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Something exciting happened this week.
Jim Butcher released Peace Talks, the latest book in The Dresden Files series. It’s been over five years since he released a full Dresden book. Since his first book released back in April 2000, Jim Butcher has released almost a book a year, so I don’t fault him at all for taking a little longer this time.
What is really cool though is that the next book, Battle Ground, is slated to come out at the end of September. So we get two Dresden books only three months apart!
My reading the last few months has been limited to books on writing and self-publishing, so I am definitely looking forward to a nice dive back into the world of Harry Dresden. I can’t wait to see what type of trouble Harry get’s himself into this time!
I planned to re-read/listen to the series leading up to this, but because of the COVID stay-at-home orders, my commute time/reading/listening time has been drastically reduced. Not to mention that now I spend the spare time I have writing and editing my book.
I have to admit, when the series first became popular in the early 2000s, I ignored it. From what I remember, everyone raved about it and said how good it was. Sometimes I am a bit contrarian, especially if something is considered “hot” in pop culture, so I stayed away from the series. Somewhere along the line I saw the TV show and while I thought the show had promise, it was not great, so I was not motivated to read the books.
In 2007, I started my current job, which in those days entailed a long daily commute to and from San Diego. To keep myself awake and sane, I listened to audiobooks (a lot of them!). According to my Audible.com library, I added Storm Front, the first book of The Dresden Files, back in July 2009. That was eleven years ago, almost to the day! Since then, I’ve listened to (and read) all the books in The Dresden Files.
The audiobook is narrated by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I can’t imagine anyone else as the narrator for the series. In fact, they tried that once with Ghost Story, and ended up going back and rerecording the audiobook with James Marsters when he became available.
The Dresden Files is now one of my (and my wife’s) favorite series, and Jim Butcher is one of my favorite writers. Over the years I was lucky enough to attend multiple of his book signings at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego. It was a great pleasure to meet, listen to, and have him sign several of his books for my wife and I.
If you have not read Jim Butcher yet, give The Dresden Files a go. There are sixteen books, plus some short story anthologies, and graphic novels, so if you become a fan, they’ll keep you busy for a while.
Here is the first book:
If you’re all caught up and ready for the latest, here is the most recent book:
And here is the forthcoming book in September:
If you are into Fantasy, try The Codex Alera series. This is a little bit different from your typical Epic Fantasy. I would describe it as a mashup of Ancient Rome meets Pokemon. It sounds weird, but it really works! There are six books in this series and it is complete. I really enjoyed this series, and it taught me that there’s a lot of cool stuff in ancient Rome that can be mined for Fantasy (and Sci-Fi) stories.
Here is the first book:
If steampunk is more your style, try The Cinder Spires. So far the Aeronaut’s Windlass is the only book out, but I heard on a podcast that book two is in the works.
I hope you enjoy Jim Butcher as much as I do and please feel free to click on the links to his books. If you end up purchasing any of his books after clicking on the links, I may receive a small commission. Many thanks if you help support this site in that way.
Thank you!