Questionpalooza and Marsters Madness

63 Days to Battle Ground

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

If you’re looking for signed copies of Peace Talks, we believe University Bookstore still has 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.

Questionpalooza!

The last of Jim’s Virtual Video Q&As surrounding the release of Peace Talks is TOMORROW! Join Jim and University Bookstore Seattle Wednesday at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific on an exclusive Zoom call. Note: This is a ticketed event. Fans must order a copy of Peace Talks from their store to attend.

University Bookstore Q&A

This past week saw two fabulous virtual Q&As. On Tuesday, The Poisoned Pen hosted Jim for a hilarious evening of questions from fans and moderator Patrick King. Questions and answers alike were fresh and delightful and are sure to entertain, but honestly, 90% of the reason you’re going to want to watch this video is a ridiculously cute moment with Jim’s dog Bru. We can’t even.

https://www.facebook.com/thepoisonedpenbookstore/videos/616776345902153

Then on Thursday, the 20 Years of Dresden SDCC@Home panel debuted, featuring Peace Talks trailer director Priscilla Spencer interviewing Jim. She made a point of avoiding all the most common questions and got some juicy new answers!

Also, Jim and Pat Rothfuss’ July 7th interview expired from Twitch mere hours after we sent last week’s Drop, so here it is again if you missed it before.

Marsters Madness

Worry not, audiophiles! James Marsters has been confirmed to perform the audiobook of Battle Ground! He hasn’t recorded it yet, so we don’t have another hilarious video of him in the booth bragging about having read it first, but you can revisit his video from the recording of Peace Talks.

You can preorder the Battle Ground audiobook from Audible through our store or from Apple Books, Audiobooks.com, Google Play, and Libro.fm through his publisher.

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.

Release Wrap-Up

Peace Talks is here! And now that you’re all clamoring for Battle Ground on September 29th to complete this summer’s Dresden Duology, we have some great stuff to keep you entertained during the interim, including a free Q&A event on Facebook Live TODAY!

Getting Twitchy

Jim Butcher vs. Pat Rothfuss!

Jim’s first two Q&As are online and available for your viewing pleasure! Watch Jim’s first (ack! This video just expired. We’ll see if we can find it archived) and second interviews with Pat Rothfuss.

Upcoming Events

TODAY July 21, 9-10pm EDT: Poisoned Pen

  • FREE EVENT via Facebook Live. Attendee Q&A, moderated by Poisoned Pen. Optional: Signed copies of Peace Talks can be ordered on the event page. EDIT: SIGNED COPIES NOW SOLD OUT.

Thursday, July 23, 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT: Virtual SDCC Panel

Wednesday, July 29, 9-10pm EDT: University Book Store (NOTE NEW DATE)

  • Ticketed Event via Zoom. Tickets (1 copy of Peace Talks) can be purchased on the event page. Attendee Q&A, moderated by University Book Store. 

Signed Copies

If you want a signed copy of Peace Talks, you have plenty of options!

If you’re a collector who prefers the book itself be signed, our Virtual Tour partners are the way to go. University Bookstore is the only remaining store with signed stock, though you may want to double-check with them before placing your order to ensure availability, because y’all are hardcore. XD (UPDATE: Murder by the Book and Poisoned Pen are now sold out.)

If you dig awesome artwork and prefer to buy a book accompanied by a signed bookplate, Worldbuilders has you covered! Order a copy with your choice of illustrations by Nate Taylor and Satine Phoenix.

Many are asking how they can get signed copies of Battle Ground, which releases September 29th of this year. A few vendors offered preorders for a short time, but they’re now either sold out (like Barnes & Noble) or preorders are temporarily closed (like Worldbuilders). No cause for alarm! We expect more options to become available about a month before publication. Keep an eye on this site and the @JimButcherNews twitter feed for updates.

If you don’t care about signed books, we suggest you support your local independent bookstore! Alternately, you can buy from a variety of vendors through the Jim-Butcher.com Store.

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.

Bonus: Virtual Event Tonight, New Merch, & Audio Teaser!

We try to keep our posting restricted to once a week, but a bunch of neat things crossed our desk in the hours after we posted yesterday, and we couldn’t wait for next Tuesday! We promise, we won’t take you away from reading Peace Talks for long!

Murder by the Book Virtual Event Tonight

Tonight at 8pm Eastern, join Jim in a ticketed Q&A event via Zoom, hosted by Murder by the Book! Support an awesome independent bookstore and get a signed copy of Peace Talks.

(Also, how fun is Jim’s new author photo? It’s by Torre Neal of WeNeals Photography.)

Geeky Goods for Geeks Doing Good

First, Pat Rothfuss announced new Dresden merch in his twitch stream with Jim yesterday! Check out the Geeks Doing Good 2020 Indiegogo campaign to preorder awesome goodies, including a brand new Sue the T-Rex shirt, a discounted McAnally’s mug, and signed copies of Peace Talks and Battle Ground (when it comes out). This campaign ends in six days, so act quickly!

  • Sue T-Shirt
  • Signed Peace Talks
  • Signed Battle Ground
  • McAnally's Mug

Audiobook Teaser

Penguin Random House Audio has posted a 4 1/2-minute sample snippet of the Peace Talks audiobook!

Support independent bookstores by ordering through Libro.fm, which partners with independent bookstores to sell digital audiobooks! You can also order from Audible, iTunes, Google Play, and Audiobooks.com.

If you need a little more convincing, here’s a video of James Marsters encouraging fans to pick up the audiobook via playground taunts.

Okay, that’s it for this week! See you Tuesday for our next Dresden Drop!

Happy Book Day and Virtual Tour Launch!

Peace Talks Release Banner

At long last, Peace Talks is here! The first book in this summer’s Dresden Duology is within your grasp. We’re also launching our Virtual Tour today, including several opportunities to participate in virtual Q&As and score signed books!

If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, mask up and hie to your favorite local independent bookstore, order a signed copy through one of our Virtual Tour partners above, or snag a copy through our store. And don’t forget to preorder the second Dresden novel coming out this summer, Battle Ground!

Note: We’ve heard from some fans whose orders were delayed because of COVID, and there are plenty more who are ordering signed copies that won’t ship for another few days, so please be considerate of your fellow fans and don’t post spoilers out in the open.

Virtual Tour Launches

Last night’s virtual release party with University Bookstore had to be rescheduled due to, well, fuego. A forest fire erupted not far from Jim’s home, and his focus had to be on preparing for a potential evacuation. Hell’s Bells! Our thanks to the first responders who worked through the night and continue to battle the blazes today to keep his community and its magnificent National Forests safe. We don’t yet have a new date and time for the rescheduled event, but we’ll let folks know as soon as we do.

Although the fire has not yet been contained, it looks like Jim’s home is out of immediate danger. He’s made the decision to go forward with today’s event with Pat Rothfuss and Worldbuilders, though he’ll be monitoring the situation in case that changes. Keep an eye on our JimButcherNews Twitter account for updates!

TODAY, July 14, 4-6pm EDT: Pat Rothfuss’ Twitch (NOTE CORRECTED TIME AND VENUE!)

  • FREE EVENT! Join Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Butcher in a spoiler-free conversation about the Dresden Files series.  Optional: Copies of Peace Talks with a signed bookplate can be ordered from Worldbuilders Marketplace.

Wednesday, July 15, 8-9pm EDT: Murder by the Book

  • Ticketed Event via Zoom. Tickets (1 copy of Peace Talks) can be purchased on the event page. Attendee Q&A, moderated by Murder By the Book. 

Tuesday, July 21, 9-10pm EDT: Poisoned Pen

  • FREE EVENT via Facebook Live. Attendee Q&A, moderated by Poisoned Pen. Optional: Signed copies of Peace Talks can be ordered on the event page.

Thursday, July 23, 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT: Virtual SDCC Panel

Can’t read the book yet? Take the edge off the wait with our roundup of all the Dresden Drops so far this year, including four new microfictions, six sample chapters and a bonus excerpt, boatloads of art, and so much more! Then start your read off right by watching the live-action book trailer:

We don’t know if any of you are planning on putting the book down long enough to need a bookmark, but if you do, Adam Mathison-Sward has you hard-covered! (Download high res: Part 1, Part 2)

Other Niftiness

After posting last week’s Peace Talks Bingo card roundup, we learned we’d missed a handful of submissions. We’re hopeful we caught all our mistakes, but if you still don’t see yours on the Bingo card page, please sent a link to your submission post to yearofdresden@gmail.com!

Home is where, when you go there and tell people to get out, they have to leave. --Skin Game

The discussion of Skin Game continues at the Goodreads Series Read-Along!

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. See you next week!

Chapter 6 and Virtual Tour

The Dresden Duology is nearly here! We’re ONE WEEK out from Peace Talks and less than three months from Battle Ground.

If you haven’t yet placed your order, we have plenty of new opportunities to score signed copies from awesome independent bookstores! Get all the details in the “Virtual Tour” section below. You can also order the book in hardcover, ebook, or audio from online vendors through the Jim-Butcher.com store.

Chapter Six

Read Chapter Six of Peace Talks! If you missed Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, and Five, you can catch up on those as well.

Virtual Tour

Want to score a signed copy of Peace Talks, support independent bookstores and charities, and ask Jim your burning questions? We’ve got you covered! We have the details for Jim’s Peace Talks Virtual Tour, and SURPRISE, it starts TODAY with a free event hosted by Worldbuilders!

Tuesday, July 7, 4p-5pm EDT: Worldbuilders Twitch

  • FREE EVENT! Join Jim and Patrick Rothfuss in conversation as Jim signs bookplates for copies of Peace Talks that you can order through Worldbuilders Marketplace.

Tuesday, July 14, 4-6pm EDT: Worldbuilders Twitch (NOTE CORRECTED TIME)

  • FREE EVENT! Join Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Butcher in a spoiler-free conversation about the Dresden Files series.  Optional: Copies of Peace Talks with a signed bookplate can be ordered from Worldbuilders Marketplace.

Wednesday, July 15, 8-9pm EDT: Murder by the Book

  • Ticketed Event via Zoom. Tickets (1 copy of Peace Talks) can be purchased on the event page. Attendee Q&A, moderated by Murder By the Book. 

Tuesday, July 21, 9-10pm EDT: Poisoned Pen

  • FREE EVENT via Facebook Live. Attendee Q&A, moderated by Poisoned Pen. Optional: Signed copies of Peace Talks can be ordered on the event page.

Thursday, July 23, 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT: Virtual SDCC Panel

Monday, July 29, 9-10pm EDT: University Book Store (NOTE NEW DATE)

  • Ticketed Event via Zoom. Tickets (1 copy of Peace Talks) can be purchased on the event page. Attendee Q&A, moderated by University Book Store. 

Alternately, if you’ve already preordered an unsigned book elsewhere, you can snag a 5″x7″ signed bookplate sticker with Tyler Walpole’s stunning piece we revealed last week! (It would also look badass on the back of an e-reader, if that’s your jam.) EDIT: Holy moley, these sold out in NINE HOURS. Y’all are hardcore.

Tyler Walpole - Finished Plate

Note: This is different from the Worldbuilders bookplates, which are illustrated by Nate Taylor and Satine Phoenix.

Bingo Phase Three

Want to add an element of friendly rivalry to your read of Peace Talks next week? Round up your friends and pick a card from our fabulous array of entries to accompany your read! Don’t worry about spoilers. These are purely fan speculation!

Reminder: Because we want to keep this site spoiler-free until folks have had a chance to read the book, we will not be crowning a winner for the card and template competitions until mid-August.

Reminders

We’re in the home stretch! This week, the Goodreads Dresden Files Read-Along tackles Skin Game.

Demonreach Pentacle

Fewer than 30 of the Limited-Edition 20th Anniversary Demonreach variant pentacles remain. Act quickly before they’re gone for good! And if you want to support small businesses during the economic crisis, consider chipping in to the Badalis’ GoFundMe. Three donors will be randomly selected to receive a custom Dresden illustration from Adam Mathison-Sward.

You can also catch up on all the microfictions, artwork, and other goodies we’ve released so far. Check it out!

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. See you next week for the release of Peace Talks!