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An Interview with Jim Butcher

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An Interview with Jim Butcher

 

The Reading Cafe is thrilled to have the fantastic Jim Butcher as our guest today. Jim is here today to discuss his highly anticipated new release Cold Days, which will be released next Tuesday, November 27th. Cold Days is Jim’s 14th novel in his fabulous The Dresden Files.

Without further ado, let’s talk to Jim.

 

 

Hi Jim.  Thank you taking the time to answer our questions.  THE READING CAFÉ and its’ members are looking forward to our interview with you. Since we have posted your bio, we will skip the usual question of telling us about yourself. 

TRC: With Cold Days about to be released on November 27th, and being the 14th book in your popular Dresden Files series, can you tell us how you came up with the idea of Harry Dresden, a Wizard PI, and the entire world building of this series?

Jim: The Dresden Files started life as a class project in my Writing a Genre Fiction Novel class.  In point of fact, it was my attempt to prove to my writing teacher how wrong she was about all this structured, story-craft nonsense she was trying to teach me about.  You see, I knew about these things because I had a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with an emphasis in Creative Writing–whereas she merely had a master’s in journalism (and had published forty novels).  So to prove her wrong, I set out to do absolutely everything she said exactly the way she said it–to be her good little writing monkey and show her exactly what horrible things resulted from such a restrictive, cookie-cutter approach to writing would create

And I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files.

Which showed her.  Hah.

TRC:  Though fans want this series to go on forever, you have discussed ending this series somewhere near 25 books, ending with an epic trilogy.  Is this still your plan, what timeframe are we talking about, and how will you feel when this series comes to end?

Jim: That is still my plan.  Stories don’t go on forever.  They have a beginning, they have a middle, and they have an end.  The Dresden Files is a great big story, but it’s a story, and I’ve had an ending in mind since the first book.  Which is a really great thing because it means that I know where things are going.  I can plant things early that pay off in the future.  I can control the tension and the pace to best effect.  Having an end is /good/ for a story.  Having an indefinitely ongoing tale… to me, it’s like comparing a single performance of an Ode To Joy to a nine-hour round of “One Million Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” 🙂

TRC:  Cold Days is to be released in a few days…November 27th.  Can you please tell us the premise of this story?

Jim: Harry Dresden, having been mostly dead all day, wakes up to find out that he hasn’t managed to weasel out of his bargain with Queen Mab after all.  Now he’s stuck being the Huntsman to her Maleficent, a role known as the Winter Knight.  And she has a fairly simple first job in mind for him–Hi, Harry, nice to see you on your feet again, now be a good Knight and go murder an immortal and be sure to make it stick.  No problem, right?  And that’s just the first part of a day that gets catastrophically worse as it goes on.  The consequences of Dresden’s choices are arising to haunt him–and they’re not just things that have happened to /him/.  His friends have been impacted too.  So how do you keep faith with the mother of all wicked faeries (who will /kill/ you if you don’t), and with your friends (who might /die/ if you don’t), /and/ do the impossible, all while trying to hang on to your conscience, your identity–your soul?

Apparently, it’s helpful to shoot your mouth off a lot.

Links to Pre-order Cold Days:
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository/ Books a Million

TRC:  Besides working on your next Dresden Files book, are you working on anything new?  Do you have any thoughts as to what you would like to write after the Dresden Files ends, and would it be Fantasy or Paranormal? 

Jim: I like having a non-Dresden project to do in between Dresden Files books.  Harry’s a great guy, but having him live in your head full time induces a lot of random twitching, and it’s nice to evict him for a while so that I can torment all new imaginary people.  Currently, my alternate group of imaginary people exist in a quasi-Victorian steampunk series of novels currently called “The Cinder Spires.”  It’s sort of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Sherlock meets Hornblower, and it’s been ridiculously fun to write.  I hope to have it finished by the end of the year, so that I can plunge into the new Dresden fresh in 2013.

I mean, you know.  Assuming the Mayan apocalypse fizzles.

TRC:  With two writers in the family, how do you and Shannon handle the pressures of a deadline, especially if the timing is the same for both of you? 

Jim: We manipulate time.

Shannon does her most productive work in the morning and early afternoon.  I do /my/ best work between midnight and dawn.  So when the writing pressure is on, my usual day is to wake up noonish, or a few hours after, right about when she’s finishing her work for the day.  We spend the rest of the afternoon handling errands or whatever, hang out together in the evening, and then once she goes to bed, I get to work.  Neither of us interferes with the other’s work at all, because we’re busy being asleep, and we still get to hang out together.

I do feel bad for our dog, though.  He’s determined to be snuggling the feet of whoever is writing.  It is apparently his sacred duty.  So after a deadline-pressure week or two, there’s a lot of little snores drifting up from our feet while we work.

Thanks again Jim for being with us today.  We have enjoyed having you here, and we wish you good luck with Cold Days.  We look forward to having you come back and visit us again in the future.  

If you want to learn more about Jim, you can find him at the following links:

Website: http://www.jim-butcher.com/
Twitter:
Facebook:
Goodreads:

REMINDER:  Like Jim’s covers?  We have an interview with the Cover Model on Sunday November 25, 2012-John Paul Pfeiffer aka Harry Dresden!  Drop by and check out John Paul’s interview.

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Cold Days by Jim Butcher – a Review

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Cold Days by Jim Butcher – a Review

 

Cold Days by Jim Butcher is the 14th book in his fantastic urban fantasy series, The Dresden Files.  For those of you who are not familiar with this bestselling series, it revolves around Harry Dresden, a Private Investigator, who uses magic and is a wizard.

Cold Days begins after Ghost Story left off, as Harry wakes up being taken care of by a young beautiful woman, Sarissa, who seemed somewhat nervous and meek.  Harry knew he was in Mab’s place, and once he begins to regain some strength, Mab puts him through the ringer for the next few weeks, testing him with every type of death defying attempts at his life.  This was her version of therapy for Harry, ensuring that the Winter Knight was ready and able to perform his duties. 

Harry is still Harry, and though he is beholden to the Queen of Air & Darkness, he still was determined to stay in control, and not become the monster that was the previous Winter Knight.  When she feels he is ready, Mab gives him his first order, to kill someone.  This is an early review, so I will attempt to give you my thoughts and basic description of the story, but no spoilers. 

Cold Days is one of the most exciting books I have read this year.  It doesn’t surprise me, as Jim Butcher is such a terrific writer.  There is so much action throughout the book, you don’t have a moment to blink.  Just when you think …whew, he got through that one, damned if you are not hit again, and again and again. 

We all know from previous books that Harry is a glutton for punishment, and Cold Days is no different.  He suffers through a lot, and yet nothing stops Harry.  Being the Winter Knight is not easy for Harry, as the powers at times causes him to fight off bad thoughts, but he manages to safely keep his control, until he needs those powers to save himself.

The wonderful thing about Cold Days, is that so many of Butcher’s fabulous recurring characters play a major part in this book.  His friends/family, such as Thomas, Molly, Murphy, Butters, Mouse are there to help, as well as being put into constant danger.  We do hear a lot about Maggie, his daughter, though she really is not part of this story.  Then there are the Faeries, who also play such a big role in this story, from Mab, the Winter Queen; Maeve, the Winter Lady; Lily, the Summer Lady; Fix, the Summer Knight, and many others, including the Sihde redcap, monsters, and other forces to be reckon with that Harry will have to face often to save the world.  One of the best exciting and fun part was the Wild Hunt, which Harry became a part of.

Yes Harry must find a way to save the world from evil, as he discovers on his island a catastrophe waiting to happen, that will destroy everything. He tries to find out who is behind this, but almost at every turn things seem to be stacked against him, as he is faced with constant mayhem, creatures, and enemies who will stop at nothing to kill Harry. They just keep coming and coming at him, and as we read, we too are out of breath. Jim Butcher does such a fantastic job of keeping you on your toes, as throughout the book there are so many twists, so many puzzles, and just when you think Harry has it figured out, boom the game changes again.

I can’t even tell you much more, as everything that happens is a spoiler.  Just that Harry is phenomenal, and he suffers badly, but like the energizer battery, he keeps going.  But I will say, the ending of this book was mind-boggling, a shock fest, and it left me wanting to go back to the beginning (515 pages) to start again, just to enjoy it all over again.  Cold Days is one of the best books I have read this year, and I have read some very good ones.  If you have not read The Dresden Files, it is time to do so.  There is no better hero then Harry Dresden, and it is hard pressed to find a writer such as Jim Butcher, who can keep this story fresh, and the hero still awesome.   Cold Days is a must read, and with that shocking climax, I will be hard-pressed to wait a year for the next book.    

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by publisher

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