Month: January 2020

There’s a LOT going on this week, and we can’t wait to share it with you. If you haven’t yet, join our announcement list and follow @jimbutchernews on Twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment in the Dresden Files’ 20th Anniversary Spectacular!

Travel Schedule, Part 1

We’re glad we broke protocol and messaged you all about the ECCC 20th Anniversary Party a day early, because tickets sold out in less than four hours! Hell’s bells, you guys are dedicated. 😀

Jim’s publicity team is busy hammering out the dates and details for his signing tour, but to start the ball rolling, here are the first three (of many!) events Jim will be attending in 2020.

Superstars Writing Seminar (NOT a con–a series of workshops on the craft and business of being/becoming a professional writer)
February 5 – 8, 2020
Antlers Hotel
4 S. Cascade Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Jim’s tentative schedule includes seminars on crafting protagonists and antagonists, dealing with feedback, spinoffs, finding balance, the art of the con, and more!

Pensacon
February 28 – March 1, 2020
Pensacola Bay Center
201 E Gregory St
Pensacola, FL 32502

Emerald City Comic Con
March 12 – 15, 2020
Washington State Convention Center
705 Pike St
Seattle, WA 98101
Unfortunately, the the 20th Anniversary Party SOLD OUT in under 4 hours!

We don’t have information yet about the timing of Jim’s panels and signings for Pensacon or ECCC, but we’ll announce those details as soon as we have them.

Artist Spotlight, Part 2

During the four-week duration of the “Year of Dresden” Fanart Contest, we’ll be spotlighting some of the incredible artists from our official tie-ins to help inspire you to create your own pieces! If you missed last week’s roundup and the rules of the contest, you can view that post here.

This week and next, we’re celebrating some of the artists who contributed to the Dresden role playing games. Today’s crew contributed their talents to the first two volumes, “Your Story” and “Our World,” which you can snag in pdf format from the Evil Hat store! (The hardcovers are out of print.) Click the thumbnail to embiggen.

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Talon Dunning is a freelance fantasy illustrator who has been working primarily in the roleplaying game industry for nearly 20 years.

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Javier Charro is a freelance illustrator and concept artist based in Madrid. His work appeared in the Spanish language edition of the Dresden RPG published by Nosolorol. See more of his DFRPG pieces in his blog!

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Jennifer Rodgers is a New Jersey-based illustrator powered by tea and Indian food. Her work has appeared in several dozen RPGs and comics.

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Ed Northcott is an illustrator, family man, and general curmudgeon.

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Christian St. Pierre specializes in tabletop game and comic book illustration.

Again, all these fabulous official artists are ineligible for the fanart competition, so you don’t have to worry about one-upping them. We want to keep the playing field as level as possible! Submit your entries to yearofdresden (at) gmail.com by February 13th for a shot at the grand prize: a signed ARC of Peace Talks and the print of your choice from Mika Kuloda! Get the rules and the details in our Announcement Post.

Read-Along Revised

We heard your comments, and we’re revising our Read-Along methodology!

First, we’re reducing the discussions for Fool Moon, Grave Peril, and Summer Knight to one week each, so the timing of the release of Peace Talks dovetails with the beginning of its discussion.

Second, we’re creating two discussion threads for each book. The Non-Spoiler thread will contain ONLY spoilers through end end of that book, and the Spoiler thread will be fair game for EVERYTHING up until Peace Talks. That way, long-time fans have the freedom to dissect the how the events of the earlier books echo into later books without spoiling the experience of first-time readers.

And finally, we’re adding additional focus questions to help steer conversation to juicier lines of discussion.

So join us as we dive into Fool Moon for one week only! Here are links to the spoiler-friendly and spoiler-free threads, as well as a new open thread for general discussion of all things Dresden.

Ongoing Goodies

Also, TODAY is the last day to enter the sweepstakes for a signed set of every Dresden novel through Skin Game! US residents only.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print! See you next week for another Dresden Drop.

Another awesome news story that couldn’t wait for the next Dresden Drop: Emerald City Comic Con is hosting a 20th Anniversary Party at 6pm on March 12th, and tickets are on sale NOW! This event is available to anyone with a ticket–you do NOT need to have a con badge to attend the event.

Here’s the press release:

Celebrate 20 years of the Dresden Files with Jim Butcher! At this intimate event, fans will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with Jim, have their books signed*, receive exclusive swag—and be the first to hear some very exciting news!

The price of the ticket includes: 1 copy of the special Storm Front Con Edition hardcover (available only at select conventions throughout the year) a Dresden Files tote bag, 2 enamel pins, a Harry and Mouse magnet, a Peace Talks sampler and signed bookplate, and 2 drink tickets to toast Harry Dresden!

*Limit 3 items/person. A bookseller will be on-site if you would like to buy books at the event.

The party will be held at the Sheraton Grand Seattle’s Ravenna Room, 1400 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.

Tickets permit one person only. Kids will need their own ticket.

Please note that alcohol will be served at the event, so remember to bring photo ID, as you will be carded. For non-drinkers and guests under 21, soda and other non-alcoholic beverages will be available.

Get your tickets now, as the event is certain to sell out!

Subscribe to the Jim-Butcher.com newsletter and follow @JimButcherNews on twitter to ensure you’re always the first to hear about exciting new developments in the Year of Dresden!

Last Thursday, Entertainment Weekly revealed Chris McGrath’s cover of Peace Talks and an exclusive excerpt from the book. So while we’ve got visuals on the brain, we’d love to see YOUR version of Harry’s world. For this week’s Dresden Drop, we’re launching the Official “Year of Dresden” Fanart Contest! 

(What is the Year of Dresden? 2020 is the 20th anniversary of Storm Front, and we’re celebrating with weekly “Dresden Drops” of artwork, microfiction, interviews, sample chapters of Peace Talks, contests, and other goodies every Tuesday throughout the year. Catch up in our introductory post, then join our announcement list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a beat!)

Contest prizes includes a signed ARC of Peace Talks and poster prints by fan favorite illustrator Mika Kuloda (aka Mika Merrylark aka Mika Blackfield). Submissions are due Thursday, February 13^th, and winners will be announced Tuesday, February 18^th. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for all the rules!

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To get your creative juices flowing, over the span of the contest, we’ll be spotlighting some of the fabulous official artists who have contributed their visions of the Dresdenverse to alternate editions and tie-ins. (No need to feel intimidated–the official artists featured in these Spotlights are ineligible for this fanart contest. We want as level a playing field as possible!)

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Artist Spotlight, Part 1

Fans worldwide know and love Chris McGrath’s gritty, iconic style, but he’s not the only artist to lend his talents to Dresden covers! Today’s three spotlight artists have created covers for “special editions” of Jim’s material.

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Dan Dos Santos is best known in the Dresdenverse for creating the illustration of Harry riding Sue into battle, originally commissioned for the SFBC omnibus Wizard at Large, and since enshrined on TV Tropes as the definitive representation of the series’ Crowning Moments of Awesome.

As far as official art goes, he’s also illustrated covers for two other omnibus editions and the short story anthology Naked City (featuring the Dresden story “Curses”). But fans were in for a rare treat when a client commissioned him for another piece, and Dan generously documented his process: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. His unused “sketches” are some of the most striking images in the fandom!

You can buy prints of Dan’s art through his store.

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Mike Mignola, best known as the creator of Hellboy, lent his bold, graphic style to the novella “Backup,” our first taste of the Dresdenverse outside Harry’s point-of-view. This Subterranean Press limited edition is long since sold out, but copies are easily found through used book resalers.

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Vincent Chong has been consistently producing eye-catching covers and dreamlike, evocative illustrations since Subterranean Press began publishing their illustrated special editions of the Dresden novels in 2008. Ghost Story is in preorders now! Check out the full gallery of his Dresden cover work, then enjoy a sampling of his interior art. Inquire about prints here.

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Fanart Contest Rules

Now that you’re all sufficiently inspired, here are the details of the Official Year of Dresden Fanart Contest!

AWARDS

1 Grand Prize: ARC of Peace Talks and 12”x18” print of the Mika Kuloda illustration of their choice, both signed by Jim Butcher

3 Runners-Up: 12”x18” Mika Kuloda art print, signed by Jim Butcher

As Many Honorable Mentions As We See Fit: Eternal Glory and Bragging Rights

Note: We’d love to see entries from all around the globe, but regretfully we can only send physical prizes to residents in the United States.  Therefore, international entries are eligible for Honorable Mentions, but not for the other prize tiers.

HOW TO ENTER

Email the file to yearofdresden@gmail.com. Accepted file types are jpg, png, and gif.  Must be under 30MB.

Please include the name you’d like to be credited as, a link to your portfolio (if you have one), and your country (mostly for the prize tier thing, but also because we’re nosy).

Submissions are due February 13^th, 2020 at midnight Pacific time. 

Winners will be announced February 18^th.

RULES

This contest is open to fans at all skill levels, professional and amateur alike! 

Feel free to create in any medium, though keep in mind that this contest is not for cosplay or fan films.  Creators can submit up to 10 works, though each entry will be considered individually.  Sequential art of maximum 8 pages can be considered a single work.

Entries do not have to have been created specifically for this contest—you may submit prior work.

You’re welcome to make use of characters, quotes, and other elements from the Dresden Files novels, shorts, comics, RPGs, and other tie-ins, but note that the art itself must be your own original work.  If integrating existing imagery, it must be royalty free and follow the rights holder’s terms and conditions for use.  “I found it on Google Images” does not mean “royalty free.” 😀  Photomanipulations of official Dresden artwork and stills from the 2007 SciFi TV series are ineligible.

Try to keep entries at or below an “R” rating, in line with the spirit of the books.  Pornographic, abusive, or excessively vulgar entries will be disqualified.

THE FINE PRINT

This contest is all about elevating the incredible artists who make this fandom a vibrant, thriving creative community. To that end, we want to show our admiration by respecting their rights and not taking advantage of free labor. In submitting to this contest, participants give us permission to post their submissions WITH attribution on our website and various social media platforms, but the artwork remains the artists’ property.  We make no claim on the art and will not repurpose it for merchandise, media tie-ins, or other use without securing additional permissions from the artist and negotiating additional compensation. Because y’all are awesome and deserve nothing less.

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Special Bonus For Reading To The End

To celebrate the upcoming release of Peace Talks, Penguin Random House is giving away a signed set of every novel in The Dresden Files so far! Enter before January 28th for your chance to win.

That’s it for today’s Dresden Drop! Don’t forget to join our announcement list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter for more Dresden goodness. See you next week!

We try to avoid posting more than once a week out of respect for your inboxes, but this time, we have to make an exception. Part 2 of this week’s Dresden Drop: Entertainment Weekly has revealed the cover for Peace Talks, as well as an EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT from the book!

Now that the exclusivity period is over, we can share both below…

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And that was when every hair on my neck suddenly rose and stood on end, all the way down to my heels. Gooseflesh erupted over my entire body at once, and a primal, primeval wave of utter terror flickered through my lizard brain, utterly dislodging every rational thought in my head.

For a wizard, that’s . . . less than ideal. Control of our own thoughts and emotions is vital. Otherwise, all kinds of horrible things can happen. The first lesson every practitioner learns is how to quiet and focus his or her mind. And in the face of that mindless fear, I ran to that first lesson, allowing emotions to slough away, seeking calm, patience, balance.

I didn’t get any of those. But it was enough to let me shove the terror back and to start processing some degree of rational thought.

That hadn’t been the result of some random eddy of energy. Terror that focused was nothing less than a psychic disruption, a mental attack, the psychic equivalent of an ear-piercing shriek, loud enough to burst eardrums—and whatever had done it wasn’t even in sight yet.

In the sleeping city around me, hundreds or thousands of people had just been seized in the talons of nightmares of pursuit and mindless fear. Those who were awake and didn’t know what they were dealing with would interpret it as a brief, frightening hallucination or a migraine or simply a dizzy spell.

The old man had recovered faster than me, and by the time I’d cleared my head, he was already staring out at the night, his jaw set.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked him, my voice shaking.

“Outsiders,” he confirmed grimly. “Someone just whistled them in.”

“Super,” I said. “Just once, I’d like to be wrong about these things.”

The old man snorted. “Now, if you were an Outsider, what would you be doing in Chicago the night before a big peace conference?”

The question was almost meaningless. Outsiders were creatures from beyond the borders of reality, from outside of our universe. They weren’t human. They weren’t anything close to human. They were hideous, and they were dangerous, and they . . . were just too alien to be understood. There are Outsiders who want to eat your face off, and then there are the rest of them, who don’t go in for that kind of namby-pamby cuddly stuff.

Demons they might be. But demons summoned by mortals, the only way for them to get into our reality. They always have a mortal purpose, if not always a rational one.

“Trying to interfere with it in some way,” I suggested. “If a senior member of the Council was torn apart by monsters, it would tend to tilt blame toward the Fomor.”

“Definitely a poor way to begin negotiations,” Ebenezar agreed. “And I don’t think that we—”

He suddenly froze and stared.

I followed his gaze.

In a corner of the alley, where one of the building’s cornices formed a shadowy alcove, blue lines of light had appeared at the intersection of the ground and the two walls.

“Oh, Hell’s Bells,” I breathed. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Belike,” growled the old man, his eyes shifting around. “How well do you know this block?”

“It’s Chicago,” I said.

“Good. We need a place without people or much that can catch fire.”

I eyed him and said, “It’s Chicago.”

The light in the corner shifted weirdly, warped, spun into curlicues and spirals that should only have existed in Escher drawings. The stone of the building twisted and stretched, and then rock rippled and bubbled like pancake batter, and something started hauling itself out of the surface of the stone at the intersection of the three lines of light. My chest suddenly vibrated as if I’d been standing in a pool in front of an outflow pipe, and a surge of nausea nearly knocked me down.

The thing that slithered into our world was the size of a horse, but lower, longer, and leaner. It was canine in shape, generally—a quadruped, the legs more or less right, and everything else subtly wrong. A row of short, powerful-looking tentacles ran along its flanks. A longer, thicker tentacle lashed like a whip where its tail should have been. The feet were spread out, wide, for grasping, kind of like an eagle’s talons, and where its head should have been was nothing but a thick nest of more of the tendrils. It had something like scales made of mucus, rather than fur, and flesh squelched on flesh.

“Cornerhound,” Ebenezar said, his voice purely disgusted. “Damned things.”

The old man looked weary and obdurate, like a stone that had been resisting the sea since the last ice age. His expression was annoyed.

But then I noticed one of the more terrifying sights I’d seen in my life.

Ebenezar McCoy’s hands were unsteady.

The end of his staff quivered as they trembled.

My mentor, my teacher, the most feared wizard on the planet, was frightened.

He stepped between the hound and me and lifted his left hand as the thing stood there for a second, dripping slime onto the ground beneath it and seething. Dozens of little mouths lined with serrated teeth opened along its flanks, gasping at the thick summer air as though it was something that the creature found only partially breathable.

Then the cornerhound crouched, its body turning toward us with serpentine fluidity. The cluster of tentacles around its head began to quiver and undulate in weird unison, the motion becoming more and more energetic, and a weird moaning sound erupted from the creature, descending swiftly down the scale of audible sound until the tentacles all undulated together in a single quivering movement, and suddenly flew forward at the same instant, with a sound so deep I could feel it more than hear it.

The old man lifted his hand with a single sharp word, and a wall of pure arcane power blazed into light between us…

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You can preorder Peace Talks (or catch up on any material you’ve missed) through our store.

For those just tuning in, this year is 20th Anniversary of the publication of Storm Front. To honor that milestone and to thank the phenomenal fans who got us there, we will be posting weekly “Dresden Drops” on jim-butcher.com every Tuesday, featuring new 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! Check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

As we announced earlier this month, every Tuesday in 2020 will feature 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! Check the announcement post to catch up on prior Drops.

This week’s Dresden Drop: The official series reread has begun with Storm Front! Join us on Goodreads for an epic undertaking as we reread and discuss all 15 published novels, then take on the 16th! The schedule:

• #1, Storm Front: 1/13 – 26
• #2, Fool Moon: 1/27 – 2/9 (now on sale for $1.99! See below)
• #3, Grave Peril: 2/10 – 23
• #4, Summer Knight: 2/24 – 3/8
• #5, Death Masks: 3/9 – 22
• #6, Blood Rites: 3/23 – 4/5
• #7, Dead Beat: 4/6 – 19
• #8, Proven Guilty: 4/20 – 5/3
• #9, White Night: 5/4 – 17
• #10, Small Favor: 5/18 – 31
• #11, Turn Coat: 6/1 – 14
• #12, Changes: 6/15 – 28
• #13, Ghost Story: 6/29 – 7/12
• #14, Cold Days: 7/13 – 26 (Peace Talks out 7/14th!)
• #15, Skin Game: 7/27 – 8/9
• #16, Peace Talks: 8/10 – 31

(Note: This schedule may seem counter-intuitive, as Peace Talks comes out just as we’re diving into Cold Days. The advantage is that it gives all fans the opportunity to read and digest Peace Talks before diving into group discussion four weeks later–we know not everyone is going to be able to devour the book the week it’s out! You’ll definitely want to read ahead on your own and make sure you’re caught up before reading the new release.)

EDIT: The schedule has been changed in response to reader feedback!

Missing any books in your collection? Snag a copy through the jim-butcher.com store! You can also preorder Peace Talks, due out simultaneously in hardcover, ebook, and audio July 14th.

Bonus: get a jump on the Fool Moon discussion by snagging the ebook for only $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 January 26th.

That’s it for this week! Check out the Storm Front read-along, then come back next Tuesday for the next Dresden Drop!