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The Dresden Files

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This article is about the series of books. For the television series, see The Dresden Files (TV series).
The Dresden Files
AuthorJim Butcher
Cover artistLee MacLeod, Christian McGrath
LanguageEnglish
GenreDetective
Contemporary fantasy
Urban Fantasy
PublisherRoc (books)
Dabel Brothers (comics and graphic novels 2007–2009)
Dynamite Entertainment (comics and graphic novels 2009–present)
Publication date
April 2000–present
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Serial (comics and graphic novels)
Audiobook (CD & MP3)

The Dresden Files is a series of fantasy/mystery novels written by Jim Butcher. He provides a first person narrative of each story from the point of view of the main character, private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden, as he recounts investigations into supernatural disturbances in modern-day Chicago. Butcher's original proposed title for the first novel was "Semiautomagic", which sums up the series' balance of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction.[1]

In 2007, a television series based on the novels aired for one season on the American Sci-Fi Channel.[2]

Plot

In the world of The Dresden Files, magic is real, along with vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, and other mythical monsters. Harry Dresden works to protect the general public, who are ignorant of magic and the dark forces conspiring against them. This makes it difficult for Harry to get by as a working wizard and private eye. The Chicago PD's Special Investigation unit, when led by Karrin Murphy, regularly employs Dresden as a consultant to help solve cases of a supernatural nature.

Characters

Main article: List of The Dresden Files characters

Organizations

Main article: List of The Dresden Files Organizations

In The Dresden Files universe, each species (humans, faeries, vampires, etc.) has its own political and societal rules, and organizations. The human wizards depend on the White Council, while the vampires and faeries belong to various courts.

Miscellaneous groups in the series

Main article: List of The Dresden Files groups

The Seven Laws of Magic

Main article: Laws of Magic (The Dresden Files)

Publishing history

Jim Butcher decided to become a professional author at the age of nineteen. Subsequently he wrote three novels within the fantasy genre and one which he has classified as paranormal—books which the author has described as being "terrible".[3] In 1996 he enrolled in a writing class where he was encouraged to write a novel similar to the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, rather than the more traditional high fantasy that had been his focus in the past, as Butcher had previously stated that he enjoyed the Anita Blake series.[4] Despite initial resistance, he wrote the first book that semester, closely following the instructions of his teacher, author Deborah Chester.[1]

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.

— Jim Butcher, in 'A Conversation With Jim Butcher', 2004 [5]

The result was Semiautomagic, later to be retitled as Storm Front. His writing teacher declared it to be publishable, and Butcher started hunting around to do just that.[4]

Butcher failed to secure a publisher for two to three years. During this period he completed the second novel, Fool Moon, and had made significant progress on the third, Grave Peril. Deciding to focus on agents and editors who had already published similar novels, Butcher targeted Ricia Mainhardt, the agent representing Laurell Hamilton, and submitted a copy of his manuscript.[5] It was not accepted.[3] Finally, Jim Butcher met Laurell Hamilton at a convention, and was invited to lunch along with her agent (Mainhardt) and a second agent, Jennifer Jackson. Ricia Mainhardt agreed to represent him, and six months later The Dresden Files was sold to ROC, an imprint of Penguin Books.[3]

The first volume, Storm Front, was released in 2000 in paperback; the next two novels in the series, Fool Moon and Grave Peril, were released shortly thereafter, in January and September 2001, also in paperback. Subsequent novels in the series have been published annually since then, with the most recent novel, Changes, published April 2010. Omnibus editions have been released by the Science Fiction Book Club, with each of the four volumes reprinting two or three of the novels in the sequence.

The series' first six novels were originally only published as paperbacks, but in 2007 ROC changed its strategy and began to publish hardcover reprints of books one to six. Volume six, Blood Rites, was released in July 2007. From book seven onwards, each new book was directly published as hardcover and paperback both.

Orbit Books purchased the series for UK publication, and released the first novel, Storm Front in September 2005—five years after the initial US release. They then proceeded to publish two books per month. In November 2007, Orbit Books announced that they had purchased the rights to Changes, the twelfth novel, as well as the thirteenth Dresden novel, Ghost Story.[6]

All 12 volumes of The Dresden Files have been released as audio books narrated by James Marsters.

Books in the series

Dresden Files bibliography
No. Title Paperback release date Paperback ISBN Hardcover release date Hardcover ISBN Audio release date Audio CD ISBN MP3 CD ISBN Audio length
1 Storm Front April 1, 2000 0-4514-5781-1 November 6, 2007 0-4514-6197-5 July 2002 0-9657-2550-2 978-1-4805-8050-3 8h 1m
2 Fool Moon January 1, 2001 0-4514-5812-5 July 1, 2008 0-4514-6202-5 April 30, 2003 0-9657-2552-9 978-1-4805-9690-0 10h 6m
3 Grave Peril September 1, 2001 0-4514-5844-3 November 4, 2008 0-4514-6234-3 July 30, 2005 0-9657-2555-3 978-1-4805-8133-3 11h 59m
4 Summer Knight September 3, 2002 0-4514-5892-3 July 7, 2009 0-4514-6275-0 March 31, 2007 0-9790-7492-4 978-1-4805-9692-4 11h 12m
5 Death Masks August 5, 2003 0-4514-5940-7 November 3, 2009 0-4514-6294-7 October 29, 2009 0-1431-4519-3 978-1-4498-2379-5 11h 21m
6 Blood Rites August 2, 2004 0-4514-5987-3 July 5, 2010 0-4514-6335-8 April 15, 2010 0-1424-2806-X 978-1-4498-2421-1 13h 11m
7 Dead Beat May 2, 2006 0-4514-6091-X May 3, 2005 0-4514-6027-8 April 15, 2010 0-1424-2807-8 978-1-4498-2418-1 15h 14m
8 Proven Guilty February 6, 2007 0-4514-6103-7 May 2, 2006 0-4514-6085-5 April 30, 2009 0-1431-4473-1 978-1-4498-2415-0 16h 16m
9 White Night February 5, 2008 0-4514-6155-X April 3, 2007 0-4514-614-01 April 30, 2009 0-1431-4474-X 978-1-4906-4494-3 14h 13m
10 Small Favor May 3, 2009 0-4514-6200-9 April 1, 2008 0-4514-6189-4 April 1, 2008 1-4362-1140-9 978-0-1431-4339-0 13h 50m
11 Turn Coat March 3, 2010 0-4514-6281-5 April 7, 2009 0-4514-6256-4 April 30, 2009 0-1431-4472-3 978-1-4498-2409-9 14h 40m
12 Changes March 11, 2011 0-4514-6347-1 April 6, 2010 0-4514-6317-X April 15, 2010 0-1431-4534-7 978-1-1011-5486-1 15h 28m
13 Ghost Story August 7, 2012 0-4514-6407-9 July 26, 2011 0-4514-6379-X August 4, 2011 1-6646-3559-9 978-1-4618-0562-5 17h 52m
14 Cold Days September 3, 2013 0-4514-1912-X November 27, 2012 0-4514-6440-0 December 27, 2012 1-6646-2088-5 978-1-1016-1703-8 18h 50m
15 Skin Game March 5, 2015 0-3565-0096-9 May 27, 2014 0-4514-6439-7 May 29, 2014 1-4906-3041-4 978-1-4906-3041-0 15h 49m
16 Peace Talks July 14, 2020 0-3565-1529-X July 14, 2020 0-4514-6441-9 July 14, 2020 1-6117-6294-4 978-0-5932-9071-2 12h 52m
17 Battle Ground September 29, 2020 0-3565-1570-2 September 29, 2020 0-5931-9930-8 September 29, 2020 15h 43m
Dresden Files omnibus bibliography
No. Title Release Date Book ISBN Audio CD ISBN Contents
1–3 Wizard for Hire March 2005 0-7394-5193-6 — Storm Front, Fool Moon & Grave Peril
4 & 5 Wizard by Trade March 2006 0-7394-6581-3 — Summer Knight & Death Masks
6 & 7 Wizard at Large October 2006 0-7394-7658-0 — Blood Rites & Dead Beat
8 & 9 Wizard Under Fire May 2007 0-7394-8344-7 — Proven Guilty & White Night
— Side Jobs October 26, 2010 0-4514-6365-X 0-1424-2826-4 Eleven short stories
— Brief Cases June 5, 2018 0-4514-9210-2 978-1-4362-1140-6 Twelve short stories


All the books are published by ROC, an imprint of Penguin Books. The Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) is reissuing the series in hardcover omnibus editions. So far, all of the audio books of The Dresden Files have been read by actor James Marsters. The first four are produced by Buzzy Multimedia Publishing. The fifth audio book Small Favor is produced by Penguin Audio. The audio books for the remaining books of the Dresden Files will be released in 2010 from Buzzy Multimedia with James Marsters reading. Proven Guilty and White Night were released in April 2009 alongside Turn Coat. Death Masks was released November 2009, and Blood Rites and Dead Beat were released April 2010.[7]. The next book in the series will be known as Ghost Story according to the author's website.

Butcher is currently planning approximately ten more books in the "case files" of the series, to be capped by a further "big apocalyptic trilogy".

Graphic novels

In October 2007, Jim Butcher announced on his website that Dabel Brothers would be producing a Dresden Files graphic novel series:

"Working together with Dabel Brothers Productions, the Dresden Files are going to be translated into a graphic novel format. The current plan is to lay out the Dresden Files storyline at the rate of one of the novels every twelve to sixteen monthly issues, with occasional side-trips and independent stories thrown in. (Ever wonder what happened in Branson the month before Storm Front? How about what somebody saw in the lake in Minnesota between Storm Front and Fool Moon? Maybe I’ll get to tell those stories now! How cool is that?)

"I will be assisting with the writing of the comics, and am also involved in the design and approval of the characters, art, tone, and so on. This is an actual hand-in-hand project in which I have full creative input and influence, and I’m friggin’ giddy about it. I mean, come on! Comic books!"

The four-issue mini-series called Welcome to the Jungle, ran as a prequel to Storm Front from early to mid 2008. A compilation of that run was released as a hardcover graphic novel in October 2008. Storm Front was announced as the next adaptation, by the same creative team.[8] The first issue was released in November 2008. Welcome to the Jungle was nominated for the first Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

Midway through the production of Storm Front, the title changed hands[9] from Dabel Brothers to Dynamite Entertainment, causing a long gap between issues #5 and #6. Artist Ardian Syaf left the project to work for DC, and Brett Booth was brought in to finish the graphic novel. Issue #6 was slated for May 2010.[10]

Novelettes

Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files is a novelette set in the "Dresdenverse", but narrated by vampire Thomas Raith. In the novelette, Harry is in danger and is unaware of it, and Thomas runs interference for Harry, trying to protect Harry without his realizing it. The novelette was published on October 31, 2008 by Subterranean Press.[11]

Short stories

  • "Restoration of Faith" (short story)
  • "Publicity and Advertising" (vignette)
  • "Something Borrowed" (short story), published in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (October 3, 2006, ISBN 0-312-34360-4)
  • "It's My Birthday, Too" (short story), published in Many Bloody Returns (September 4, 2007, ISBN 978-0-441-01522-1)
  • "Heorot" (short story), published in My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon (December 26, 2007, ISBN 978-0312375041)
  • "Harry's Day Off" (short story), published in Blood Lite (October 21, 2008, ISBN 1-4165-6783-6)[12]
  • "The Warrior" (short story), published in Mean Streets (January 6, 2009, ISBN 978-0451462497)[13]
  • "Last Call", published in Strange Brew (July 7, 2009, ISBN 978-0312383367)
  • "AAAA Wizardry," published in Volume Two: Our World of The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game (June 15,2010, ISBN 978-0977153480)
  • "Even Hand", published in Dark and Stormy Knights (July 20, 2010, ISBN 0312598343)
  • "Love Hurts", published in Songs of Love and Death (slated for November 2010)
  • "Curses", published in The Naked City (slated for 2011)

Butcher had planned to release all of his Dresden Files short stories in a single anthology, Side Jobs, due out October 26, 2010, which also will include new material: "Aftermath", a novelette told from Karrin Murphy's point of view, set 45 minutes after the events of Changes.[14] However, as Butcher revealed during a Q&A at an April 8, 2010 signing event at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, the stories "Even Hand" and "Curses" had to be left out of that anthology, so he is going to have to write additional short stories to fill out a second anthology in order to keep his promise to his readers that all of his shorter works will someday be available in a collected format.

Other media

Television

Main article: The Dresden Files (TV series)

The Dresden Files was adapted to television in 2007 by the Sci-Fi Channel, and was canceled after one season.

Role playing game

Jim Butcher has spoken openly about a pen and paper role-playing game in development based on the Dresden Files universe. The game has been produced by Evil Hat Productions.[15][16]

In January 2008, the project went into an early alpha phase of testing,[17] and was in various beta testing phases throughout 2009. Pre-orders were opened up on April 4, 2010, and include immediate access to the pre-print PDF, dubbed the "Early Bird" version.[18] Evil Hat released the game between June 23–27, 2010, to coincide with Origins 2010.[19] The RPG consists of two books, Volume One: Your Story, the core rule book, and Volume Two: Our World, a text describing the game universe. The game, which uses a modified version of the FATE system, emphasizes narrative structure over simulation of magical physics. It allows players to play a wide variety of characters, ranging from an ordinary humans such as Karrin Murphy or Gentleman Johnny Marcone to magic users like Harry Dresden or Molly Carpenter to powerful supernatural creatures along the lines of Thomas Raith, all in the same game, with all the players able to make a contribution.

References

  1. ^ a b "The Wizard interview with Jim Butcher". Wizards Harry.com. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  2. ^ The Dresden Files on the Sci-Fi channel page
  3. ^ a b c Butcher, Jim (2004). "How'd Jim Get Published?". Jim-Butcher.com. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  4. ^ a b Whiteside, Lee (2007). "A Conversation With Jim Butcher" (PDF). ConNotations. 17 (2). Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  5. ^ a b McCune, Alisa (2004). "A Conversation With Jim Butcher". The SF Site. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  6. ^ Pagan, Bella (November 7, 2004). "More, more, more Dresden Files!". Orbit Books. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ Dabel Brothers Publishing announces "Jim Butcher's Storm Front" creative team, Comic Book Resources, July 2, 2008
  9. ^ Dynamite acquires Dabel Brothers titles, Heidi McDonald's The Beat, December 3, 2009
  10. ^ Dynamite Entertainment MAY 2010 Solicitations, Newsarama, February 24, 2010
  11. ^ "Jim Butcher and Orson Scott Card Sold Out on Publication!". Subterranean Press. 2008-11-02. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ "Amazon: Blood Lite". Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  13. ^ "Amazon: Mean Streets". Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  14. ^ Re: Name a character or event that you would want jim to turn into a series, Jim Butcher, February 21, 2010.
  15. ^ "Dresden Files RPG - News and Press". Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  16. ^ "The Game's the Thing Podcast".
  17. ^ "Dresden Files RPG - Evil Hat Interview and Playtest Update". Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  18. ^ "Dresden Files RPG - The Preorder Is Go!". Retrieved 2010-04-07.
  19. ^ "Dresden Files RPG - The Problem With Being A Small Company". Retrieved 2009-06-29.


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