NOTE: In our traditional April Fool’s posts, we endeavor to make them credible at the beginning, then crank up the nonsense until the joke becomes obvious. But these days, the idea of knowingly spreading misinformation (even when comically false) sounds exhausting. So here’s our notice ahead of time: This is 100% silliness! Hope it lightens your day. (Also, if you haven’t seen the Peace Talks trailer, you DEFINITELY want to watch that first.)
April 1, 2020
The Peace Talks trailer debuted Tuesday, March 24th to enthusiastic reviews, but today, director Priscilla Spencer notified fans that they will be receiving an updated version with “some improved visual effects.” The move is unheard of for a book trailer already in release, according to book vloggers and publishing executives, but Spencer cites the precedent set by Tom Hooper, director of the 2019 movie musical “Cats,” who re-released digital prints of his film to theaters two days after its release.
Spencer admitted to finishing the trailer just a day before its Tuesday premiere after “procrastinating on the end titles sequence for like a month.” The last-minute tweaks left room for mistakes, apparently, like Harry Dresden’s bare head slipping through unnoticed.
Jim Butcher’s publicity team at Penguin Random House have long demonstrated the efficacy of marketing Harry’s novels with a consistent aesthetic: a staff and fedora to serve as visual shorthand for “Wizard Private Eye.” Given the trailer’s role as a promotional tool, a hat seems an obvious inclusion. Today, Spencer rectifies that error.
The updated trailer can be viewed on YouTube and at Jim-Butcher.com below.
Last week’s Dresden Drop looked to the future, revealing the long-awaited trailer for Peace Talks and the bombshell announcement that there will be TWO Dresden novels this year. This week, we’ll look to the past, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Storm Front on April 1st, 2000.
Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.
But before we dive into that, let’s do a quick recap of the week. First off: if you haven’t seen the trailer yet, what are you waiting for?
Support this website by preordering Peace Talks and Battle Ground using the referral links in our store!
Tor.com featured us twice in one day, first to echo the reveals and add the official synopsis, then second to write up the highlights of the Q&A later that morning.
A man’s magic demonstrates what sort of person he is, what is held most deeply inside of him. There is no truer gauge of a man’s character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power. I was not a murderer. I was not like Victor Sells. I was Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. I was a wizard. Wizards control their power. They don’t let it control them. And wizards don’t use magic to kill people. They use it to discover, to protect, to mend, to help. Not to destroy.
In the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago. It also pulled readers into a a captivating, addictive saga overflowing with action, humor, engaging characters, and insights into our own world, guided by a protagonist whose persistent struggle to do the right thing has served as a source of comfort and inspiration through readers’ own challenges.
It’s difficult to know how to celebrate a novel that had such a powerful influence on the publishing world, joining the works of Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, and Laurell K Hamilton (and followed quickly by Charlaine Harris and Kelley Armstrong) in helping define the urban fantasy genre.
So rather than trying to capture the weight of that legacy, we’re choosing to highlight a few key places where fans, publishers, and creators in other media have interacted with the work, and we’re going to do so in several installments, spaced throughout the year. (This is mostly because a lot of the files and documents Priscilla needs to do this properly are in her apartment in Los Angeles, whereas she is holed up with her family in Dallas for the duration of the Curve-Flattening Period.)
You don’t go walking into the proverbial lion’s den lightly. You start with a good breakfast.
Today, we’ll start by revisiting Storm Front through series rereads hosted by Goodreads (2020), The Unspoiled Podcast (2018), The Dresden Files Podcast (2018), and Tor (2012). Do you have a favorite review/discussion of the book? Reply to the newsletter/@jimbutchernews twitter/social media post where this blog is linked and tell us about it!
Found in Translation
The traditional 20th Anniversary gift is china, but we can do better than that! Not only do we have China, but we also have Japan, Thailand, India, Russia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and so many more. Check out our cover gallery of Storm Front‘s many translations into different languages. No matter where you are in the world, if you need the kind of help only Harry can provide, rest assured: he’s in the book.
Bulgarian
Chinese
Chinese
Czech
Dutch
Estonian
French
French
German
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hebrew
Hungarian
Hungarian
Persian
Persian
Polish
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Spanish
Spanish
Thai
Turkish
I don’t want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I’d rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges and where elves don’t come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p’s and q’s. My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I’m in the book.
We look forward to digging into more of Storm Front‘s legacy–including adaptions by the Sci-Fi Channel, the Dabel Brothers & Dynamite Entertainment, and Subterranean Press–throughout the year!
Also, for a limited time, Penguin has put the first three books back on sale. If you have friends who are stuck at home because of social distancing and on the lookout for a new series, now is the perfect time to catch up! Four books for under $14? Heck yes!
Our series read-along continues with Proven Guilty! Join the Spoiler-Free or Spoiler-Friendly discussions on Goodreads.
And that’s it for today! Though not it for this week. If you’ve been a Dresden fan for any length of time, you’ll know to expect April Fool’s hijinks tomorrow. Be sure to come back then!
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 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.
Today will be more explosive than a pyrofuego at a fireworks factory. The trailer is here, and we have massive news! And y’all are so passionate our website went down last night just from the anticipation of the trailer. If it happens again, we’ll be keeping you updated on twitter at @jimbutchernews, so you don’t miss a thing!
Here’s what today’s schedule looks like:
10:30am Eastern:
THE TRAILER IS HERE! Hit up io9 for the exclusive premiere of the long-awaited Peace Talks trailer AND read chapter one!
WE WANT TO SEE YOUR REACTION. Film yourself watching the trailer for the first time and send the video to yearofdresden@gmail.com using the large file sending utility of your choice: Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc. We’ll be editing them together into a massive compilation video, and we’d love to include you.
Spend the next couple hours rewatching the trailer obsessively, cataloguing every detail, and screaming over the explosive new info with your friends.
Realize you have a million questions for Jim and trailer director Priscilla Spencer about what you just saw. Tweet them to @jimbutchernews, and we’ll try to answer as many as we can at:
12:30pm Eastern:
Jim and director Priscilla Spencer will jump on Zoom for a Q&A, and you should join us! The first 100 fans can watch live on Zoom’s webinar feature. For everyone else, we’re hoping to stream the Q&A on YouTube or Facebook, so everyone can participate and submit their questions live. If that livestreaming capability is overloaded, we’ll record it and post to YouTube afterwards, so everyone will still be able to see it. Keep an eye on @jimbutchernews for updates!
The Trailer
The Peace Talks trailer was written, directed, and co-executive produced by Priscilla Spencer, working closely with Jim, and it stars Jason Bernardo as Harry Dresden, Sarah Flannery as Karrin Murphy, Christopher Showerman as John Marcone, and Birgit Ludemann as Lara Raith. A complete list of cast and crew can be found in the description on YouTube.
It’s almost here! Tuesday morning at 10:30am Eastern, join us for the premiere of the long-awaited Peace Talks trailer.
We’ll give you a couple hours to watch the trailer a half-dozen times and flail with all your friends about the explosive new details therein, then at 12:30pm Eastern, Jim and director Priscilla Spencer will be jumping on Zoom for a Q&A. After seeing the trailer, folks can tweet questions about the day’s news to @jimbutchernews, and we’ll answer as many as we can until the call ends at 1:30.
The first 100 fans can watch live on Zoom. For everyone else, we’re hoping to stream the Q&A on YouTube or Facebook, so everyone can participate and submit their questions live. However, in our tests today, Zoom’s livestreaming capability seemed to be (understandably!) overloaded. If we’re not able to livestream, we’ll record it and post to YouTube afterwards, so everyone will still be able to see it. Keep an eye on @jimbutchernews for updates!
I don’t know if Nicodemus got his hands on the Shroud again or if Mother Summer got a little over-excitable with her plague jars, but either way, we’ll be spending a lot of time catching up on reading at home as we do our part to flatten the curve!
Need something to keep you entertained during this period of isolation? You can catch up on all our 20th Anniversary “Dresden Drop” posts so far here!
Trailer Update
First Emerald City Comic Con was canceled, then we rescheduled for Planet Comicon, which was also canceled, and now entire countries are shutting down. Alas, an in-person premiere wasn’t meant to be. But the online premiere date remains unchanged: look for it here next Tuesday, March 24th!
Director Priscilla (me!) is heartbroken that she won’t be able to see all of your faces in person as you watch the trailer for the first time, so she has a request for the fans: when the trailer drops next week, record yourself watching it, then send the reaction video to yearofdresden@gmail.com. We’ll edit them together into a big compilation!
To whet your appetite, here’s a sneak peek at some of our characters…
Actors featured here: Kamy Bruder as Thomas, Birgit Ludemann as Lara, and Christopher Showerman as Marcone.
Fandom Fun
To fill out today’s Drop a bit, here are some treats generated by the fandom in the past week.
Need something to keep you entertained during the period of social isolation? Adam Mathison-Sward has the answer: Dresdenverse bookmarks! Color your favorite(s), then use one to hold your place in your favorite Quarantine Read. Click to download at full size.
Also, the fan-run Molly Carpenter twitter account offers a suggestion for ensuring you wash a full 20 seconds for optimal virus-fighting effectiveness. Spoilers for Cold Days.
Dead Beat Read-Along Begins
The world may be becoming increasingly unpredictable, but at least you can rely on our series read-along to stay on schedule! Join the discussion of Dead Beat in our Spoiler-Friendly or Spoiler-Free threads.
And that’s it for today. Be kind to each other this week, because we’re all in this together, and don’t skimp on the soap! We look forward to dazzling you with the trailer and some other spectacular surprises next week.
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 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 soon!
