# The Dresden Files

The Dresden Files is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by American author Jim Butcher. The first novel, Storm Front—which was also Butcher's writing debut—was published in 2000 by Roc Books.
The books are written as a first-person narrative from the perspective of private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden as he recounts investigations into supernatural disturbances in modern-day Chicago. Butcher's original proposed title for the first novel was Semiautomagic, which sums up the series' balance of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction.
As of Jan 2024, Butcher has written 17 novels set in the Dresden Files universe, as well as a number of short stories (some of which are collected in the anthologies Side Jobs and Brief Cases; others remain on his website). The series has also been released in audiobook format, mostly narrated by James Marsters. Other works set in the same fictional universe include graphic novels (several new stories in addition to adaptations of the first two novels), and The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game. In 2007, a television series based on the novels aired for one season on the American Sci-Fi Channel.

## Plot summary

In the world of The Dresden Files, magic is real—alongside vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, outsiders and other monsters—while both it and the supernatural are widely discredited. Additionally, large portions of the globe (such as much of Central and South America) are largely under the control of supernatural factions. These supernatural monsters are loosely countered by the White Council, an organization of human wizards noted to wield significant economic power in the world, along with their standing in the supernatural realm. Each species in the series (humans, faeries, vampires, etc.) has its own political and societal rules and organizations, acting as another counter on each-other and maintaining the masquerade. The human wizards depend on the White Council, while faeries mostly belong to either of two Faerie Courts, or none at all (Wyldfae). Vampires predominately belong to any of the four vampire courts. Other non-human creatures from a range of mythologies make appearances.
Harry Dresden is the only advertising wizard in the United States, living in Chicago and investigating supernatural cases on behalf of both human and nonhuman clients. He also serves as a civilian consultant for the Special Investigations division of the Chicago Police Department, and is called upon at times to offer his opinion on cases that appear to have a magical element. As the series progresses, Dresden takes on an increasingly important role in the supernatural world at large, as he works to protect the general public, making getting by as a working wizard and private investigator difficult for him. He finds himself facing off against an increasing variety of creatures, including other wizards.

### Main characters

* Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a detective and wizard. He works as a self-employed supernatural private investigator in Chicago, dealing with paranormal crimes and consulting for the Chicago Police Department.
* Bob is a "spirit of intellect" who inhabits a skull most often perched on a shelf in Harry Dresden's secret lab. He is bound to the skull and its owner's commands. He is free to leave the skull if given permission by his owner, but he will die if exposed to significant sunlight without a host body. His usual vessel is Harry's cat, Mister, who does not seem to mind Bob's presence.
* Karrin Murphy is a Chicago Police Department officer who leads the Special Investigations (SI) division, handling cases in which something unexplainable or supernatural is involved.

## Publication history

Jim Butcher decided to become a professional author at the age of 19. He wrote three novels within the fantasy genre, one of which he has classified as paranormal. He went on to describe all three books as being "terrible". In 1996 he enrolled in a writing class, where he was encouraged to write a novel similar to the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, rather than the more traditional high fantasy that had been his focus in the past, as Butcher had previously stated that he enjoyed the Anita Blake series. Despite initial resistance, he wrote the first book that semester, closely following the instructions of his teacher, author Deborah Chester.
   When I finally got tired of arguing with her and decided to write a novel as if I [were] some kind of formulaic, genre-writing drone, just to prove to her how awful it would be, I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files.
The result was Semiautomagic, later to be retitled as Storm Front. His writing teacher declared it to be publishable, and Butcher started looking around to do just that. Butcher failed to secure a publisher for two to three years. During this period he completed the second novel, Fool Moon, and had made significant progress on the third, Grave Peril. Deciding to focus on agents and editors who had already published similar novels, Butcher submitted a copy of his manuscript to Ricia Mainhardt, the agent representing Laurell Hamilton. It was not accepted. Finally, Butcher met Hamilton at a convention and was invited to lunch along with Mainhardt and a second agent, Jennifer Jackson. Mainhardt agreed to represent him, and six months later The Dresden Files was sold to ROC, an imprint of Penguin Books.
The first volume, Storm Front, was released in 2000 in paperback; the next two novels in the series, Fool Moon and Grave Peril, were released shortly thereafter, in January and September 2001, also in paperback. Subsequent novels in the series have been published annually since then up to Skin Game, published in May 2014, followed by a six-year hiatus prior to the release of Peace Talks. Omnibus editions have been released by the Science Fiction Book Club, with each of the four volumes reprinting two or three of the novels in the sequence.
The series' first six novels were originally only published as paperbacks, but in 2007, ROC changed its strategy and began to publish hardcover reprints of books one to six. Volume six, Blood Rites, was released in July 2007. Each of the seventh through fifteenth volumes (Dead Beat through Skin Game) was published first as a hardcover and then released in paperback form several months later. The sixteenth and seventeenth volumes (Peace Talks and Battle Ground) were released simultaneously in both formats on their respective sale dates.
Orbit Books purchased the series for UK publication and released the first novel, Storm Front, in September 2005, five years after the initial US release. They then proceeded to publish two books per month. In November 2007, Orbit Books purchased the rights to Changes, the 12th novel, as well as the 13th Dresden novel, Ghost Story.
All 17 volumes of The Dresden Files, along with the companion short-story anthologies Side Jobs and Brief Cases, have been released as audiobooks. Originally, all except Ghost Story have been narrated by James Marsters. Per a release on Jim Butcher's website on June 27, 2011, he reported that, "due to scheduling conflicts", Marsters would be unable to voice Ghost Story; instead, the narration was performed by John Glover. James Marsters returned to read the Cold Days audio book. In April 2015, a rerecorded version of "Ghost Story" read by Marsters was released. The cover art for the series was created by Chris McGrath.
Skin Game, the 15th installment in the series, was a finalist for the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Skin Game was proposed as a nominee by both fantasy writer Brad Torgersen's "Sad Puppies" and science fiction and fantasy author Theodore Beale's "Rabid Puppies" slates; both "Puppy" slates engendered some controversy in the science-fiction and fantasy community, since slate voting had not previously been a part of the Hugos. The book placed fifth in the final tally of the votes, behind "No Award".
While the cover art of each book portrays Dresden wearing a hat, in the novels themselves, he almost never does. This has become an in-joke between author, publisher and artist. In Changes, when his Godmother attempts to equip him with an armored helmet, he explicitly says "I don't do hats."