Month: April 2020

This week, you can download desktops featuring the new cover art and stills from the trailer, then get a discount on the Steam edition of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game in anticipation of its launch on the Switch! Ready? LET’S DO THIS THING.

Living Social

We’re expanding out social media presence! You should already know about the JimButcherNews Twitter feed, but we’ve also added accounts on Facebook and Instagram as well. Give us a follow and enjoy all the content that doesn’t make it into our Drops, like the Trailer Rewatch thread, the Quarantine House Game, and more!

Screen Swag

Count down the days to Peace Talks (July 14th) and Battle Ground (Sept 29th) in style with “Dresden Duology” wallpapers! Stills from the book trailer feature Jason Bernardo as Harry Dresden, Liz Fenning as Mab, Chris Showerman as Marcone, and Birgit Ludemann as Lara.

Check our aspect ratio guide to see which version is right for your setup:

• 1.77 (Widescreen) — 1920×1080, 1600×900, 1536×864, 1366×768, 1280×720
• 1.6 — 1440×900, 1280×800
• 1.33 (Most Tablets) — 1024×768

1.77, 1.6, 1.33

1.77, 1.6, 1.33

1.77, 1.6, 1.33

1.77, 1.6, 1.33

1.77, 1.6, 1.33

If you haven’t seen the book trailer yet, check it out now!

Switching It Up

Need more stay-at-home fun/distraction? The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game is being released for Nintendo Switch this Monday! (No, we don’t know what Harry’s turnip prices will be.)

What is the DFCO? It’s a surprisingly challenging strategy game, where you play Harry Dresden and his friends as they take on the cases from the bestselling Dresden Files novels in the ultimate what-if scenario: what if Harry was on the scene with allies who weren’t there in the original story? Fans will appreciate the characters and references, but knowledge of the series is not required.

This digital version of the game was created by Hidden Achievement based on the tabletop version by Evil Hat Productions, featuring art by Tyler Walpole. You can also snag it on the App Store for iOS, Google Play, or for 25% off on Steam! The game supports both online and local pass-and-play, for all your quarantine and post-lockdown needs.

And Finally…

Denarians and Donuts and Mobsters, oh my! The Goodreads Read-Along continues with Small Favor.

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. We’ll see you next week!

We try to stick to our “no more than once a week” posting pattern out of respect for your overstuffed inboxes, but I think you’ll see why we had to deviate. Jim’s publisher has revealed Chris McGrath’s gorgeous cover art for the second of the two Dresden novels coming out this year, Battle Ground!

Battle Ground (Dresden #17) hits stores September 29th, just 2 1/2 months after Peace Talks (Dresden #16) on July 14th! You can preorder both installments in this year’s “Dresden Duology” and support independent bookstores at our storefront at Bookshop.org, or choose from a wider array of vendors at the Jim-Butcher.com Store!

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. We’ll see you next week!

The headline says it all! Let’s dive right in.

Costume Contest

We had such fun with our Fanart Contest that we want to honor another section of the Dresden fandom’s creatives: cosplayers and cosplay photographers! Read all the rules, then submit your Cosplay Contest entries to yearofdresden@gmail.com by May 12th.

Coloring Pages

Running low on things to binge on Netflix? Fresh out of animals to cross? Feeling more schooled by your kids than the reverse? We’ve got you covered. Adam Mathison-Sward can’t operate his tattoo parlor during the lockdown, so he’s used some of his downtime to produce a quintet of Dresden images ready for coloring! We’re sharing these three pages for free, and if you like what you see, we’re offering two additional coloring pages in exchange for donations in support of your community.

Make a donation in any amount to your local food bank, or give back to the Dresdenverse small business community by buying a piece from Adam’s shop or Badali Jewelry or pledging to Adam’s Patreon. Forward your receipt to yearofdresden@gmail.com, and we’ll send you two more coloring pages to show our gratitude! Click to embiggen.

If you’d be interested in seeing a full Dresden Files coloring book, let us know! And if you’re looking for more goodies to help pass the time in quarantine, Penguin is still offering ebooks Storm Front, Fool Moon, and Grave Peril at reduced rates. Get the links in last week’s post.

Support Badali Jewelry!

Our friends at Badali Jewelry are facing a rough patch due to the cancelation of much of the 2020 con season. If you’ve been eyeing a piece, they’d greatly appreciate your support! They’re also selling gift cards and accepting direct donations via GoFundMe. Please help us ensure high quality, officially licensed, handcrafted-in-the-USA fandom merch stays in business. And hey, Mother’s Day is coming up, and Margaret LeFay’s ruby pentacle would be a fabulous gift for any mama geek…

Healing Vibes for Blaze

And finally, in the moments before this story was posted, we learned our beloved Blaze (here cosplaying as Queen Mab) has COVID-19 and has been hospitalized due to complications with pneumonia. Those who frequented the Jim-Butcher.com forums will undoubtedly recall her boundless generosity, her kindness, and her uproarious sense of humor. Please join us in sending her and her family your love, your healing energies, and your best wishes for a speedy recovery, as we send our love to all those in our community impacted by the virus.

And that’s it for this today!

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 next week!

This week is a bit scattered, but it’s SCATTERED AWESOME, so who are we to complain? We’ve got some great book deals, delightful new art, and some behind-the-scenes photos for the making of the trailer!

April Fool’s Redux

Last week’s prank of a re-release of the Peace Talks trailer with “improved” visual effects was ridiculously silly (you all watched the real trailer first, yes?), but the fun didn’t stop there! Before the day was done, illustrator and tattoo artist Adam Mathison-Sward was already hard at work on a tribute to a previous April Fool’s prank: our 2011 “announcement” of the Li’l Harry Adventures children’s book series. We thought they were too perfect not to share! Check out his (fake) covers for the (fake) spinoff.

You can check out all our previous April Fool’s pranks here:

• 2019 — Jim Talks Peace Talks (which was apparently subtle enough to be quoted straight by at least one online news source)
• 2018 — The Dresden Files is Legal! (not really a prank per se, but very silly!)
• 2016 — Dresden Files Special Edition
• 2015 — Dresden Novels on Hiatus (turned out to be weirdly prescient?)
• 2014 — Dresden Files coming to Broadway (the infamous prank that inspired a lamentably unobservant fan to BOOK A TRIP TO NEW YORK to see it opening weekend)
• 2012 — Bigfoot Paranormal Romance
• 2011 — Fool Moon comic reboot and Li’l Harry Adventures

Book Deals

TODAY ONLY: the Parallel Worlds anthology, which contains the Goodman Grey-POV short story “Monsters,” is on sale for 99 cents! Find out what happens when our favorite amoral shapeshifter pulls a job for John Marcone.

Note: Co-editor LJ Hachmeister is currently working on the front lines as a registered nurse at an ER in Denver, helping stem the tide of Covid-19. All her books are also now on sale for 99 cents, so if you dig fantasy, military sci-fi, and space opera, it’s the perfect time to grab a copy of her work! And if you’re looking for another awesome urban fantasy to tide you off until Peace Talks, pick up the “Grave Report” series or “Dangerous Ways” by her co-editor R.R. Virdi.

You can also still snag the first three books at a reduced rate, and this week we’re adding Skin Game for $2.99! 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!

Upcoming Books Update

Library Journal has given Peace Talks a starred review! Their verdict: “With many familiar faces returning and lots of magical action, this latest from Butcher will have fans rejoicing at the return of Chicago’s only professional wizard.” –Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Library System, Northampton

Also, Battle Ground is now preorderable in audiobook! Note: If you’re an Audible subscriber and want to preorder using credits, please make sure you’ve logged into Audible beforehand. It’ll only give you the “buy with Audible credit” option if you’re already logged in.

Support this website by preordering both books from our store!

Trailer: Behind the Scenes

Each moment in the trailer went by so quickly, it was hard to appreciate all the work that went into each setup! Here’s a glimpse behind the scenes, thanks to photographer Yrene Ramirez. Click to embiggen.

Haven’t seen the official book trailer for Peace Talks yet? See it now, or see it again!

And that’s it for this week!

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 next week!