Jim Butcher

Art Awards and Pensacon Panels

This week’s Dresden Drop includes videos from Pensacon, the results of the fanart contest, the launch of the Blood Rites read-along, and a new giveaway from Penguin Random House!

Want to make sure you never miss a moment in the Year of Dresden? Join our mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on Twitter.

Pensacon Panel Videos

We’re back from Pensacon! Thanks for the warm welcome and the southern hospitality. Check out the videos of Jim’s two panels here:

Apologies for having to go handheld! I brought my tripod to the panel room, but I accidentally left the cell phone adapter in my suitcase. D’oh. XD

Fanart Contest Results

We have our winners! Thanks to all the incredible artists who entered. We’ll be reaching out to the grand prize winner and runners up for their shipping information and prize preference this week.

The grand prize goes to David Vargo, who submitted two breathtaking pieces: one of Harry and Lash and the other of Harry and Mab. His dreamlike compositions and vivid colors capture an eerie energy, perfect for the series. Marvel at more of his work at DavidVargo.com! David’s prize includes an ARC of Peace Talks and a Mika Kuloda print, both signed by Jim.

Harry and Lasciel by David Vargo
Harry and Mab by David Vargo

Our three runners-up will each win a Mika Kuloda print, signed by Jim. Check out their portfolios!

Will Hindmarch

TL Steinbroner

And Anie Miles

Harry and Murphy by Anie Miles
Bob by Anie Miles
Fuego by Anie Miles

We were completely blown away at the caliber of submissions, so our field of Honorable Mentions is pretty vast. Give some love to JaverusArt, Bernard Castro, Danielle Camorlinga, Elizabeth Rogers-Buls, Christian Thor Lally (more of his Dresden pieces here!), Adam Montis, Rick Goodvin, and Vicki Verona!

Mavra by JaverusArt
Harry vs the Werewolf by Bernard Castro
Danielle Camorlinga
Zoo Day by Danielle Camorlinga
The Winter Queens by Elizabeth Rogers-Buls
Morgan by Elizabeth Rogers-Buls
Chichen Itza by Christian Thor Lally
Changes and Sacrifice by Adam Montis
Molly by Rick Goodvin
Maggie and Mouse by Rick Goodvin
Figboot by Rick Goodvin
Molly by Vicki Verona

Also, we wanted to give some Honorable Mention recognition to Pika-la-Cynique, who gives Harry frequent cameos in her long-running crossover webcomic Girls Next Door. Too fun!

Thanks again to all who submitted. We had so much fun reviewing your work. We’re in awe of the talent in this fandom!

Blood Rites Read-Along

The Goodreads Read-Along continues with Blood Rites. Join the spoiler-friendly or spoiler-free discussions!

March Giveaway

Penguin Random House’s March giveaway is a copy of Welcome to the Jungle, the graphic novel written by Jim Butcher and illustrated by Ardian Syaf. Enter for your chance to win one of five! Open to U.S. residents ages 18 and older.

2020 is the 20th Anniversary of the Dresden Files! Be sure to visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday this year for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks, or other tasty tidbits in the Year of Dresden. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment in our 20th Anniversary celebration, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops. See you next week!

Trailer Teaser and Pensacon Prep

The announcement of the fanart contest winners has been delayed until next week, so Jim can weigh in on the artwork while he’s at Pensacon this weekend. The submissions we’ve received are INCREDIBLE, and we can’t wait to share them with you and crown the winners.

Trailer Teaser

But today’s big news? We have a premiere date and a sneak peek at some of the storyboards for the upcoming live-action book trailer for Peace Talks!

We’re thrilled to announce that the trailer will premiere at the 20th Anniversary fan party at Emerald City Comic Con on Thursday, March 12th! Tickets to the party are long since sold out, but ECCC attendees can catch it again at a Q&A with Jim and director Priscilla Spencer on Sunday, March 15th. Full ECCC schedule coming soon.

As for the rest of the world, the trailer will hit the net early the following week! We’re still working on nailing down the exact date.

To whet your appetite, here are a handful of our storyboards…

So who are all these people? What’s going on? Let the speculation begin!

Megan Lloyd is a storyboard artist for Dreamworks TV. If you’re a fan of Hamilton or Wicked and you haven’t seen her fanmade animatics for “The World Was Wide Enough” or “Defying Gravity,” you need to rectify that immediately. Find more of her art on tumblr!

Pensacon Prep

This week, Jim is headed off to Pensacon in Pensacola, Florida! Here’s his schedule:

Friday, 2/28/20:

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM — Signing at booth E6/7-F6/7
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM — Signing at booth E6/7-F6/7

Saturday, 2/29/20:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM — Signing at booth E6/7-F6/7
12:15 PM – 1:00 PM — Comic Book Adaptations. Pensacola Little Theatre Courtroom. Other panelists: Nancy A. Collins, Victor Gischler, Tony Isabella, Robert Pope.
1:30 PM – 2:15 PM — Jim Butcher Solo Panel: Wizards, Airships, and Romans Oh My! Pensacola Little Theatre Courtroom.
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM — Signing at booth E6/7-F6/7

Sunday, 3/1/20:

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM — Signing at booth E6/7-F6/7
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM — Signing at booth E6/7-F6/7

Hope to see you there!

Read-Along Reminder

The discussion of Death Masks continues apace at Goodreads! Join the Spoiler-Free or Spoiler-Friendly discussions.

Also, the Grave Peril ebook is still on sale for $1.99! Support independent bookstores by buying through Kobo (here’s how to support your favorite local shop!) or Books-A-Million, or order from the following vendors: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, or Google Play. The sale runs through March 1st.

Art Spotlight #4, Jewelry Poll Winner Revealed, and More!

With the extended Fanart Contest deadline looming this Thursday, we want to share one more batch of official art to inspire your submissions! Our focus this week is Sequential Art, including the comics and the illustrated Christmas Eve!

We also have the usual goodies going on, including the launch of the Death Masks discussion on Goodreads and discounts on Grave Peril and Darkest Hours. Let’s dive in!

Art Spotlight #4: Sequential Art

If you haven’t read the Dresden comics, you’re missing out! You can snag them all from the Graphic Novels section of our store.

Ardian Syaf is an Indonesian artist who was Hugo-nominated for his work on Welcome to the Jungle, and who has since gone on to work for DC and Marvel. Colorists: (1) Jeremy Treece, (2) Mike DeVito, (3) Digikore Studios.

Chase Conley is a Los Angeles-based director, storyboard artist, and designer now working as a character designer at Sony Pictures Animation. He lent his expressive style to Fool Moon. Colorists: himself, Mohan.

Joseph Cooper is a SoCal-based artist who came aboard for Ghoul, Goblin. He’s worked for Marvel, DC, Valiant, Dynamite, Image, and Insight Comics. Colorist: Mohan.

Carlos Gomez lives in Madrid and currently works for Marvel. He joined us on War Cry, Down Town, and Wild Card. Colorist: Mohan.

Diego Galindo, a Spanish artist, picked up the baton on Dog Men. Colorist: Mohan.

Stjepan Sejic is a Croatian artist best best known for his work on Witchblade, Aphrodite IX, Sunstone, Rat Queens, and the recently released Harleen. He contributed covers to War Cry and Down Town.

Adam Mathison-Sward is an illustrator and tattoo artist from St. Paul, Minnesota. He illustrated Christmas Eve for our very first Dresden Drop!

Fanart Contest Reminder

Two days left! Submit your entries to yearofdresden (at) gmail.com by February 20th for a shot at the grand prize: a signed ARC of Peace Talks and the print of your choice from Mika Kuloda! Or if you don’t have any fanart of your own, why not reach out to your favorite Dresden fanartists and suggest they enter? The rules and the details can be found in our Announcement Post.

Special Edition Pentacle Revealed

As we announced last week, our friends at Badali Jewelry are creating a special edition of Harry’s pentacle amulet to commemorate the series’ 20th Anniversary! The 20th Anniversary necklace will have a different center stone reflecting Harry’s ties to the magical world, and they asked for the fans to decide which option to produce.

This week, the votes are in: By a narrow margin, the winner of the Special Edition Anniversary Pentacle poll is the green-black Demonreach opal. The amulet will be available for purchase this spring! We’ll let you know when orders open.

Death Masks Read-Along

Next, the Goodreads Read-Along continues with Death Masks! We’re now on schedule to hit Peace Talks a few days after the book comes out, so we can ease up on the throttle and spend two weeks discussing each book instead of just one. Join the Spoiler-Free or Spoiler-Friendly discussions today!

Book Deals

The Grave Peril ebook is on sale for $1.99! Support independent bookstores by buying through Kobo (here’s how to support your favorite local shop!) or Books-A-Million, or order from the following vendors: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, or Google Play. The sale runs through March 1st.

(Note: As of publication, Apple Books has not dropped the price yet, but we expect them to do so soon. If they’re your preferred ebook source, try checking once a day until they catch up!)

And Today Only: Jim’s Spider-Man novel Darkest Hours is Audible’s Daily Deal! Audible members in the US and Canada can snag a copy for just $4.95.

And that’s it for this week! Be sure to visit Jim-Butcher.com every Tuesday in 2020 for weekly Drops of never-before-seen artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks, or other tasty tidbits. Join our new mailing list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment in our 20th Anniversary celebration, and check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

Peace Talks Giveaway

Sorry for the non-Tuesday post, but this couldn’t wait! Shelf Awareness is holding a giveaway for 25 advance copies of Peace Talks. Enter by Monday, Feb 17th, for your chance to win! Open to U.S. residents ages 18 and up.

Visit jim-butcher.com every Tuesday this year for artwork, microfiction, interviews, contests, sample chapters for Peace Talks, and other tasty tidbits. Be sure to join our announcement list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment in our 20th Anniversary Extravaganza!

Send Valentines, Vote on Jewelry, and More!

What’s in this week’s Dresden Drop?

Dresden Valentines
Fanart contest EXTENDED!
VOTE on 20th Anniversary Jewelry Piece
Summer Knight Read-Along Begins
Storm Front Sweepstakes Reminder

Woohoo, let’s do this thing!

Dresden Valentines

How better to celebrate Thomas’ birthday this week than with Dresden-themed Valentines? Send that special someone in your life a message from Harry’s friends, foes, and frenemies, and share the spirit of love, friendship, and unresolved sexual tension.

If you dig the illustrations, be sure to give some love to artist Tyler Walpole (he sells officially licensed prints of his Dresden art!) and consider snagging a copy of The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game or Dresden Accelerated from Evil Hat Productions. This represents only a fraction of all the amazing artwork packed into the games! Captions by Priscilla Spencer. Click to enlarge.

Again, special thanks to Tyler Walpole and Fred Hicks of Evil Hat Productions for allowing us to use their artwork! Check out the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game and Dresden Accelerated.

Fanart Contest Extended

We’ve EXTENDED the deadline for the fanart contest by a week. You now have until February 20th to submit your artwork, or to convince your favorite fanartists to submit theirs! Get the rules here.

Vote on Harry’s 20th Anniversary Pentacle

Our friends at Badali Jewelry are creating a special edition of Harry’s pentacle amulet to commemorate the series’ 20th Anniversary! Instead of his mother’s ruby (which they will continue to sell), the 20th Anniversary necklace will have a different stone, and they want YOUR input on which option to produce! They’ve come up with four options that reflect different parts of Harry’s magic and his connection to the larger world–vote for your favorite here!

Option A embodies the aura of blue light let off when Harry infuses his pentacle with his will.

The next two options represent Harry’s connection to Demonreach: Option B‘s opal has flecks of green and black that conjure images of running (or parkouring) through Demonreach’s subterranean crystalline tunnels. Option C‘s opal is a vivid green-gold–the color of much of his magic since bonding with the genius loci.

Option D symbolizes Harry’s fealty to Mab as the Winter Knight–its opal is the same ice blue as the earring Mab gave Harry in Skin Game.

Which are your favorites? Vote on Badali Jewelry’s Facebook page by “Liking” whichever ones you dig the most! (And give their page a Like while you’re at it. This isn’t the only new Dresden piece they’ll put out this year! And chances are, if you love their Dresden line, you’ll love many of the other authors in their officially licensed catalogue.) The poll will run through Friday, and we’ll announce the results here next week!

Summer Knight Read-Along Begins

You know the drill! This is the last of the “lightning round” of the one-week discussions. After this, we’ll switch to two weeks per book. Choose the Non-Spoiler Thread or the Spoiler-Friendly Discussion.

Sweepstakes Reminder

Don’t forget, the sweepstakes for one of five signed copies of Storm Front ends Monday the 16th! Open to US residents, 18 and older.

And that’s it for today! As always, we’ll be back for more Dresden-y goodness next Tuesday. See you then! In the meantime, be sure to join our announcement list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment in our 20th Anniversary Extravaganza!