The Sword and Laser discussion

We ewarned you we had a cavalcade of author interview coming! Our Dragon*con episode happens this Saturday and our guest is Jim Butcher. We're THRILLED to be able to talk to him in person.

So. What should we ask him!?!?

I'm a HUGE Dresden Files/Codex Alera fan. I'm really excited for a new Jim Butcher series. Mr. Butcher spoiled us a few years ago when we got a new Dresden book in April and a new Codex Alera book in November for a few years.

What made you decide to try your hand at Steampunk? Do you have an idea of how long The Cinder Spires will be? Do you plan to have a similar release schedule for it/Dresden to when you were doing Codex Alera?

oh that is great. I love the Dresden Files. I'd love to know if he is ever going to continue his Lifejournal Writing Tips and maybe if we get to see one of his character sheets he had written for the Dresden Files to see how he went about it.

My wife loves the series, but hates Butcher for what he does to "her boyfriend." Has he ever had a fan berate him during a signing? Because I'm afraid she may if given the chance...

Given the resurgence of SciFi/Fantasy on the big screen what is the chance that Dresden will make an appearance on the big screen and if so who would you want to play Dresden?

Any hints about what is coming up in the series!

How does he avoid "grade inflation" in such a long-running series as the Dresden Files?

That is, the danger in each book has to feel as grave or more so than in the book before it or risk a let-down. And, the hero generally keeps up and displays new limits to his powers so ... how does he prevent the whole thing from spiraling into fights between almost omnipotent beings?

This is a bit heavy, but I'd love to hear Butcher's response on the following question (from zeeasksjb):

"With the exception of Gard, every major female character has one of three things happen to them. If they are a good guy, they're either punished for their sexuality (Molly, Helen) or they are assaulted (Murphy, Luccio, Charity in her backstory, Molly, Justine, Susan, Ivy by implication, Lily, apparently Maggie Sr, Elaine via mindrape twice over (and Harry himself, several times over).

If they are a villain, then they use sex as a weapon (Bianca, Lara, Lea, Mab, Maeve, Jenny Greenteeth, Lasciel, Helen again via her attempted murder of Marcone.

Is this a conscious theme of the series?"

"Talk about Big Trouble in Little China; and... go."

A personal question but: What happened to the long hair? Is it likely to make a reappearance?

I was wondering if he was planning on revisiting the Codex Alera universe. I was a huge fan of the novels and miss them immensely. Even though the final installment ended the way it did, I feel like a resurgence of one if the extinct races could pose a legimate threat to the kingdom and lead to an interesting story arc for those amazing characters, or possibly a new batch of heroes.

So, Mr. Butcher, is it possible that we may see a new novel set in the Codex Alera universe?

Gravimetry wrote: "This is a bit heavy, but I'd love to hear Butcher's response on the following question (from zeeasksjb):

"With the exception of Gard, every major female character has one of three things happen to..."

errr....wut?

I saw that question posed during an AMA. Sadly, it went unanswered but think it's important.

I immensely enjoyed the Codex Alera series. The similarities (and slightly subtle hints) regarding the Roman influences of the story's heroes are easily identifiable. I have always wondered, are the heroes' origins derived from the mysterious Ninth Legion of Rome? If so, perhaps there could be a book describing how they came to exist in the realm of Alera?

I'd be more interested in how the person who asked this question came to those conclusions. I am pretty lost as to how Helen and Molly are being punished for their "sexuality". Helen and her husband are trying to revenge their daughter's death by teaming up with Victor Sells where they participated in rituals, which granted were of sexual nature but I don't see how this is relevant. She starts working for Marcone as Helen Demeter and I don't really see how she was being punished for her sexuality. For Molly it's even more confusing because when is she being punished? And what does that have to do with her sexuality? Not that there is much to it anyway. Also, I don't quite understand the term "mindrape" because yes, the Skavis used a psych attack but that wasn't rape. And Harry contacted Elaine using their old psych method but he didn't rape he either.

So yes, I can see why this question went unanswered. It's pretty weird.

"I have always wondered, are the heroes' origins derived from the mysterious Ninth Legion of Rome?"
Eric
Also wondering The same thing, as well as If he ever thought of doing something with the Feverthorn Jungle. The way it gets alluded to makes me think that is has developed back story and history. I'd like to know more. I'd get it if it was a short story or novella.

Firstly, I love Butcher's works and I really liked the video interview "way back when." I would like to second the trend of more Alera.

Secondly, my question has a bit of a run up so if Tom and Veronica choose to use it hopefully they can suss out what I'm trying to say.

Frequently we (as readers) speak about tropes, archetypes, and themes present regardless of the genre. Authors are constantly working to tell stories in fresh ways, however, we do not write in a vacuum and are either inspired or influenced by what we have read. I know personally I've struggled with worry that my work, while it comes from me, is subtly influenced by what I've read previously and that should I ever publish people will criticize me for being too close to something else.

So I guess in summary I would like to know Butcher's opinion as an author on how to manage the influence and inspiration from what we read previously towards keeping the work original?

Anything in the works outside the stuff he is doing now? I love his writing and would like to see more of it with different characters and settings to see what he comes up with..

ALL his characters get assaulted, beat up, abused, (even the dog) not just the women. And Thomas uses his sex appeal as a weapon, so how is any of this sexist or anti-feminist, or whatever this question is trying to imply?

Mr. Butcher, I love the Dresden Files, and I just hope that after everything is over, Harry gets a happy ending. He's definitely earned it.

I'm a huge fan of the Dresden Files series even though the end of Cold Days sent me into the fetal position as I recovered from the kidney punches that the climax landed on my unprepared body.

Dresden is the quintessential Urban Fantasy private investigator. What's an odd profession that you'd like to see an urban fantasy protagonist take up?

I love the Dresden Files short stories like Backup and Aftermath, that let us see another character's viewpoint of Harry's world. Can we expect to see any more?

I'd love to see one written from Mouse's perspective.

We're getting one from Molly's perspective in Bombshells.

I too am not following zeeasksjb around that bend. EVERY Dresden Files character is assaulted. However, one thing that really does rub me the wrong way about Butcher's writing is that every time he introduces a female character one of the first descriptions of her is how sexually appealing she is.

I can see how that would be bothersome. My only real defense for that is Harry is a horn dog and it's written from his perspective.

Edit: Not to imply that I'm completely okay with it.

How much longer will the Dresden series run (please say forever!) and will the second 'act' ie. post Ghost Story be very different from the first?

Amy wrote: "How much longer will the Dresden series run (please say forever!) and will the second 'act' ie. post Ghost Story be very different from the first?"

I remember him saying that Dresden Files were planned for 20 books.

Amy wrote: "How much longer will the Dresden series run (please say forever!) and will the second 'act' ie. post Ghost Story be very different from the first?"

In the video interview he said 20 books and a concluding trilogy, because according to him everything needs an epic concluding trilogy.

Adrian wrote: "I'd be curious if, being such a prolific writer, he still has time for distractions such as reading books, watching movies/TV, playing games, etc, and, if so, if he'd be willing to share a few favo..."

I think he likes LARPing. He once was on a webcast where he was calling in from somewhere in the woods where he was LARPing xD

I'd be curious to know if his writing speed coincides well with the publication speed. If Jim writes faster, has he ever considered self-pubbing any of his work since the traditional houses don't like overlapping works from the same author (pubbing several works in a short period of time).

Jonathan wrote: "I can see how that would be bothersome. My only real defense for that is Harry is a horn dog and it's written from his perspective.

Edit: Not to imply that I'm completely okay with it."

hehe, this is how I rationalise it too.