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Old 01-05-2013, 06:08 PM   #1516
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Ha! I guess I haven't changed my mind about it, have I?
It appears that you have not. I found the first book in the series at Amazon for $7.99, and added another selection to my TBR list!!

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Old 01-06-2013, 02:50 PM   #1517
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Spoiler:

FAQ


Q. Would Jim be a guest at my convention or event?
A.
If you are a convention organizer and want to invite Jim to a future event, send an invite to Jim’s publicist, Rosanne Romanello (Rosanne.Romanello [at] us.penguingroup.com). Jim’s schedule is planned far in advance–invitations received in 2013 will be considered for attendance in 2015. Jim will generally pick two or three smaller events annually to attend in addition to some larger ones (like Comic Cons, Dragon Con, etc.). He also goes on signing tours in to correspond with the release of new Dresden novels. You can see a list of cons and signings Jim will be attending on the site calendar.

Q. How do I stay updated on all the latest Jim-related news?
A.
Sign up for our Announcement List! You may also want to join the site forum.

Q. How many books is Jim writing for the Dresden Files?
A.
23ish: 20ish “case books,” like those we’ve seen so far, plus a 3-book apocalyptic trilogy. Book #14, Cold Days, hit bookstores in November 2012. Book #15 does not yet have a name or release date yet, but we’ll make an announcement as soon as we have something to report.

Q. Has Jim considered collecting an anthology of Dresden Files short stories? Or, What is Side Jobs?
A.
Yes! Side Jobs hit stores October 26, 2010, and contains the following stories:

Restoration of Faith

Vignette
“Something Borrowed” — from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
“It’s My Birthday Too” — from Many Bloody Returns
“Heorot” — from My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon
“Day Off” — from Blood Lite
Backup — novelette from Thomas’ POV, originally published by Subterranean Press
The Warrior — novelette from Mean Streets
“Last Call” — from Strange Brew
“Love Hurts” — from Songs of Love and Death
Aftermath — an exclusive new novelette from Murphy’s POV, taking place 45 minutes after Changes

Sharp-eyed fans will notice that the Marcone-POV story “Even Hand” from Dark and Stormy Knights and “Curses” from The Naked City will not be included, due to contractual issues. They will be included in a later Dresden Files anthology, however, when Jim eventually amasses enough stories for a second!

Q. Is the Codex Alera finished? Will Jim ever write more in this series?
A.
Jim completed the series with book #6, First Lord’s Fury. He isn’t ruling out the possibility of returning to that world at some point in the future, but he doesn’t have any immediate plans at this stage.

Q. Why isn’t [book name] available for the kindles/e-books?
A.
At this stage, everything should be available! If you find an oversight, let us know through the “Contact Us” page, and we’ll pass it on to Penguin.

Q. Will you reveal some crucial detail from a book that isn’t published yet?
A.
Nope.

Q. When will sample chapters for the next book be posted? How many chapters will there be?
A.
We generally post the first chapter a month or two before each book’s release. Jim usually releases four chapters total.

Q. I have a great idea for a Dresden story…, or Will you look at my fanfic?
A.
Please do not send Jim story ideas or proposals. Jim can’t and won’t read them, so they’ll just get tossed in the trash. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t write fanfic and share it with your friends! Read the full policy here.

Q. Will you look at my fanart?
A.
Sure! Fanart, so long as it is not for sale, is totally kosher and kind of fun.

Q. How did Jim get published? Can you give me some advice on how to get published?
A.
Jim chronicles his road to getting published here.

Q. How do you write a novel?
A.
Jim offers advice for aspiring writers here!

Q. Are Jim’s books available in audio format?
A.
Yes! The complete catalogue is available through the Jim-Butcher.com store! The Dresden Files series is read by James Marsters (of Buffy fame) and the Codex Alera is performed by Kate Reading.

Q. What’s this about a Dresden Files graphic novel, or What is “Welcome to the Jungle”?
A.
The Dresden Files has expanded to the graphic novel medium! Welcome to the Jungle is the first Dresden Files graphic novel, a story written by Jim Butcher, pencilled by Ardian Syaf, and published by the Dabel Brothers. It’s an original story set before the events of Storm Front. You can buy the hardcover compilation from the Jim-Butcher.com store.

Jim’s novels are also getting the graphic novel treatment. Storm Front is available in two volumes, illustrated by Ardian Syaf and Brett Booth. You can buy the hardcover compilation in two volumes from our store. Fool Moon is also available in two volumes, illustrated by Chase Conley and published by Dynamite Entertainment. Next up is an original piece called “Ghoul, Goblin,” which takes place between Fool Moon and Grave Peril.

Q. When will we get new episodes of the TV show?
A.
Sorry, the series was canceled after only one season. No new episodes will be produced. You can purchase the series DVDs in the store.

Q. Is the two-hour version of the TV pilot on the DVD set? When will it air next on the Sci-Fi Channel?
A.
No, unfortunately the two-hour version didn’t make the cut on the DVD set. Check SciFi.com’s schedulebot for future airings, or stop by the forum! One can be certain our members will discover any future airings the moment they’re announced.

Q. Where is the best place to get Jim’s books, audio books, DVDs, etc?
A.
We recommend supporting your favorite local independent bookstore, but if you prefer to buy online, you can support this site by using the links from the Jim-Butcher.com store to buy from Amazon, B&N, or IndieBound. Even if you aren’t buying a book by Jim, clicking through to Amazon from the links on jim-butcher.com will tell Amazon that you came there from here — and thus the site will get a small sales commission on whatever you buy, even stuff that’s not books (so if you’re eying that $500 exercise bicycle from Amazon, clicking through to Amazon from our store first is a big help).
Spoiler:



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Old 01-06-2013, 03:57 PM   #1518
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So, I just commenced reading Jane Yellowrock 2, Blood Cross.

Well, not to be negative but after starting chapter 7 of Blood Cross, I decided that I was sick and tired of the overall "Romance Novel" feel to it, so I've abandoned it. It's definitely an unusual move for me and I was especially surprised at myself becaus I'd already read the first book in the series and had enjoyed it. Oh well! So i'm now in the process of deciding which one of the following to read next/instead. It's either Fablehaven by Brandon Mull or Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk.

P.S. It's Fablehaven next!


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Old 01-07-2013, 07:05 AM   #1519
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Well, not to be negative but after starting chapter 7 of Blood Cross, I decided that I was sick and tired of the overall "Romance Novel" feel to it, so I've abandoned it. It's definitely an unusual move for me and I was especially surprised at myself becaus I'd already read the first book in the series and had enjoyed it.
Uh-oh. I'm reading Skinwalker at the moment, and that's exactly what I was afraid of the series doing; I'm seeing the signs of that 'Romance Novel feel' already...

OK, something else after this then, probably.
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:39 PM   #1520
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Cool not really sure

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Uh-oh. I'm reading Skinwalker at the moment, and that's exactly what I was afraid of the series doing; I'm seeing the signs of that 'Romance Novel feel' already...

OK, something else after this then, probably.
I don't remember feeling that way about Skinwalker, but it was a little while ago that I read it. Possibly I took so long to try the next book because I wasn't excited enough about the first one. I'm not really sure.

P.S. It's echoing in here again! It sounds like I'm in a deserted hallway!


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Old 01-07-2013, 03:09 PM   #1521
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I don't remember feeling that way about Skinwalker, but it was a little while ago that I read it. Possibly I took so long to try the next book because I wasn't excited enough about the first one. I'm not really sure.
I made it to the fourth book and then gave it up. None of the characters resonated with me, and the perspective (voice?) of "Beast" drove me nuts.
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Old 01-08-2013, 12:12 AM   #1522
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P.S. It's echoing in here again! It sounds like I'm in a deserted hallway!

I think you need your hearing checked. Sounds just fine to me. I think you need your hearing checked. Sounds just fine to me.


p.s.: puh-leeeeeeeeze, you did not actually think you get away with it and not get a snarky reply? puuh-leeeeeeeeze -leeeeze -leeze ...




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Old 01-08-2013, 01:28 AM   #1523
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Cool snarky replies

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I think you need your hearing checked. Sounds just fine to me. I think you need your hearing checked. Sounds just fine to me.


p.s.: puh-leeeeeeeeze, you did not actually think you get away with it and not get a snarky reply? puuh-leeeeeeeeze -leeeeze -leeze ...




A piece of snark from Harry in Blood Rites, and I quote:

“Oh, what would you like on your vegetarian pizza?"

"Dead pigs and cows," I said.

She glanced up at me and wrinkled her nose.

"They're vegetarians," I said defensively.”

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Old 01-08-2013, 05:00 AM   #1524
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I don't remember feeling that way about Skinwalker, but it was a little while ago that I read it. Possibly I took so long to try the next book because I wasn't excited enough about the first one. I'm not really sure.
It's just small things, like when Jane first meets LaFleur and starts to drool a little over him that made me go 'Uh-oh'. You just confirmed the vibe I got.

I'm sensitive to these things since I followed Laurell Hamilton into the abyss while she did the same thing to the Anita Blake series
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Old 01-08-2013, 12:19 PM   #1525
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Well, not to be negative but after starting chapter 7 of Blood Cross, I decided that I was sick and tired of the overall "Romance Novel" feel to it, so I've abandoned it. It's definitely an unusual move for me and I was especially surprised at myself becaus I'd already read the first book in the series and had enjoyed it. Oh well! So i'm now in the process of deciding which one of the following to read next/instead. It's either Fablehaven by Brandon Mull or Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk.

P.S. It's Fablehaven next!
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Uh-oh. I'm reading Skinwalker at the moment, and that's exactly what I was afraid of the series doing; I'm seeing the signs of that 'Romance Novel feel' already...

OK, something else after this then, probably.
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I made it to the fourth book and then gave it up. None of the characters resonated with me, and the perspective (voice?) of "Beast" drove me nuts.
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It's just small things, like when Jane first meets LaFleur and starts to drool a little over him that made me go 'Uh-oh'. You just confirmed the vibe I got.

I'm sensitive to these things since I followed Laurell Hamilton into the abyss while she did the same thing to the Anita Blake series
There's this analogy in my head and I hate it. When deciding to abandon Blood Cross I thought this and since I have read none of her books it's totally unfair and unfounded, but here it is:

Jim Butcher's wife is a popular Romance novelist. I've read that her genre is actually 'Paranormal Romance'. So what I pictured in my mind (such as it is) was Shannon Butcher writing the Skinwalker series under the pseudonym Faith Hunter.

This is so unfair but it's stuck there in my head. Forgive me. Please.

On another note, I finished Fablehaven and the 5 book series is on the list for my grandson's birthday this summer. It was a fun read.

P.S. Oops! forgot to say, I've never read any Laurell Hamilton but I have read similar comments concerning the Anita Blake series before. Jim Butcher wanted to write the Dresden Files set in Kansas City because he's familiar with that city (it's close to Independence, MO I guess) but his publisher nixed the idea because of Anita Blake's presence there.


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Old 01-08-2013, 01:25 PM   #1526
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Re the "feel" in Urban Fantasy - there are a couple of "vibes" in UF that I dislike. One is a chick-lit vibe, where the author excessively describes outfits, shoes, decadent desserts, shopping trips, etc or the heroine has an overly aggressive attitude. Another is gratuitous sex, as per the later Anita Blake novels. The third is a young character with a know-it-all attitude, which some YA feels like.

As for romance, I like naturally developing romance in a well-plotted story, such as that between Harry and Murphy. It's the unrealistic romance with the alpha male/old important vampire/insert-every-woman's-fantasy-here character that falls in love with the girl at first glance that makes me groan. I've started to give fantasy series written by male authors preference when choosing something new in the hopes of avoiding some of these cliches. I would love to hear suggestions of other series to try that avoid some of these pitfalls. After I read Game of Thrones, which is up next, I was thinking of Brent Weeks' Night Angel series.
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Old 01-08-2013, 03:24 PM   #1527
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Has anybody here read Sergeij Lukyanenko's "Night Watch" quadrilogy?

I read that some time ago and would highly advise it. It is about Anton Gorodetskij, a young wizard from Moscow who is a member of the "Night Watch", an executive body of "white" wizards who make sure that during the nighttime no black magic users overstep the boundaries of the accord between light and dark. Simultaneously, during the day, the "Day Watch", their dark counterparts, make sure that the fragile equilibrium is not disturbed.

Of course, there is a lot of scheming and breaking of rules that makes the books interesting.

As a young - and not very powerful - wizard, Anton is unfortunately (fortunately for the plot, however) quite often out of his league when battling werewolves, vampires and centuries-old warlocks, also both the enemy and his own bosses sometimes use him as an unwitting pawn. So not boring, and not as "smug" as Jim Butchers writing, where you always know that Harry has at least one more hidden ace up his sleeve.

I really must read those books again (old, dusty, boring dead tree books) and check if I still like them as much as I did when I read them first. I promise, however, that there is not much "chick-lit" in those :-)

Also, it is refreshing to read a book set in Moscow, and written by a Russian, for a change. Lukyanenko is actually a "heavyweight" of the Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction literary landscape with more than 40 books to his name. Unfortunately, only few of these have been translated to English, a few more to German. Night watch was also made into a movie.

Best regards,
Andy

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Old 01-08-2013, 03:43 PM   #1528
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Has anybody here read Sergeij Lukyanenko's "Night Watch" quadrilogy?

I read that some time ago and would highly advise it. It is about Anton Gorodetskij, a young wizard from Moscow who is a member of the "Night Watch", an executive body of "white" wizards who make sure that during the nighttime no black magic users overstep the boundaries of the accord between light and dark. Simultaneously, during the day, the "Day Watch", their dark counterparts, make sure that the fragile equilibrium is not disturbed.

Of course, there is a lot of scheming and breaking of rules that makes the books interesting.

As a young - and not very powerful - wizard, Anton is unfortunately (fortunately for the plot, however) quite often out of his league when battling werewolves, vampires and centuries-old warlocks, also both the enemy and his own bosses sometimes use him as an unwitting pawn. So not boring, and not as "smug" as Jim Butchers writing, where you always know that Harry has at least one more hidden ace up his sleeve.

I really must read those books again (old, dusty, boring dead tree books) and check if I still like them as much as I did when I read them first. I promise, however, that there is not much "chick-lit" in those :-)

Also, it is refreshing to read a book set in Moscow, and written by a Russian, for a change. Lukyanenko is actually a "heavyweight" of the Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction literary landscape with more than 40 books to his name. Unfortunately, only few of these have been translated to English, a few more to German. Night watch was also made into a movie.

Best regards,
Andy
The series is available from the Amazon Kindle store. My son got me the first of them for this Christmas and I read it last week. Your synopsis is succinct and pretty well describes the idea of the series. I also got the Russian movie of the first book (actually it only covers the first 1/3 of it) from Netflix. It was subtitled and proved quite interesting.

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Old 01-08-2013, 04:01 PM   #1529
Andy_T
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Hey, great :-)

Did you like it? As I said, I have to re-read them with my new experience of having read some 50 of the more current fantasy books. When I first read these, i had mainly read LOTR, Harry Potter, some Diana Wynne Jones and a lot of Science Fiction.

Best regards,
Andy

P.S.: seems there is also a second movie, "Day Watch" out, but seems to be available only in Russian. The first one was quite popular in Germany in a dubbed version.

P.P.S.: and, I have to add that these books are not as funnily written as the Dresden Files. They are darker and more gritty, with no puns at all (thought I'd post a warning :-)

Last edited by Andy_T; 01-08-2013 at 04:08 PM.
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Old 01-08-2013, 04:07 PM   #1530
alansplace
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_T View Post
Hey, great :-)

Did you like it? As I said, I have to re-read them with my new experience of having read some 50 of the more current fantasy books. When I first read these, i had mainly read LOTR, Harry Potter, some Diana Wynne Jones and a lot of Science Fiction.

Best regards,
Andy
Whoops! I forgot to say, didn't I? Yes, I enjoyed it. I've put the other three on my TBR list.

What, no Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew or Rick Brandt?!

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