Year: 2011

Virtual Signing for Ghost Story and Side Jobs

For fans unable to make it to any of Jim’s signing tour stops, Dog Eared Books are running a Virtual Signing for Ghost Story, Side Jobs, and the new paperback version of Changes! Fans can pre-order signed, personalized copies of Jim’s books, and they’ll be shipped out soon after the release date.

EDIT: Fans can now also pre-order copies of the Dresden Files RPG, signed by Jim!

Get all the details at the Dog Eared Books website! Please direct any questions to Tina. Deadline for all pre-orders is Tuesday, July 19, 2011. The ship date is expected to be, but not guaranteed to be, on or before July 30, 2011.

If you’re not interested in a signed copy, you can pre-order a regular copy through the Jim-Butcher.com store.
Discuss this on the forum here.

June News Roundup

We have two big, exciting news items to report!

First, Issue #2 of the Fool Moon graphic novel hit stores today! Find it using comicshoplocator.com.

And second, Jim’s Ghost Story signing tour has been announced!

Book Release Event — Q&A and Signing:
Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary
707 W 47th Street
Kansas City, Missouri
July 26, 2011, at 7:00 PM
Requires a $27.95 ticket (includes one Hardcover copy of Ghost Story, one Stamped Admission Ticket, and one Guest Ticket if needed). We recommend you buy your ticket early! Details at their website:
http://www.rainydaybooks.com/JimButcher

Wedesday, July 27th, 7:00 PM
Anderson’s Bookshop Naperville
123 W Jefferson Ave
Naperville, Illinois 60540
NOTE: While a ticket is not required to attend the Q&A, if fans want to get anything signed, they will need to purchase a copy of Ghost Story at the hosting bookstore to get a signing line ticket. Pre-purchase your copy of Ghost Story at Anderson’s Bookshop in person or by phone at 630-355-2665. Note also that Seating is limited, and is on a first come-first served basis.

Thursday, July 28, 2011, 7:00 PM
B&N Buckhead
2900 Peachtree Road NE Suite 310
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-261-7747

Friday, July 29, 2011, 7:00 PM
Books & Company
The Greene Shopping Center
4453 Walnut Street
Beavercreek, OH 45440
937-429-2169
NOTE: Signing line numbers are given out beginning at 6 pm. Please show your Books & Co receipt for Ghost Story to get a line number.

Saturday, July 30, 2011, 2pm:
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Cir # B1
Lexington, KY 40503
859-273-2911
NOTE: Line tickets required and available with the purchase of Ghost Story, available July 26th. Presale vouchers and line tickets available June 13th. A limited number of VIP tickets are available for Gives Back members.

Monday, August 1, 2011, 7:00 PM
B&N Tysons Corner Mall
Tysons Corner Center
7851 L. Tysons Corner Center
McLean, VA 22102
703-506-2937

Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 6:00 PM
B&N Tribeca
97 Warren Street
New York, NY 10007
212-587-5389

Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 7:00 PM:
Harvard COOP B&N
1400 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-499-2000

Find details about the signings and coordinate with fellow fans on the forum.

We also wanted to remind you that more cool stuff is headed your way soon! The second of five Ghost Story sample chapters will be posted June 21st. Also, Ellen Datlow’s The Naked City anthology, which contains Jim Butcher’s short story “Curses,” hits stores July 5th! Preorder it in our store. And while you’re at it, you can preorder Ghost Story in hardcover, audio CD, or Kindle format!

And don’t forget to preorder an Alera map poster signed by Jim Butcher and artist Priscilla Spencer in the Virtual Signing, which ends June 28th!

Alera Map poster virtual signing

Did you miss your chance to buy a Jim-signed Alera map when they were offered in January? Here’s another opportunity! Artist Priscilla Spencer will be accepting preorders for Alera map posters signed by herself and Jim Butcher until June 28th. $10 from each sale will be donated to charity to help fight global poverty.

Full details at her site store.

Dresden Files RPG releases free Night Fears adventure

The Dresden Files RPG crew have released a new, completely free, one-shot adventure available for you (following in the footsteps of Neutral Grounds)!

The old Cranston house had stood unoccupied for as long as anyone could remember. Few spoke of why. After a while, everything just passed into rumor, and now nobody knows the truth for sure.

But they do know one thing: it’s one hell of a spooky house. If you can make it through the whole night in the Cranston house, you’ll be legendary back at school, kings and queens of the hallways.

So, anybody up for a dare? Come on, we can do it. It’ll be a scream.

Night Fears is a Dresden Files RPG casefile, a one-shot mystery-adventure intended for 3-7 characters at the “Feet in the Water” power level. Customizable, pregenerated characters, a mix of mortals and minor talents, are provided with sheets and power details.

You can run it as a “who will survive?” horror thriller, or as a deeper supernatural mystery. Or integrate it into your own game, and use it as a starting point for your characters — or as trigger-story about the kids who went into the house and never came out again.

Together with a copy of The Dresden Files RPG: Your Story, Night Fears is perfect for a “test drive” at home, or for a convention GM looking for a print-and-play scenario.

Download it free from DriveThruRPG today!

What To Read While Waiting For Ghost Story?

Ghost Story is just a few months away, but for many of us the wait’s just unbearable. What’s a superfan to do?

Read something else, of course. I like my stuff pretty dark; so here’s what I’d recommend to fellow Jim fans looking in that direction, both by authors who I fully believe deserve a wider audience.

Harry Connolly’s Child of Fire: This is dark stuff (Changes dark, and maybe darker still), but so worth it. If you’re wondering what Harry’s adventures would look like in a more horror-inflected series where magic is an even surer route to pain, this is it. Jim Butcher has said that the writing here tells him he’s got to up his game, and you can see why. The plot is propulsive, the twists and turns are sharp, and the hero’s got some serious stuff darkening his door. This is part of the “Twenty Palaces” series, followed by Game of Cages and the upcoming Circle of Enemies.

While you’re at it, consider checking out Chuck Wendig’s collection of short stories, Irregular Creatures. Chuck runs an awesome, bizarre, profane writers’-advice blog over on Terrible Minds (good reading on its own!), and his e-collection of short stories here follows in that vein. He also has an upcoming novel about a vampire who returns to waking in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, Double Dead, which I’m betting will be up your alley as well.

So what are you reading while waiting on Ghost Story? Whose stuff would you recommend? Chime in in the comments, below! (Please avoid spoilers while making your recommendations!)