Author: priscellie

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.

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!

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!

Readers rejoice, for this week, we bring you the Year of Dresden’s second never-before-seen Microfiction! We also have another fabulous array of images to inspire you to enter the Fanart Contest (submissions due February 13th), the launch of the Grave Peril reread, and another sweepstakes for signed goodies.

(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.)

Let’s jump right in! Today’s microfiction gives us a little insight into what was going on in Morgan’s head during the events of Turn Coat. WARNING: Contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Turn Coat, Changes, and Cold Days!

Microfiction #2: Journal

by Jim Butcher

You lose track of time, as the years go by. The things that seem significant, that rise above the rest, become your measure of its passage. And the longer you live, the more significant the event has to be to catch your notice.

It makes for infrequent milestones.

I haven’t kept this journal since my seventies. I only started it because I thought it would make a good impression on Anastasia, who I presume will be reading this entry.

I will spare you the schoolboy platitudes, my teacher. My old friend. Though you have never said it, I have always known that you have always known my heart.

Now I return to these papers, and read the last few pages, and realize that the lessons that keeping this journal would have taught me might have prevented this from being my last entry.

My final confession, really.

There’s little time, and far too much to say. I am losing blood and my thoughts wander when I must be concise.

Despite my promise to Margaret, I failed to protect her son.

I tracked him and his father until the time of Malcolm’s death. To this day, I’m not sure who killed him. I suppose it’s possible that Malcolm’s death was natural, but given this child’s ongoing misfortune it seems clear to me that he has been marked with an Adversary from the moment of his birth.

Malcolm died while I was on mission elsewhere. I arrived less than ten hours after the child went into the foster care system, and someone made him vanish. Magically, physically, bureaucratically. There was no trace of him, and I searched for years.

That bastard Justin DuMorne got to him before I could.

From then on, we could not be sure that the child was not molded to be a creature of Nemesis.

The child apparently murdered Justin in something very like a duel, and I am unsure if I am more frightened by the prospect that it was a deception to simulate Justin’s death — or if it wasn’t.

Given what is at stake, it would have been better to remove the child from play — but the Blackstaff couldn’t let his daughter’s son be neutralized. So I tracked him. I hounded him. I pushed him, constantly, in an attempt to draw out any controls that may have been emplaced — or any corruption of black magic that he might have been concealing. Even now, I cannot be sure that he is not the monster we all fear, in the process of being born.

But the enemy has invaded the Senior Council itself. And, regardless of his true allegiance, Dresden is not ensnared in the web of conflicts between them, and has both the inclination and the strength to defy them, at least for a time. Until I am certain where to lay the blame for LaFortier’s death, I will seek his assistance. Given who he is, he will have little choice but to give it. If nothing else, the pressure might show me his true colors.

Perhaps I have been too hard on him. Perhaps I really have become paranoid and mad. Perhaps I have wronged a good man. But there is too much at stake to take that chance. The thought of allowing a Destroyer to be birthed among us when I could have stopped it is too heavy to bear.
To those who come after me and read this… well. History will be my judge.

I bore the fear of multitudes in silence and fought the darkness as best I knew how. I can say that without hesitation.

But I wish I’d done better by that child.

I have the honor to be Respectfully Yours,

Donald Morgan
Warden

Illustrations by Mika Kuloda and Tyler Walpole.

Art Spotlight #3: More Gaming Goodness

Today’s official artists hail from the more recent Dresden RPG publications: The Paranet Papers, Dresden Accelerated, and the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game. Snag all the games from Evil Hat directly or your favorite local gaming store! Click the thumbnail to embiggen.

David Hueso is a digital illustrator, concept artist and animator living in Madrid, Spain. His transporting, evocative pieces are the perfect fit for The Paranet Papers’ “Spellcasting” addendum.

Jabari Weathers is a Baltimore-based artist under suspicion of being a goblin prince from beyond the veil. Look for their uniquely surreal, transcendent illustrations in The Paranet Papers’ “Goes Bump” section.

Medusa Dollmaker is a self-taught digital and traditional illustrator, mercenary, curly stuff designer, and part time gorgon from Valencia, Spain. Her work graces the cover and interiors of Dresden Accelerated.

Japanese artist Mika Kuloda has shared her richly emotive fanart under a number of aliases, including Mika Merrylark, Mika Kuloda, and Mika Blackfield. Most of her official illustrations were created for the canceled LARP project Dresden Lives, but they have since been repurposed as official merch for the Worldbuilders charity. Her only work to see print publication thus far are her richly detailed endpapers for The Paranet Papers, but we hope to see that change!

Tyler Walpole is an astoundingly prolific illustrator from Des Moines, Iowa, whose eye-catching, explosively kinetic pieces fill the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game and Dresden Accelerated. He’s also created officially licensed prints of Harry and his allies, some of which still have copies for sale. Snag them from his store!

Seeking Fanart Contest Submissions Now!

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! 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.

Grave Peril Read-Along

The Goodreads Read-Along continues full steam ahead with Grave Peril. In response to fan feedback, we reduced 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.

We’re also 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 forward into later books without spoiling the experience of first-time readers.

So join us as we dive into Grave Peril for one week only! Here are links to the spoiler-friendly and spoiler-free threads.

Storm Front Sweepstakes

Next, Penguin has announced another sweepstakes! They’re giving away five signed copies of the book where it all began, Storm Front. Enter by February 16th for your chance to win. For legal reasons, this sweepstakes is open to U.S. Residents only.

And that’s all for today! See you for next week for another fabulous Dresden Drop. Join our announcement list and follow @jimbutchernews on twitter to ensure you don’t miss a moment in the Year of Dresden!

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.

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

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!

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

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

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.