Jim Butcher

There’s SO MUCH TO BE EXCITED ABOUT this week! Not only do we have the beginnings of Jim’s schedule for this weekend’s Virtual DragonCon, but we have TWO sample chapters from Battle Ground. Read on for all the details.

Four weeks to go until the apocalyptic conclusion this summer’s epic Dresden Duology! Have you preordered your copy yet? You can order a signed copy from one of the vendors below, or you can also support your favorite local independent bookstore or preorder a regular copy through the Jim-Butcher.com Store! Or if audiobooks are your jam, snag James Marsters’ reading from our store or through Jim’s publisher.

Virtual DragonCon

We have Jim’s schedule for DragonCon! Join us all weekend for a series of panels on a fabulous array of topics.

Jim’s panels are broken up into two categories: (LIVE) and YouTube. Pay close attention each panel’s designation! Panels marked (LIVE) stream for free on DragonCon’s website only once at the appointed time, and you’ll definitely want to catch them as they air. If you miss the livestream, you will need to purchase a DragonCon Streaming Membership for $10 to access those archives. Get the full details on page 4-5 of DragonCon’s Quick Start handbook.

Panels NOT marked as (LIVE) will be uploaded to DragonCon’s YouTube channels for free viewing at folks’ convenience. The timestamp on this schedule indicates the time the video will be made public.

Necessary Evil: Villains in Urban Fantasy (LIVE)
Friday, September 4th, 2pm ET, UF Fan TracksLivestream
Villains in Urban Fantasy range from annoying to truly dangerous, and our panel of authors will discuss how the different types affect their characters and the plots of their stories.
Panelists: Carol Malcolm, Eric R. Asher, Jim Butcher, Faith Hunter, Jeanne C. Stein, R.R. Virdi.

Mighty Men of SF and Fantasy (LIVE)
Friday, September 4th, 4pm ET, Writing Fan Track Livestream
Kevin J. Anderson, Jim Butcher, and Jonathan Maberry talk about their careers–sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, but always interesting.
Panelists: Kevin Anderson, Jim Butcher, Jonathan Maberry, Nancy Knight.

Favors, Bargains, and Glamours: The Fae in Urban Fantasy
Saturday, September 5th, 10am ET, Urban Fantasy Track YouTube
Fae of many forms and intentions appear in Urban Fantasy. Our panelists will discuss the characteristics of the types they use in their work.
Panelists: Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Cecilia Dominic, Lisa Manifold, Bishop O’Connell, and Carol Malcolm (M)

Jim Butcher: 20 Years of Harry Dresden (LIVE)
Monday, September 7th, 10am ET, Main Programming Livestream
Come spend an hour with the mind behind your favorite magical detective as he discusses the pending release of the new Dresden book, Battle Ground, to the things that inspired Jim along the way.
Panelists: Jim Butcher, Chris “Crispy” Lloyd (M)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks Trailer Cast and Crew Panel
Monday, September 7th, 11:30am ET, Urban Fantasy Track YouTube
Join Jim Butcher, director Priscilla Spencer, and the cast and crew of the Peace Talks Trailer as they recount their experiences on this epic-level undertaking! Suzanne Solomon moderates a hilarious discussion that explores the challenges of filming a book trailer for a fanatically devoted fanbase, which actors are most like their characters, what Easter eggs are hidden in the production design, and more! We’ll also be sharing previously unseen material you won’t want to miss.
Panelists: Jason Bernardo, Jim Butcher, June Dietrich, Liz Fenning, Sarah Flannery, Stephen Gibler, Kitty Krell, Birgit Lüdemann, Wade Morrison, Tonya Nelson, Stephanie Piotrowski, Jeremy Royce, Christopher Showerman, Shelby Smith, Priscilla Spencer, Kris Stone, and Suzanne Solomon (M).

Sample Chapters

Read Chapters 1 and 2 exclusively at Tor! You won’t want to miss these. They’re all the fandom is going to be able to talk about until the book comes out. Or until we post Chapter 3 in a future Drop.

Is “deranged cackling” an appropriate sentiment for a news post? Asking for a friend who is an author.

Signed Books and Battle Ground Tour

Later this month, join Jim for a trio of live Q&As, two of which are free for everyone to enjoy. You can also preorder signed copies of Battle Ground. Act quickly, as many vendors’ signed copies of Peace Talks went FAST!

Copies ordered through Mysterious Galaxy, Barbara’s Bookstore, and B&N will be signed books. Copies ordered through Worldbuilders will be a standard hardcover with a signed bookplate.

MYSTERIOUS GALAXY: 9/28, 9:00pm* ET

Virtual Q&A via Zoom, moderated by Mysterious Galaxy Events Director Constance Summar. Ticketed event: Buy 1 signed copy of Battle Ground OR a $5 ticket.

*Note: We’re double-checking this information, as 9PM Eastern is obviously not the same time at 7PM Pacific. We’ll update this post with a clarification and re-confirm the correct time in a future Drop!

BARBARA’S BOOKSTORE CHICAGO: 9/29, 7:00pm CT

FREE Virtual Q&A via Crowdcast, moderated by Dresden Files creative consultant and Peace Talks trailer director Priscilla Spencer. Signed copies available for purchase.

BARNES & NOBLE: 9/30, 7:00pm ET

FREE Virtual Q&A Zoom & Facebook, moderated by Jim’s editor Anne Sowards. Signed copies available for purchase.

WORLDBUILDERS

We haven’t been given dates or times for any potential Q&As, but you can preorder a copy of Battle Ground with a signed bookplate!

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And that’s this week’s entry! Visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday this year for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks and Battle Ground, or other tasty tidbits in our celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Dresden Files. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

Peace Talks is here, and Battle Ground is only a month away! Have you preordered your copy yet? Today, in addition to a recap of the weekend’s Reddit AMA, we announce Jim’s Virtual Book Tour for Battle Ground, with a whole slew of opportunities to order signed copies!

You can also support your favorite local independent bookstore or preorder a regular copy through the Jim-Butcher.com Store! Or if you enjoy having James Marsters murmuring in your ear, snag the audiobook from our store or through Jim’s publisher.

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AMA Recap

This past weekend’s AMA had a LOT of fun reveals! You’ll want to do a ctrl-F on username jimbutcherauthor to read them all in full, but here’s a taste of the kinds of questions he responded to:

• Who or what are Bob’s parents?
• Will there be a sequel to The Aeronaut’s Windlass?
• Are there any well known historical Summer Knights?
• How old are the Unseelie Accords?
• Are soulgazes strictly the purview of wizards, or do other supernatural entities get them as well?
• Would you rather fight ten Mister-sized Mouses or one Mouse-sized Mister?

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Battle Ground Virtual Book Tour

Next month, join Jim for a trio of live Q&As, two of which are free for everyone to enjoy. You can also preorder signed copies of Battle Ground. Act quickly, as many vendors’ signed copies of Peace Talks went FAST!

MYSTERIOUS GALAXY: 9/28, 9:00pm* ET

Virtual Q&A via Zoom, moderated by Mysterious Galaxy Events Director Constance Summar. Ticketed event: Buy 1 signed copy of Battle Ground OR a $5 ticket.

*Note: We’re double-checking this information, as 9PM Eastern is obviously not the same time at 7PM Pacific. We’ll update this post with a clarification and re-confirm the correct time in a future Drop!

BARBARA’S BOOKSTORE CHICAGO: 9/29, 7:00pm CT

FREE Virtual Q&A via Crowdcast, moderated by Dresden Files creative consultant and Peace Talks trailer director Priscilla Spencer. Signed copies available for purchase.

BARNES & NOBLE: 9/30, 7:00pm ET

FREE Virtual Q&A Zoom & Facebook, moderated by Jim’s editor Anne Sowards. Signed copies available for purchase.

WORLDBUILDERS

We haven’t been given dates or times for any potential Q&As, but you can preorder a copy of Battle Ground with a signed bookplate!

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Hey, Shouldn’t We Be Seeing Sample Chapters By Now?

Those start next week! You’ll get your fix soon.

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And that’s it for this week’s entry! Visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday this year for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks and Battle Ground, or other tasty tidbits in our celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Dresden Files. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

This week’s Dresden Drop is all about sweet antici….. pation. With a gloriously geeky number of days to go until the release of Battle Ground, we also look forward to some fabulous fun scheduled this weekend: most notably, a Reddit AMA with Jim!

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Virtual Book Festival AMA

This weekend, Penguin Random House is hosting Book Your Summer, a virtual book festival with author events galore! You’ll want to hit up their full roster to see the deep bench of talent among their author events, then join Jim this Saturday, when he’ll be doing an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) live Q&A on Reddit! Submit your burning questions and upvote other fans’ entries you’d most like to see answered.

Register for free with Eventbrite to be reminded of the event, or just show up on the r/Fantasy subreddit this Saturday at 12:30 Eastern and dive in! We’ll update this blog post with a link to the specific post and tweet it from  @jimbutchernews as soon as we have it. EDIT: Here it is!

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Limited Edition Storm Front Returns

Good news for fans who missed the opportunity to buy the Storm Front Con Exclusive Edition! This weekend, August 21st and 22nd, fans in the United States will be able to snag a copy! (Don’t worry, the link will look broken until the sale goes live.) This anniversary re-release of Storm Front includes a new cover by Leo Nickolls and a foreword from Jim. It was intended to be sold exclusively at conventions this year, but then… you know. 😀 It’s unclear if it will be sold again after this weekend, so now’s your chance!

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And that’s it for this week’s entry! Visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday this year for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks and Battle Ground, or other tasty tidbits in our celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Dresden Files. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on Twitter and Facebook to ensure you don’t miss a moment, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

This week’s Drop is on the lighter side: we announce the winners of the Peace Talks Prediction Bingo, and we share some great new artwork you may not have seen. Check it out!

Peace Talks is here, and Battle Ground is less than 50 days away! Support your favorite local independent bookstore, or support this website by ordering your copy through the Jim-Butcher.com Store.

Bingo Winners

This week, we crown the Prize Prognosticators our Peace Talks Prediction Bingo Challenge! Massive thanks to Andrea Gonzales, Skye Starr, Mandie Lyons, Craig Page, and Jordan Walker Key for helping score all the cards.

First, we want to give several Honorable Mentions:

• Honorable Mentions for Humor: @ItsYoshi304, @DrewSnyder, @CeciliaEJohnson, @superpotroast, and @WilliamTrial1.
• Honorable Mention for Most Out-Of-Left-Field Correct Prediction: @Darsstar, who predicted “New One-Eyed Character.” Epic extra bonus points for coining the ship name “Tooth Tooth” for Toot/Lacuna.
• Honorable Mention for Technical Wizardry: @Lumbernock’s Bingo Card Generator.
• And great thanks and admiration to The Nerdy Narrative, whose Prediction Bingo vlog post inspired this contest!

But the Grand Prize winners, who win an early copy of Battle Ground, are Isabelle and Joannie for Best Template and a TIE for Best Predictions between Rivvyn and Books31! Congratulations!

Remarque Roundup

We were supposed to have one more awesome thing to talk about this week, but it had to be shifted back a week. So how about some fun fanart you may not have seen?

“Hellfire Harry” is by Tyler Walpole, illustrator of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, which is now available on iOS/Mac, Android, Steam, and the Switch for all your social distancing needs.

“Harry and Hades” and the Peace Talks remarques are from Adam Mathison-Sward, who illustrated last week’s Mister-POV microfiction comic and “Christmas Eve.”

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Give both artists some love on their socials! Tyler on Twitter, Insta, and FB and Adam on Twitter, Insta, and FB.

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And that’s it for this week’s entry! Visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday this year for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks and Battle Ground, or other tasty tidbits in our celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Dresden Files. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on Twitter and Facebook to ensure you don’t miss a moment, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

This week brings two awesome surprises: an all-new Mister-POV microfiction comic and a new Roll20 campaign supplement for the Dresden Files Accelerated RPG. Hell’s Bells, YES!

Peace Talks is here, and Battle Ground is less than two months away. Support your favorite local independent bookstore, or order your copy through the Jim-Butcher.com Store.

Microfiction #5: Everything The Light Touches

Today’s lesson is to always give awesome artists sneak peeks at upcoming goodies. When we shared Jim’s new Mister-POV microfiction story with Adam Mathison-Sward, illustrator of the “Christmas Eve” short story, he came back the next day with thumbnail sketches for a five-page comic.

Click the thumbnails to read the comic version, or follow this link to read Jim’s text-only version.

SPOILER LEVEL: The story is set in the month before Peace Talks, so no worries on that count! Contains big spoilers for Changes and mild spoilers for Skin Game.

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That’s How We Roll20

At Virtual GenCon yesterday, Evil Hat Productions has released a brand new Dresden Files Accelerated campaign set in New Orleans: We’ll Always Have Parish. This supplement was designed for the Roll20 platform, so now it’s easier than ever to game remotely with your friends!

The Crescent City. The Big Easy. NOLA. The nicknames for New Orleans are many and they are fondly spoken. The city is unique and beloved by its denizens, mortal and otherwise, and the supernatural reside there in greater numbers than expected for most metropolitan areas. Ghosts are plentiful, of course, but so are ghouls, vampires, demons, demigods, werecreatures, and, most recently, the Fomor. But they are not the only threat within Orleans Parish. Neither are they the gravest.

Check it out, then get rolling!

Signed Books

If you’re looking for signed copies of Peace Talks, University Bookstore should still have signed stock, though we suggest double-checking with them before placing your order to ensure availability. For art aficionados, Worldbuilders is selling copies of Peace Talks with signed bookplates, featuring your choice of illustrations by Nate Taylor and Satine Phoenix.

As for signed copies of Battle Ground, sit tight! We expect those to become available about a month before publication. Keep an eye on this site and the @JimButcherNews twitter feed for updates.

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And that’s it for this week’s entry! Visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday this year for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks and Battle Ground, or other tasty tidbits in our celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Dresden Files. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.