a word) for me.

[CWatkinsNash]

I (finally) started reading Dead Witch Walking (Hollows/Rachel Morgan #1). I literally just started it, then a page into it I forced myself to put it down and do a bit of work on a writing project I've been mulling over. But then... shiny! I have so little discipline.

I think I will like this series just based on what I've heard from my fellow readers, but nothing can really fill the void left by the wizard of my dreams. I miss Harry. Evil Hat is sad. Times like this, I wish I was a re-reader, but it just doesn't work.

[alansplace]

Quoted from jim-butcher.com

Feb 20, 2013 - Ghoul Goblin and Upcoming Books

We neglected to note last Wednesday’s release of issue #2 of Ghoul, Goblin, an original comic series set in the official Dresden Files continuity!

Ghoul, Goblin #2 cover

Still reeling from the events of Fool Moon, Harry’s been hired by a small-town Deputy Sheriff to look into a series of bizarre deaths linked to a singularly unfortunate family named the Talbots. Far from his usual Windy City stomping grounds, Mr. Dresden has nevertheless found some very familiar obstacles — hostile law enforcement officials, reluctant civilians, and people protecting secrets. Oh, and at least one supernatural threat that isn’t about to go down without a fight — or at all.

DOWNLOAD GHOUL GOBLIN #2 NOW AT COMIXOLOGY OR GO TO YOUR LOCAL COMICS SHOP TODAY!

You can also check out a four-page preview of issue 2! Issue 3 hits stores on 3/13.

Also, Jim has announced the titles of two upcoming books! His next novel will be the first in a new Steampunk series, The Cinder Spires, called The Aeronaut’s Windlass. After that will be book #15 of The Dresden Files, Skin Game. We don’t have release dates yet for either, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I (finally) started reading Dead Witch Walking (Hollows/Rachel Morgan #1). I literally just started it, then a page into it I forced myself to put it down and do a bit of work on a writing project I've been mulling over. But then... shiny! I have so little discipline.

I think I will like this series just based on what I've heard from my fellow readers, but nothing can really fill the void left by the wizard of my dreams. I miss Harry. Evil Hat is sad. Times like this, I wish I was a re-reader, but it just doesn't work.

I've read some of The Hollows series and I do think you will like it.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I (finally) started reading Dead Witch Walking (Hollows/Rachel Morgan #1). I literally just started it, then a page into it I forced myself to put it down and do a bit of work on a writing project I've been mulling over. But then... shiny! I have so little discipline.

I think I will like this series just based on what I've heard from my fellow readers, but nothing can really fill the void left by the wizard of my dreams. I miss Harry. Evil Hat is sad. Times like this, I wish I was a re-reader, but it just doesn't work.

Yes, for sure it's not Harry, but Rachel is cool in her own way! Don't be too sad 'Evil Hat', Harry'll be back come autumn (or Christmas, or the New Year )!!

[Kirtai]

I really like the Hollows books too. In fact I just finished the most recent one

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Ha! Imagine my surprise at seeing both Mab (as Queen of Winter and ruler of the Unseelie territories) and Cat Sith (aka Grimalkin) in The Iron King (The Iron Fey Book #1) by Julie Kagawa.

There's Titania and the Redcaps too!

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

There's Titania and the Redcaps too!

When you see these roots in Shakespeare remember that Jim Butcher's college degree is in English Literature.

Spoiler:

Titania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Midsummer Nights Dream act IV, scene I. Titania, with fairies in attendance. Engraving from a painting

by Henry Fuseli, published 1796.

Titania is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the play, she is the queen of the fairies. Due to Shakespeare's influence, later fiction has often used the name "Titania" for fairy queen characters.

In traditional folklore, the fairy queen has no name. Shakespeare took the name "Titania" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, where it is an appellation given to the daughters of Titans.

Shakespeare's Titania is a very proud creature and as much of a force to contend with as her husband Oberon. The marital quarrel she and Oberon are engaged in over which of them should have the keeping of an Indian changeling boy is the engine that drives the mix ups and confusion of the other characters in the play. Due to an enchantment cast by Oberon's servant Puck, Titania magically falls in love with a 'rude mechanical' (a lower class labourer), Nick Bottom the Weaver, who has been given the head of an ass by Puck, who feels it is better suited to his character. It has been argued that this incident is an inversion of the Circe story. In this case the tables are turned on the character and, rather than the sorceress turning her lovers into animals, she is made to love an ass after Bottom has been transformed.
Other references

Titania has appeared in many other paintings, poems, plays and other works.

In Edmund Spencer's Faerie Queene, the title character is the descendent of Titania.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe included the figures from Shakespeare's work in Faust I, where she and her husband are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's play The Foresters, which is a Robin Hood story, has a brief segment with Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

Titania, one of Uranus's Moons, was also named after her.
Modern references

She has occasional cameo roles in Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series, and is a major supporting character in The Books of Magic. In the mythology of those comic series, she is a mortal woman, who has lived and ruled in fairy land so long that no one remembers she once looked (and still is, under her magical seeming) human. It is hinted, though never outright stated, that she may have once been the lover of Dream, the protagonist of the Sandman series. It is eventually revealed that she is the mother of Timothy Hunter, the protagonist of the Books of Magic series. The character recently returned in her own graphic novel God Save the Queen.

In Disney's Gargoyles, Titania was the queen of the fairies, but a millennium before the main events of the series, she apparently greatly angered her husband Oberon, causing them to divorce and him to banish her and all other members of their race from Avalon to teach her to "grow up." It is possible that she manipulated Oberon into that action though, as she was shown to make several such clever feints and ploys during her appearances in the series. The royal pair eventually reconciled and remarried. She was voiced by Kate Mulgrew.
Titania and Oberon appear as major characters in the novel Magic Street by Orson Scott Card.
Titania is the queen of the Summer Court of the Faeries in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books.
In King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride, Titania and Oberon must save the world of Eldritch. This is her only appearance in the series and is the mother of Edgar and the sister of Malacia which are both made up characters.
In Frewin Jones's The Faerie Path, Titania is the mother of the book's main character, Tania.
In E.D. Baker's book Winged Titania plays the Queen of the Fairies whom the goblins dislike because of her rules and judgment of what the goblins do in the human world.
In the Doubled Edge series by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis, Titania is the High Queen of the Sidhe (elves) and the consort to Oberon. She is the patron and protector of the young magician Elizabeth Tudor. It is hinted that Titania is in fact Hera.
Titania is the aunt of the Raven King The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
Introduced in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Titania is a Persona of the Lovers Arcana, while Oberon is a Persona of the Emperor Arcana. Both make a return appearence in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
In The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, protagonist Dr. Miles Bennell quotes the opening line of Oberon's poem; "I know a bank where wild thyme blows".
Titania is the name of the axe-wielding knight in the English versions of the Nintendo Video Games, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. She was second-in-command of a small mercenary group called, "Greil's Mercenaries".
Titania and Oberon both appear as the king and queen of the fairies in the TV film, Voyage of the Unicorn.
In Final Fantasy Legend II, the final evolution of the Fairy-class was called Titania.
Titania is the heart, the mind, the spirit, the soul of the Starship Titanic. novel and video game by Douglas Adams.
In an episode of The Simpsons, Titania is a large-breasted woman who competes in a contest sponsored by Duff brewery.
Titania is mentioned in the Star Trek episode Time's Arrow. While traveling back in time to save Data, the rent on the lodging for Picard and his crew in the 20th century is due. When the landlord comes in to collect it, Picard pretends to have an acting troupe and has the landlord read the part of Titania.
Titania is the name of a fictional planet in the Star Fox video game series.
Titania appears as the King of Pride in the Little Fears RPG.
Titania appears in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG) as a Plant-type monster known as "Tytannial, Princess of Camellias" , which is currently one of the strongest Plant-type monsters in the game.
Titania is also the nickname given to Erza Scarlet, the strongest woman in the Fairy Tail guild, in the manga Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima.
In Summer Dream Titania is an elven queen.
Titania is the wife of Oberon of the Summerdream family in the PC life simulator game The Sims 2.
In the children's book series The Sisters Grimm, Titania and Oberon both feature in book four, "Once Upon a Crime", as the parents of Puck, one of the main characters. They argue most of the time they are seen interacting, but when Oberon is murdered during a party, Titania morphs into a fire-breathing monster and threatens to kill everyone to avenge her love if the murderer is not found.
Regina Titania is ruler of the Seelie Court in the 2009 novel "Midwinter" by Matthew Sturges. She is enemy to the Unseelie Queen Mab.
U.A Fanthorpe's poem "Titania to Bottom"
Titania and Oberon appear (although not mentioned by name) in Terry Pratchett's book Lords and Ladies, which is a partial parody of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Titania is the nickname for the Sword Art Online character, Asuna Yuuki.

Redcap

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Red Cap or Redcap, also known as a powrie or dunter, is a type of malevolent murderous dwarf, goblin, elf or fairy found in Border Folklore. They are said to inhabit ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland. Redcaps are said to murder travellers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood (from which they get their name). Redcaps must kill regularly, for if the blood staining their hats dries out, they die. Redcaps are very fast in spite of the heavy iron pikes they wield and the iron-shod boots they wear. Outrunning a redcap is supposedly impossible.

They are depicted as sturdy old men with red eyes, taloned hands and large teeth, wearing a red cap and bearing a pikestaff in the left hand.

The tale of one in Perthshire has him as more benign; living in a room in Grantully Castle, he bestows good fortune on those who see or hear him.

The Kabouter, or redcaps of Dutch folklore, are very different, and more akin to brownies
Robin Redcap and William de Soulis
Hermitage Castle.
Hermitage Castle in 1814.

As the familiar of Lord William de Soulis, a certain Robin Redcap wrought much harm and ruin in the lands of his master's dwelling, Hermitage Castle. Ultimately, he was taken to the Nine Stane Rigg, a circle of stones hard by the castle, wrapped in lead, and boiled to death.[3] In reality William De Soulis was imprisoned in Dumbarton castle and died there, following his confessed complicity in the conspiracy against Robert the Bruce in 1320.
See also

Bluecap (Northumbrian English)
Brownie (English and Lowland Scottish)
Cofgod (Archaic English)
Far darrig (Irish)
Kabouter (Dutch)
Kobold (German)
Leprechaun (Irish)
Nain Rouge (French)
Tomte (Scandinavian)

[Nyssa]

Yes, I realized after your first post that many of the characters were being pulled from the fairy tales of old. I just thought it would be cool to mention the ones that reside in both Dresden's world and The Iron King's.

From Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream there is also Puck and Oberon - Titania's husband and King of the Seelie Court.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Yes, I realized after your first post that many of the characters were being pulled from the fairy tales of old. I just thought it would be cool to mention the ones that reside in both Dresden's world and The Iron King's.

From Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream there is also Puck and Oberon - Titania's husband and King of the Seelie Court.

Yeah, Rob Thurman has cast Puck as a main character (he's a used car Salesman) in the Cal Leandros series.

[alansplace]

Steve Bertrand on Books

Jim Butcher on becoming a fire hazard
This is just a snippit from an interview located at dailymotion.com



where you can view the entire video. Dailymotion.com is nice enough to include HTML code so that you can embed the video in blogs and in forums that allow HTML code.

But alas, MobileRead does not allow the HTML code to work!!

So if you are interested in viewing this interview (it's worth it IMHO [If you've not finished reading Changes yet you might want to avoid this interview till you have]) you'll have to go there to view it, sorry!

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Here is the synopsis of book 1 as per GoodReads:

Spoiler:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I'm about a quarter of the way through, not much has happened as yet - a lot of teenage, "my life sucks" and "ignoring the obvious" angst.

Originally Posted by alansplace

Hmmmm....sounds a little too romancy (probably not a word) for me.

Just wanted to point out that it really wasn't mushy at all. Sure, the main character is/was developing a crush, but it doesn't really go much further than that...yet.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Yes, I realized after your first post that many of the characters were being pulled from the fairy tales of old. I just thought it would be cool to mention the ones that reside in both Dresden's world and The Iron King's.

From Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream there is also Puck and Oberon - Titania's husband and King of the Seelie Court.

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Just wanted to point out that it really wasn't mushy at all. Sure, the main character is/was developing a crush, but it doesn't really go much further than that...yet.

I was reacting to

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I'm about a quarter of the way through, not much has happened as yet - a lot of teenage, "my life sucks" and "ignoring the obvious" angst.

but since then I've thought about it a bit, it's the first book in a series and the main character probably has quite a learning curve to live through. Also here's some info on Puck (who is also known as Robin Goodfellow [the used car salesman in Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series]).

Quoted from Wikipedia.

In English folklore, Puck is a mythological fairy or mischievous nature sprite. Puck is also a generalized personification of land spirits. In more recent times, the figure of Robin Goodfellow is identified as a puck. The Old English "puca" is a kind of half-tamed woodland sprite, leading folk astray with echoes and lights in nighttime woodlands (like the German and Dutch "Weisse Frauen" and "Witte Wieven" and the French "Dames Blanches," all "White Ladies"), or coming into the farmstead and souring milk in the churn. Puck has appeared many times in popular culture.



Examples

Puck's most famous appearance is in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As Robin Goodfellow, Puck appears in a roughly contemporaneous Elizabethan play, Grim the Collier of Croydon (1600). It is unknown how Shakespeare's Puck appeared on the stage; but the figure in Grim was costumed "in a suit of leather close to his body; his face and hands coloured russet-coloured, with a flail."

Puck is the story-framer in Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling, 1906.

Contemporary fantasy author Rob Thurman writes the puck Robin Goodfellow as a major (albeit secondary) character in the Cal Leandros series.

In Susanna Clarke's short story "The Ladies of Grace Adieu," Robin Goodfellow appears as a mischievous yet caring servant to Auberon.

In Orson Scott Card's novel Magic Street, and in his short film, Remind me Again, we meet Puck, Queen Titania, and Oberon in a modern, urban setting. Rob Thurman's novels Nightlife and Moonshine, portray Robin Goodfellow and Hobgoblin as separate beings, both remnants of the near-extinct race of pucks. In the novels, they are reimagined in a modern setting, the former as the slick owner of a car dealership, the latter as the owner of a seedy nightclub. In Raymond E. Feist's novel Faerie Tale, Puck is a fey being in the faerie court and is portrayed as a jester of sorts, and stays true to the mythology of him as a trickster. At times throughout the novel he is referred to as Puck, Putz, and Aerial, and assists the main characters to prevent evil King Oberon from seizing global power over humanity. In Pamela Dean's Tam Lin (a modern retelling of the Scottish faerie ballad), the character of Robin Armin is implied to be Puck; he used a similar name while performing as a singer and actor for The King's Men, and had been the inspiration for the Shakespearean Puck and several other comic characters, but he and the others of his troupe were unsuccessful in luring the Bard off to the Fair Lands.

In Mercedes Lackey's novel The Wizard of London Robin Goodfellow/Puck steps in to play himself in a boarding school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream when no one suitable can be found for the part. He reappears throughout the novel mainly in his friendlier aspect, but becomes extremely dangerous when crossed.

The Puck who appears in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is a trickster and maker of mischief.

Puck was an American and then British humour magazine, somewhat similar to Punch.

In the animated series Gargoyles, Puck is a traditional trickster and an important supporting character. During the long exile from Avalon, Puck comes across Queen Titania in the human guise of Anastasia Renard, the wife of David Xanatos' business rival Halcyon Renard. He also meets a nearly emotionless businessman named Preston Vogel, working in Halcyon's employ. Amused with the "wooden behavior" of the mortal, Puck decides play the straight man for a while, and reinvents himself as Owen Burnett, who becomes Xanatos' business manager.

In the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, one of the main characters, Neil Perry, plays the part of Puck in a secondary school rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In Michael Buckley's The Sisters Grimm series, Puck is an Everafter who takes on the form of an 11 year-old boy. He is described as rude, selfish, and immature, and occasionally plays pranks on the Grimm Family. He helps them solve most of their cases, and lives with them in their house.

Puck plays a central role in Mark Chadbourn's fantasy trilogy, Kingdom of the Serpent, comprising the novels Jack of Ravens, The Burning Man, and Destroyer of Worlds. Puck manipulates the heroes in an epic battle between good and evil over two thousand years of human history.

The children's theater play Robin Goodfellow by Aurand Harris is a retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream from Puck's point of view.

In Kentaro Miura's dark fantasy manga Berserk, Puck is one of the main character's earliest companions. He is a fairy-like elf of the Pisky race, and serves as comedy relief.

Puck, the faerie dragon, is the name of a hero in the game mod Defense of the Ancients and its sequel Dota 2.

Puck is a small rat-boy in Final Fantasy 9 who messes around with other people.

Puck is also one of the lead characters of Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series. When the series begins, he hovers around as the lead character's bodyguard but as it progresses, he reveals himself to be one of the love interests of the heroine.

In the Nightside series by Simon R. Green Puck is only imperfect elf. Born as son of queen Mab and Camelot knight, Puck is only hunchback fairy. He is mischieves and usually deceives main character for long time. Later in serie he ends elf civil war between Oberon and Mab by deceiving and killing his own mother, when she wouldn´t give up her revenge.