We're pleased to welcome today one of the defining authors of epic and urban fantasy. Jim Butcher has thrilled fans for a decade and Beth and her husband Gert were happy to chat with him about his work. Mr. Butcher recently published the final volume of his high-fantasy series CODEX ALERA. The twelfth volume of THE DRESDEN FILES, entitled Changes, comes out today! So, two lucky commenters on this post will win a copy of Changes!

Beth & Gert: Now that you've finished CODEX ALERA (and what a finish, too), the question that springs to mind first is, what's next? And have you thought about going back to Alera at some point?

Jim Butcher: I’m not quite sure what will be next. I’ll be making that decision after I finish writing the thirteenth book of THE DRESDEN FILES, sometime this summer.

How did you come up with the or... Read More

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

It is hard to believe that Storm Front, the first book of the Dresden Files, came out more than a decade ago. Jim Butcher introduces his scrappy wizard-detective in this inaugural adventure. That was a more innocent time, and Harry was a more innocent character back then.

Harry is a working wizard in Chicago. He has an office with the word “Wizard” on the door and he advertizes in the yellow pages. (“No Children’s Parties; No Love Potions.”) Harry is the real deal, a powerful magical practitioner, but lately most of his income comes from the Chicago PD, particularly their Special Investigations or SI unit—think “X Files.” Early in Storm Front, his police contact Karrin Murphy requests his help at a shocking murder scene; a luxurious hotel love-nest sprayed with blood, a couple locked in the throes of passion with their h... Read More

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

In Fool Moon, Harry Dresden’s second adventure, Jim Butcher gives us four flavors of werewolf — or five, if you want to be flexible.

Harry, Chicago’s only practicing wizard-detective, is called to the scene of a gory murder by his friend and client Karrin Murphy. Murphy, a Chicago police detective, is in charge of Special Investigations (SI), Chicago’s nod to the paranormal crime that fills the city. Chicago PD is unofficial on this investigation though; it is the jurisdiction of the FBI, and while Harry is investigating the scene the FBI shows up. Things immediately go bad. Murphy and Harry are evicted from the scene, but not before Harry picks up enough magical clues to identify this as a werewolf hit.

As they leave the scene, Murphy admits that this killing is not the first. There is a pattern to the killings, or has been until recently. ... Read More

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

Someone is torturing the ghosts of Chicago, driving them mad and juicing up their power. Harry Dresden, wizard, is the best person to handle this, but even a wizard needs back-up sometimes. In Grave Peril, the third book of The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher introduces Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross.

Michael wields a sword given to him by an angel. He has pledged his life to serving God, vanquishing evil and freeing the victims of evil. For Michael, life is black and white, and faith is all, which makes him an interesting companion for Harry.

The first ghost they face in the book is a woman who accidentally killed her own child. This sets a tone for Grave Peril, because it is in many ways a book about women.

As Harry struggles to identify the force behind the angry, souped-up ghosts he confronts vario... Read More

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

As Summer Knight (2002) opens, Harry Dresden’s true love, Susan, has left town, the Red Court Vampires have declared war on him and someone’s shooting at him. Oh, and it’s raining toads.

To top it off, Mab, the Faerie Queen of Winter, wants to hire him to investigate the murder of a mortal. The Faerie Queens are beautiful, powerful, alien and frightening, even to Harry:
My voice came out unsteady and more quiet than I would have liked. ‘Sort of like Tokyo, when Godzilla comes up on the beach.’

Mab tilted her head, watching me with that same smile. Maybe she didn’t get the reference. Or maybe she didn’t like being compared to a thirty-foot lizard. Or maybe she did like it. I mean, how should I know? I have enough trouble figuring out human women.
The realm of Faerie is closest to the mortal realm, and consists of two k... Read More

Death Masks by Jim Butcher

With Death Masks, the fifth Dresden Files novel, Jim Butcher returns to Chicago-noir. Harry Dresden, that city’s only advertising wizard, is simultaneously challenged to a duel by a duke of the vampiric Red Court and hired by the Vatican to find the missing Shroud of Turin.

The search for the Shroud leads to a headless, handless corpse that died of plagues, several plagues, carried by magically amplified germs. It also introduces Harry to the remaining two Knights of the Sword, Shiro and Sanya. Like Harry’s friend Michael Carpenter, they wield swords given to them by an angel, and they fight for justice and mercy.

On the duel front, Harry runs into his old girlfriend Susan, who has gone through some changes of her own. She warns Harry that the Red Court vampires do not want the duel to happen because it will end the war between the Re... Read More

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden never knew his mother Margaret. He knows that she was a wizard, that she used the last name LaFey, and that before she married Harry’s father she hung out with some shady characters. In Blood Rites, he discovers something about Margaret that changes everything he believes about himself.

In the sixth Dresden Files novel, Jim Butcher shakes up Harry’s world. In addition to shocking new information about his mother, Harry has to deal with a revelation about Ebenezar, the White Council wizard who was his guardian. While he is absorbing those shocks to his life, Harry is waging a battle with the Black Court vampires and trying to protect a charming porno-movie director from a potent curse. Yes, I used “potent” intentionally there.

Blood Rites develops the third and strangest vamp... Read More

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Mavra, Queen of the Black Vampires, is after “The Word of Kemmler,” the ultimate how-to on being an all-powerful necromancer. Mavra wants it, and is blackmailing Harry into getting it for her. Harry must find this book, while dodging a whole collection of black wizards who are also seeking the tome.

Jim Butcher’s Dead Beat is another one of the “middle” DRESDEN books that I love so much. Just about the time when most series start getting stale, THE DRESDEN FILES gets better.

Dead Beat continues the tradition of one-upping the action from the previous novel. Harry seriously gets to unload on the bad guys, and the battles take place around some of the most iconic Chicago landmarks. While I was at a Jim Butcher book signing, someone asked Jim which of the books he w... Read More

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

After decades of reading SFF, and after stuffing hundreds of fantasy novels under my middle-aged belt (it occurs to me that this is not the most attractive metaphor), it surprises me when I finish book eight in a series and am eager to acquire book nine. It rarely happens anymore. But, I’ve just finished Proven Guilty, book eight in Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES and I’m eager to move on to book nine, White Night. The only thing stopping me from diving right in is that I’m on the wait list at my library.

It seems like that’s all I should really have to say about Proven Guilty because if you’re reading this and you’re already a fan of the series, that’s all you needed to know — that Butcher is keeping up his end of the bargain by continuing to provide his readers with entertaining stories full of action, drama, characters we love, and a touch of hi... Read More

White Night by Jim Butcher

White Night is the ninth novel in Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES series. If you haven’t read up to this point in the series yet, please stop here and go away...

Well, now I’m sure that I’ve been left talking to myself because nobody who’s read this far is going to care what I have to say about White Night. The previous novel, Proven Guilty, was awesome, so you’d have to be brain-dead to not want to pick up White Night immediately, which means you don’t need to read this review. That’s how I know you’re not there. In fact, I can say anyhoting I want ot say here and not evein bother to correct my spellign or grammar because I know yhou’re not there. You’re reading White Night and nothing I say matters. So, I’m going to just tlak to myself here and jot down a few notes so I can later distinguish this book from the other DRESDEN FILES bo... Read More

Small Favor by Jim Butcher

“You’re hitting the big time, Harry!” ~Bob the skull

Small Favor is book ten in the DRESDEN FILES. If you haven’t read this far, go back! You Shall Not Pass!

Harry thought his life was getting a little calmer when Karrin Murphy calls him in to look at a really weird crime scene. Soon they discover that mob boss Gentleman Johnny Marcone has been kidnapped, and this is a problem because it violates the treaty Marcone signed which made him a neutral independent state in the supernatural world. Queen Mab shows up and demands that Harry get Johnny back, which Harry must do because, several books ago, he made a promise to do her a favor.

This favor seems small, but it turns out to be the scariest and most deadly operation Harry’s ever been involved with (yet). Harry’s not sure which faction of supernaturals is responsible for Marcone’s kidnapping an... Read More

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

I like Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. I like the idea of a wizard-detective in novel-noir Chicago, VI Warshawski with testicles and a magical staff instead of high heels. I liked the wise-crackery of the early books, I appreciated the whimsy of Harry’s potion-making, and I loved his brown leather, weatherproof, spell-laden duster, one of the coolest pieces of outerwear in fiction. With Turn Coat, the eleventh book in the series, however, Butcher has wobbled off course.

First and foremost, he cheats on the mystery. Butcher gives us a murder that ripples across the overarching multi-book plot he has been developing. A “minority member” of the wizards’ White Council has been murdered, apparently by another wizard, the Merlin’s sword arm and Harry’s nemesis, Morgan. Plainly Morgan has ... Read More

Changes by Jim Butcher

I love Harry Dresden like he’s the crazy scary magical uncle I never had. My wife (The Asian OverLord™) gets annoyed at my exclamations of “Hell’s Bells!” and my constant need to tell people that a scar on my hand came from “Hell Fire” rather than a childhood bicycle wreck. The Dresden Files have become a part of my life in a way that few stories do.

When I first learned about Changes, it frightened me. I thought to myself: if Jim Butcher “Changes” too much, I will be forced to follow him around conventions until he promises to change it back, or send him e-mails filled with frowny faces. I don't like it when the creator of something I enjoy takes drastic measures for the sake of being "fresh." Fortunately for Mr. Butcher, Changes sh... Read More

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

Writing this review is going to be impossible without spoiling some of the series for those who have not read through Changes, just a little warning. The title of this book, Ghost Story, does a pretty good job of revealing the entire premise of the story: Harry is a ghost. Like all ghosts he has a task that must be completed in order to be at peace. A lot of what was planted in Changes bears fruit in Ghost Story. Harry is now forced to deal with the horrible decisions he was forced to make while the Red Court held his daughter. To the living, Harry has been gone for six months. All hell has broken loose in Chicago without Dresden around. Harry is now dropped in the middle of all this and is practically helpless is his current state to do anything about it. Add that to the emotional turmoil of losing Harry, and w... Read More

Cold Days  by Jim Butcher

If the Harry Dresden stories have ever had a problem (reflecting, I think, an issue with urban fantasy in general), it’s that they can tend to feel a little repetitive. A monster of the week shows up, and Harry goes through hell both emotionally and physically to stop him. Along the way we get the requisite number of quips, film references, attractive non-humans, old-fashioned courtesies, and cackling villains with vaguely British syntax. At the end of it all, Harry goes back to his Batcave apartment and gets to be the snarky private eye pastiche for a little bit before the credits roll.

It’s been a very successful formula for Butcher, and one that has indeed made him essentially the new crown prince of the urban fantasy subgenre (both in sales and in stylistic influence), but in book twelve, the appropriately titled Changes, he undid many hallmarks of the Dresden ... Read More

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

Side Jobs is a collection of short stories from The Dresden Files. Some of the stories have been previously published in other collections, and some are being published for the first time. The timeline for the stories range from before Storm Front to after Changes, so aspects from every possible point in time in Harry Dresden’s life are represented.

There isn’t much of a central theme to Side Jobs, besides Harry himself. This collection is exclusively for Dresden fans — it makes no sense for anyone who hasn’t read all 13 novels to even take a peek at Side Jobs. Since it’s for fans, one of the most enjoyable parts of this collection is the opening comments by Butcher prior to each story. He provides some p... Read More

Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Reading a DRESDEN FILES book at this point is literary equivalent of sky-diving. I think I’ve compared the experience to a roller coaster before, but I was in error. Roller coasters, in the main, start off with a slow clickety-clack up a steep slope, and you sort of bob up and down and round and round after that before finally drifting to a long, hissing halt. Skin Game, however, dispenses with the trappings and simply shoves your exuberantly screaming self out an airplane door and directly into glorious freefall.

When last we saw Harry Dresden – wizard and Winter Knight – he had learnt that he had somehow been conned into becoming Warden for a maximum security magical prison called Demonreach, an island in the middle of Lake Michigan. We pick up the narrative one year on, as Harry is extorted by his boss, forced to work with an old enemy, and set up as a piñata for a conga line of supernat... Read More

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

Fans of Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES have been waiting for the sixteenth novel, Peace Talks (2020), for six years. It's been so long that I actually had to go back and re-read the last few novels to get back up to speed on Harry's life.

Was Peace Talks worth the wait? The short answer is “No.” Though it’s entertaining and shows us what Harry’s life has been like since the previous novel, Skin Game, it isn’t quite enough. By this point in the series, readers are expecting a thrill ride and life-shattering events with each new installment in THE DRESDEN FILES. And after we waited six years for this novel, Peace Talks... Read More

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

THE DRESDEN FILES is a weird series, even for urban fantasy. My go-to example for non-aficionados is a wizard riding a polka-powered zombie T-rex through downtown Chicago, and that's not even the wackiest thing that's happened. So it's saying something when I have to acknowledge that the series is in a weird place right now. Maybe I should call it weird plus. Weird squared?

For once, though, when I say "weird," I'm not talking about the content so much as the form. The DRESDEN books have generally followed a pretty straightforward formula: Harry Dresden (wizard private eye, basically) is minding his own business when life ambushes him with at least two crises at once. In the process of juggling his A and B stories (and trying to figure out which is which), Dresden uncovers some kind of complication or dastardly adversary. After a heartfelt discussion with a friend over his doubts that ... Read More

Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher

CLASSIFICATION: If you’re a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, or the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter comic books, then The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle will be perfect for you. Like those, Welcome to the Jungle boasts a fun mix of fast-paced supernatural action, humor and a dash of mystery/thrills. This graphic novel in particular is pretty tame in the violence/language department and is suitable for teen readers and above.

FORMAT/INFO: Welcome to the Jungle is 160 pages long and since it collects the entire 4-issue miniseries, the graphic novel is broken up into four Chapters. The graphic novel also includes an introduction by Jim Butcher, a Cover Gallery show... Read More

Working for Bigfoot: Stories From the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Most DRESDEN FILES fans probably didn’t know that one of Harry’s occasional clients is a Bigfoot named Strength of a River in His Shoulders. River has a half-human son named Irwin Pounder whom he has never met. Whenever River senses that Irwin needs help, he calls Harry Dresden, wizard for hire. So, in Working for Bigfoot, Jim Butcher gives us three novellas about three cases that Harry has worked for River. This is a welcome addition to the DRESDEN FILES, as fans wait for the next novel-length installment. It would also be a great introduction to Harry for those who aren’t familiar with Chicago’s greatest wizard.

In the first story, “B is for Bigfoot,” we witness the first meeting between Harry and River an... Read More

Brief Cases by Jim Butcher

Magic is well and good, but bullets are often swifter.

Brief Cases (2018) is a collection of a dozen short stories set in the world of Harry Dresden, a private investigator and talented wizard living in Chicago. Harry is the main character in most of the stories, but not all; a few other characters in Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES universe get their chance to relate their adventures in their own voices.

This is the case with one of my favorite stories, the first one, “A Fistful of Warlocks,” set in the American Old West in the late 1800s, long before Harry Dresden’s time. Anastasia Luccio is a wizard and a Warden of the White Council of Wizardry, sent by the Council to Dodge City to take a murderous warlock into custody. Anastasia is a woman with... Read More

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

I read Furies of Calderon while waiting for Jim Butcher's next DRESDEN FILES novel. Butcher's little blurb at the end of his books had convinced me to give it a whirl.

Let it be known, this is not to the caliber of THE DRESDEN FILES. It is a good book nonetheless. The story follows several characters in the world of Alera who find themselves intertwined together in a land on the brink of war. Furies of Calderon is a book of themes. Bravery, honor, love, family and sacrifice are all themes predominately displayed through out the story.

Alera itself is not described in much detail so the reader is left mostly to context to piece together what the world is like. The main characters are likable, but not easy to identify with. What I liked most about Furies of Calderon is its... Read More

Academ’s Fury by Jim Butcher

Academ’s Fury is the second book in Jim Butcher’s CODEX ALERA series. It takes place two years after the events in book 1, Furies of Calderon. Tavi, who feels like a “freak” because he’s the only Aleran who doesn’t have any magical connections with the elemental spirits called Furies that inhabit his land, is now at school in the capital city under the patronage of the First Lord. In return, he acts as the First Lord’s page and accidentally becomes involved in Aleran politics.

And there’s a lot going on in Alera. The First Lord is dealing with tensions throughout the realm — unnatural weather, crops in danger, Cursors being murdered, icemen coming over the wall, women’s issues in the senate, a slave alliance, a demanding trade consortium, delegations from neighboring lands, conspiracies against the crown, and worst of all, no heir and no clear line of succes... Read More

Cursor’s Fury by Jim Butcher

After having dealt with the Vord horde in Academ’s Fury, there are new worries in Cursor’s Fury, the third novel in Jim Butcher’s CODEX ALERA saga. The rebel uprising has gained strength and the aging and heirless First Lord of Alera is in danger of being overthrown. Those who are loyal, including Tavi and his friends and relatives, are targets. While Bernard, Amara, and Isana make some dubious alliances to try to counter the rebels, Tavi, who is now a Cursor, has been sent as a spy to a newly formed army legion. Clearly Tavi is being protected (ah, but for what purpose?) because nobody expects this remote legion to see any action.... but everybody is wrong and Tavi ends up commanding an ill-prepared military force.

As usual, this installment of CODEX ALERA is full of action and intrigue. A lot of the plot is pretty implausible — especially the parts dealing with... Read More

Captain’s Fury by Jim Butcher

Warning: Contains spoilers for previous books, though probably nothing you didn’t already guess.

Captain’s Fury, the fourth book in Jim Butcher’s CODEX ALERA series, takes place two years after the events we read about in Cursor’s Fury. Tavi is still the captain of the Alera’s First Legion which is still fighting a war with the Canim who have sailed to Alera and burned their ships behind them. While Senator Arnos, who has arrived to take command of the war, wants to destroy the Canim, Tavi hopes to negotiate a peace. The Senator and Lady Aquitaine, his ally-of-the-moment, want to get rid of Tavi, too, and they’ve got a variety of plans for that.

Isana knows it’s time to tell Tavi who he really is: Gaius Octavian, son of Princeps Gaius Septimus, who died the day Tavi was born. She worries that Tavi will be angry when he finds out how she de... Read More

Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher

Tavi and his companions are escorting the Canim back to their home across the sea. When they arrive they find that the Canim’s land has been invaded by the Vord. Back home in Alera, unbeknownst to Tavi, his countrymen are also being overrun by the Vord and Amara, Isana, Bernard, and the First Lord are on the front lines. Will the Vord conquer both Alera and Canim, or can Tavi and Isana negotiate alliances with a couple of Alera’s enemies so they can fight the Vord horde together?

Princeps' Fury is the fifth book in Jim Butcher’s CODEX ALERA series. For the most part I’ve thought that this traditional epic fantasy was diverting but ultimately forgettable, though the fourth book, Captain’s Fury, actually elevated CODEX ALERA into the “enjoyable” category. It was better than the first three books — the writing was better, the action was more exciting, and it ... Read More

First Lord’s Fury by Jim Butcher

Grab your helms, shields and swords, fantasy fans. In First Lord’s Fury, Jim Butcher is taking you to war! In the 6th and final book in the CODEX ALERA series, Butcher not only takes you to war, but makes you laugh and cry along the way. First Lord’s Fury is a very suitable ending to what I found to be a most enjoyable fantasy series. The CODEX ALERA series takes place several thousand years after a lost Roman legion found its way to another world and rebuilt a society. The novels’ setting, the realm of Alera, is therefore loosely based on ancient Roman culture. The story follows a young man named Tavi through his eventful life and First Lord’s Fury is the ultimate conclusion of Tavi’s story. In the previous books, Tavi finds himself in impossible situation... Read More

The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

Fans of Jim Butcher (including myself) were thrilled to see that he’s started a new series called THE CINDER SPIRES. This one is quite different than his previous works. THE DRESDEN FILES, for which Butcher is best known, is a modern-day urban fantasy with a first-person narrator and a hardboiled feel. THE CODEX ALERA is an epic fantasy with a typical medieval setting and plot.

THE CINDER SPIRES is set in a more imaginative world. With its airships and steam power, it has a steampunk feel. The story takes place on a mist-covered planet (possibly a future Earth?) whose surface is so dangerous that humans have built their habitats in tall spires miles above the planet’s surface. Each spire is about two miles in diameter and is ruled by nob... Read More

Strange Brew by P.N. Elrod (ed)

The theme of Strange Brew is witchcraft. This anthology features nine well-known urban fantasy authors, each with their own spin on the theme. Some of these stories feature well-known characters. Others focus on characters who are secondary in the author's series, or characters who are entirely new. Glancing at the table of contents and doing a little mental math, most of the stories are around 40 pages, give or take a few. (The longest is Karen Chance's at just under 60.) As is always the case with anthologies, I had my favorites and my less-favorites, but if you like urban fantasy, there will probably be something here for you.

"Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs: A werewolf enlists the help of a blind witch to help him find his brother who has been kidnapped by a sinister coven. The witch has some his... Read More

Songs of Love and Death edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

Songs of Love and Death is the third anthology that George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois have edited together. Like Warriors and Songs of the Dying Earth, Songs of Love and Death brings together some of the biggest names that SFF has to offer and they set these authors to work on a common theme.

Martin and Dozois offer a cross-genre anthology that ranges from Robin Hobb’s epic fantasy “Blue Boots,” which tells the story of a romance between a young serving girl and a silver-tongued minstrel, to  Read More

Magic City: Recent Spells edited by Paula Guran

Things you should know:
1. This is a reprint anthology. If you read a lot of anthologies in the field, you will probably have read some of these before. I had read three, though two of them were among the best ones, and I enjoyed reading them again.
2. It still has some worthwhile stuff in it, especially if you're a fan of the big names in urban fantasy (Jim Butcher, Carrie Vaughn, Patricia Briggs) and haven't read these stories before.
3. It isn't just "urban fantasy" by the usual definition (our contemporary world plus the supernatural). There's a sword-and-sorcery story from Scott Lynch, an... Read More

Shadowed Souls edited by Jim Butcher & Kerrie L. Hughes

Shadowed Souls is an invitational anthology edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes. Butcher is the author of three fantasy series: THE DRESDEN FILES, THE CODEX ALERA, and THE CINDER SPIRES. Hughes is an established short fiction writer who has edited several anthologies including Chicks Kick Butt, Westward Weird, and Maiden Matron Crone.

The theme of Shadowed Souls is, “good isn’t always light and evil isn’t always dark,” and the eleven stories here showcase main characters — often from the writer’s series — who struggle not to give in to the monster within... or to keep it contained. While the stories are conventional, with conventional magic systems for the most part, this is a nice collecti... Read More

Just reports about his visit to GenCon. Comment for a chance to win a FanLit bookmark signed by R.A. Salvatore.

Each year in Indianapolis, thousands gather for what’s called “The Best 4 Days in Gaming.” Gencon Indy was held from August 5th to August 8th, 2010. This gathering of nerds is the largest of its kind in the country. If you are into Dungeons & Dragons or board games, this is your Mecca because over 8600 gaming-related activities are held over four days. Gencon is awesome, but you may be wondering how much it relates to fantasy. The truth is, without fantasy as inspiration, Gary Gygax would never have created Dungeons & Dragons. ... Read More