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

[alansplace]

[red_phoenix]

I wonder if Hugh is going to let that pass without a challenge.

[alansplace]

Excerpt quoted from Crescent Blues, go there to read the rest.

Crescent Blues: You've had some rather unusual jobs in your development as a writer.

Jim Butcher: Well there are some jobs that you just can't be very proud of. I was actually a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman for a while, and I'm not proud of that. You know, I thought they were great vacuum cleaners, but even when I sold one, I wasn't proud.

We were one of those companies where they would call people up and say, "You've won either a car or a European vacation or a new grill! All you have to do is let us come talk about vacuum cleaners." And the grill would be so small, you couldn't have cooked a hamburger on it. One of these little tiny things that maybe you could put a couple of briquettes in.

Then you would try to sell them a vacuum. The company had all these tests that were designed to make people who were compulsively cleanly just freak out and buy the vacuum out of desperation. So I had to stop that one.

Also, when I was a teenager, I was a wrangler at a summer ranch. I would ride along with the campers and make sure they didn't get killed.

I almost got killled myself once trying to save a camper from getting killed. But fortunately I had a friend there who helped me out. The poor camper's horse panicked, and she had one foot through the stirrup and was bouncing around wildly, and she couldn't possibly stay on the horse as she'd never ridden one before. So I went riding after her.

Now I was very small and wiry when I was younger. I got a growth spurt late, but up until then I was just this short little person with this shock of hair. And I went riding after her and caught up to her and was hanging on to her, and she was slowly dragging me down. Finally, one of my buddies rode up and caught the horse from the other side and stopped the horse. And I got into trouble because the camper fell off the horse into some cactus.

But that led to another job where I was doing stunt riding with a rodeo company. They were a production company called Rodeo Kids, and we did stunt riding and drill riding and exhibition riding. I was doing stuff like bouncing off horses, and I would like hop off and do a cartwheel and hang on to a bit of the saddle and come flying back on.

We did competition racing, where we did pick-up racing. We'd have three or four people in a line. Your partners would charge you with horses, and you'd swing up behind them. Then you'd have to race around and there'd be one person eliminated every time.

They liked me for that, 'cause I wasn't good at it. But it was interesting. I remember once, at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, I was with my partner, who was a girl who was bigger and stronger than me. I got pulled up onto the horse and went too far. And I was falling over this way and my nose was like right up against the plexiglass. I was like, "Aaaaaargh!" And everybody was going "Whooo!" But the girl was a vastly good rider and had a fast horse, so I survived.

But another time we were doing the same race, and I was falling, and I knew I was going to be killed, so I grabbed at whatever I could. And I grabbed the girl's shirt. She was wearing a western button-up shirt and I ripped her shirt off in front of 15,000 visiting African students and businessmen. Which was popular, but not, of course, with her. She didn't forgive me for the longest time, but she was a decent person and let me live. Eventually she even quit knocking me down

[alansplace]

Excerpt quoted from , go there to read the rest.

Interview with Jim Butcher
October, 2015

Most readers probably know Jim Butcher for his Dresden Files, the bestselling urban fantasy series featuring Chicago-based private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden that is currently 15 novels strong and counting. Others may know him from his Codex Alera saga, an epic fantasy set on the world of Carna chronicling the adventures of a young hero named Tavi. But soon the world will witness Butcher's take on another genre category: steampunk. The Aeronaut's Windlass—the first novel in his Cinder Spires series—is set in a vivid world where humanity has taken to the sky, living in massive Spires to escape the "deadly green hell" below. Chronicling a developing war, The Aeronaut's Windlass is packed with action, grand-scale conspiracies, and plot twists, arguably Butcher's most ambitious—and strongest—work to date. The Missouri-born and -bred writer chatted with interviewer Paul Goat Allen on behalf of Goodreads about the inspiration behind writing a steampunk series, the strange similarities between himself and one of the novel's main characters (airship captain Francis Grimm), and his obvious love of cats.

[alansplace]

[red_phoenix]

I cannot seem to get an image to show up.


Thank you for the help Alan.

http://freyrstrongart.deviantart.com...ator-572460865

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Do you have any idea when the author might complete this book as I hate to actually start reading it before it's all available. I've got all of the 22 available chapters loaded on my Kindle Voyage (even created a cover) and ready to go.

Well, as a consolation -- since Lash-influenced Other Harry is on the back burner for now and I hate to disappoint, even if it's not really my fault -- can I suggest A Black Comedy.

Two years after defeating Voldemort, Harry falls into an alternate dimension with his godfather. Together, they embark on a new life filled with drunken debauchery, thievery, and generally antagonizing all their old family, friends, and enemies.

This pretty much sums up the story:

Harry raised his hand as he stood up and began. “I don’t think I need to prepare that much to introduce myself.” He waved his hand back and forth at everyone. “Hello Wizengamot. I’m Harry. Though, I suppose in this room I’m Lord Black.”

“Lord Black,” Harry repeated. “I still think that’s hilarious. A few years ago, I put on a ring for the purposes of warding a home I’d inherited. I just thought it was a ring. And then I find out it was the Black Family ring and it had accepted me as the new Lord. That’s ridiculous. I just wanted to put up an apparition ward and suddenly that means I actually have a mildly important voice in one of the premiere governing bodies? That’s retarded.”

Harry shook his head as some people were muttering unhappily. “I did a fair amount of reading on the Wizengamot before tonight and I got to say this place is outdated and stagnant.”

“I understand the idea that if it’s not broke, then you shouldn’t fix it. But I’m telling you, it’s broke. Listen to me. I’m Lord Black and I have a vote. Something had to have gone wrong along the way for this to happen.”

...

“But I digress,” Harry paused. “The short of it is that I consider it my civic duty to piss you all off. Thank you.” Harry sat back down happily.

I can't help but think Dresden would like him.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, as a consolation -- since Lash-influenced Other Harry is on the back burner for now and I hate to disappoint, even if it's not really my fault -- can I suggest A Black Comedy.



This pretty much sums up the story:



I can't help but think Dresden would like him.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by red_phoenix

I cannot seem to get an image to show up.


Thank you for the help Alan.

http://freyrstrongart.deviantart.com...ator-572460865

[alansplace]

Click on the image to access another, larger, cleaned up image.

[alansplace]

These are the books I've read so far while waiting for the "Peace Talks" release (read since I finished reading"The Aeronaut's Windlass"). I'm in the middle of the last one displayed above, "Orchids and Stone" (the cover display reads from top left to bottom right).

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by alansplace

[I'm in the middle of the last one displayed above, "Orchids and Stone" (the cover display reads from top left to bottom right).

Interesting. I picked The Queen's Poisoner this month from Kindle First. Shouldn't have done that since it is the start of a new series.

Started reading and almost ditched the book I was reading before. Don't like to have more than one book open at a time.

[alansplace]

Click on the image to access another, larger image.

[AlbertaCowboy]

Originally Posted by alansplace

These are the books I've read so far while waiting for the "Peace Talks" release (read since I finished reading"The Aeronaut's Windlass"). I'm in the middle of the last one displayed above, "Orchids and Stone" (the cover display reads from top left to bottom right).

I saw the "Rivers of London" mentioned back a while ago. I think that's going to be my next read, if I can ever find the time and/or inclination to start Aeronaut, that is.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

I saw the "Rivers of London" mentioned back a while ago. I think that's going to be my next read, if I can ever find the time and/or inclination to start Aeronaut, that is.

I enjoyed it and have the rest of the series on my TBR list.