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Um, I think I got a hundred pages into Black Sun's Daughter. It wan't unreadable but it didn't do anything for me. Which surprised me because I sort of worship everything else Daniel Abraham writes. I might give it another shot some day.

On the Dresden Files, did anyone else just love the seen in I think Changes when

Dresden's crew is suiting up for war and they compare themselves to the fellowship of the ring, but decide Dresden is Sam instead of Gandalf?

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Um, I think I got a hundred pages into Black Sun's Daughter. It wan't unreadable but it didn't do anything for me. Which surprised me because I sort of worship everything else Daniel Abraham writes. I might give it another shot some day.

You should give it another go; it gets really, really good.

On the Dresden Files, did anyone else just love the seen in I think Changes when

Dresden's crew is suiting up for war and they compare themselves to the fellowship of the ring, but decide Dresden is Sam instead of Gandalf?

Yeah that was pretty cool. I liked in Turn Coat/Ghost Story when

Ebenezer is talking about Merlin's journals, and how Harry should write something down someday. Which was then linked back to Harry recounting his encounter with He Who Walks Behind to Mab and he asks if what he is telling her is his mind filling in the gaps or if it is how it truly happened.

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In terms of other urban fantasy fixes: On top of the already recc'd Felix Castor books, I recommend Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series. The hook of this one being that the magic is urbanised, so magic is aspected to, for example, graffiti, roads or ticket barriers (better than that sounds) and spirits can be summoned by things like the sound of a passing train. My description doesn't do it best justice but think a typical urban fantasy structure married to China Mieville's sensibilities. The first book is A Madness of Angels. The fourth book is due next month...

Also Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series (also the title of the first book, except in the US where it's Midnight Riot) is showing promise as an English alternative to Dresden...

All three of them are London set; in the Castor books it's not a hugely central issue, London is treated much like Chicago is in the Dresden books (ie it wouldn't make staggering amounts of difference if you transplanted the plot to another city, with a few tweaks) but the other two are heavily invested in London-ness itself. Rivers of London is something of a tourist-friendly version that should be instantly recognisable to anyone and explains the less familiar parts quickly, but anyone reading Urban Magic who hasn't been to London will probably find it somewhat similar to jumping into New Crobuzon for the first time - there's a lot of time invested in the setting. So fair warning, as I know some people expecting different have found that an issue. Worth it though I reckon.

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Yeah Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series is great, that the Felix Castor books and the Dresden Files are probably my three favourite urban fantasy series but I would say that that Kate Griffin's books are probably a bit less light hearted in tone than the Dresden Files even with the more serious themes that underpin the Dresden Files.

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There are people on the Butcher boards now complaining about Butcher's writting speed despite the fact that at is has been not yet a year since the last Dresden Files novel was published. Apparently, he has been "LARPing" too much.

:lol:

I told them they know nothing.

:lmao: Those poor, poor fools. It's like they're living in the Shire, and their innocence must be protected.

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I went to have a look what you were talking about and Jim Butcher himself showed up just today to give those fucking morons a verbal slapdown.

Quite right too. Seriously? I'm not on the side of the people beasting on GRRM for his deadline issues but I can see where they're coming from. Butcher though? '20 books in 11 years' Jim Butcher? 'Missed one deadline in that time which he asked and received publisher permission for well in advance and announced it as soon as, then delivered the product, fully polished, for that date' Jim Butcher?

Yeah, he's better get his nose to the grindstone, because he's letting the side down.

So high five to Monsieur Butcher for that.

In fairness though, it's only a couple of mugs and most of the users are calling the entitlement posse out on it.

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This is Mr. Butcher's response:

Quote from: viktorkaros on Today at 04:27:44 PM

When he reports it on the "Official Website" and talks about LARPing as his new hobby and not working on a novel it becomes everyones business...

Actually, man, it isn't anyone's business but my own, and that of the people with whom I share my life.

As the inestimable Mr Gaiman has written, I am not your bitch. I am not a slave chained to a keyboard somewhere, expected to produce original material to the beat of a metronome. I'm not your family. I'm not your friend. I'm a guy who writes stories, and then you decide whether or not you like them enough to pay for them (or steal them). It isn't my job to bring sunshine to your April. It's my job to write stories. That's the extent of my concrete relationship with you, man.

Look, you're probably a decent enough guy. I get that you like the material. I would love it if I had the drive and energy and capability of writing a Dresden File every month. My God, man, if I could do that I'd be making more money than any professional athlete alive. Why WOULDN'T I want that?

But see, here's the thing.

I can't do that. Not "I choose not to do it" or "I could if I gave up enough free time." Can't. It is not possible. The sky is not green, gravity does not pull you up, and I can't write a novel in any amount of time I damned well please. It takes time. Sometimes it takes less time, sometimes more, but it takes time.

Wait, let me clarify that: I probably /could/ turn out something every month if I really, really wanted to do it. But it wouldn't be a Dresden File--it'd be pulp serial, something like Mack Bolan or The Executioner--action, plot, maybe some sex, not much else.

A few things have changed which have slowed my writing pace. First, I started getting involved in other projects: there was the TV show, there are the graphic novels, the RPG and mostly the accursed short stories. Those are a huge time sink for me, because I really suck at actually producing them. Seriously, they're harder to put together than novels, and eat up a BUNCH more time for their size. I've just finished the last short piece I'm going to write for a while, so hopefully that will help.

Second: In the last three or four years as the series has gotten more popular, it's gotten more attention, which means that I have as well. There is a constant stream of interviews, appearances, tours, events, charity requests, autographings and so on. That doesn't happen forty hours a week, but it sure as hell eats up way more time than it did when I was writing Death Masks or Blood Rites.

Third: The process of writing itself has changed for me. As I learn more about the craft, my process has become more involved and it takes a little more time to write up to the standards that I set for myself, and I at least try to keep setting them higher, to keep learning and growing. I can't make it happen any faster and still call it my best effort.

Fourth: I'm just plain tireder and older than when I got started. My self-discipline is greater, but my energy is probably less ferocious than it used to be. I could turn Dresden into Mack Bolan, from a mental-stamina standpoint, but I don't think I'd much enjoy it, and I doubt most of the readers would, either. My wrists and hands hurt a lot more quickly than they used to when I sit down at the keyboard. It isn't a huge deal, but it does put a limit on how much time I can sit and concentrate.

Fifth: There are way more miscellaneous demands on my time than there used to be, as I've gotten older and taken on more responsibility and stuff. Things like, for example, spending an hour of keyboard time writing frustration-driven fan-relations posts to the web site.

As for LARP being a "new" hobby, I've been doing it since I was 18 years old. I LARPed before I started writing, I LARPed when I was in school (and working 2 to 4 jobs on the side to help support my wife and child), I LARPed after my first book was published, I LARPed after my second series got sold, and I LARPed a couple of weeks ago. I plan to be LARPing when I retire. From breathing.

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I just tire of him not meeting his deadlines because he is busy throwing paper balls at people and screaming lightening bolt...."

I also scream numbers and things like "SHIELD MAGIC" and "I SET YOUR CYCLE TO DEATH!" And I wave light-up boffer weapons around!

I would tell you that I'm sorry about you being tired about deadlines but that statement, coming from someone who only reads the final product, is just too funny. My publisher is way more tired of it than you. Heck, I don't really enjoy that kind of enormous pressure myself.

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Furthermore at least George R. Martin was at least man enough to address the concerns of his fans if not a fan by acknowledging what was going on and making some sort of statement...

Yeah. It's way more manly to throw language like that around from the safety of internet anonymity, I guess.

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While I do not expect Jim Butcher to be my bitch to quote the article listed above but I do expect him to act like someone who has a job and stop hiding behind his over zealous fans who wish to defend him with conjecture and Oh you are being mean to Jim stop ... you are so mean ... oh my god ... your so mean stopppp ... So yeah I stress my opinion again ... if Jim or his publisher would make some sort of official statement then I would be happy ... even if that statement was we are not going to publish another DF book EVER ... I just appreciate people with jobs to act like they have one and stop advertising what they are doing to waste time... i.e. LARPing..."

To repeat what I have said more than once, for the record, the manuscript is due July 1. The publisher has not, so far, told me when they plan to publish the finished book. So now you officially know as much as I do about it.

See, the great thing about being a writer is that I really don't have to do anything I don't want to in my career. I don't have a job. Jobs have things like insurance, regular paychecks, and security. I don't have any of those things. If readers stop liking me, or liking my work, or get too furious with me because I'm not dancing fast enough to the tinkle of their hurdy-gurdy, they stop paying me. If the publisher gets too sick of me, they stop taking contracts. If I get too sick of all the miscellaneous hostility I encounter as part of the environment of my success, I can leave the writing business altogether. Heck, Shannon's career is moving along quite well. I could be a full time kept man!

I'm glad you have your opinion. It's ill-considered and self-centered, but it's your opinion. I'm not considering it at all seriously because it's sullen and insulting, but it is definitely your opinion.

Tell you what. If you just can't stand the way I do what I do, and you just can't get enough of the kind of book you like, fast enough, do what I did: Decide to throw away any chance for a steady paycheck or building a successful conventional career, spend ten years working a full time job without getting paid for it, and learn to write books of your own. The odds are about 30k to 1 that you'll ever be able to support yourself, and there is no way to learn to handle the fallout of unexpected success except to have it happen to you--but do that.

And after you've done that, come talk to me about your production schedule.

Alternatively, you can express your displeasure with me by not buying what I write, if you want. And that's cool if you do, man. You and I do not have a contract, implied or otherwise. That's me and Penguin. I want to write a book that you like and which makes you happy to read. I seriously do. But what I do won't make everyone happy, no matter what I do, and I know that. No hard feelings if you decide that what I do isn't for you.

But I'm not the one who formed your expectations. You did that. And you didn't even inform me that you expected me to have a book out, exactly like you wanted, every April without fail, no matter what was happening in my life, before you started writing upset posts about it. That doesn't seem very reasonable.

I share bits of my personal life on Twitter and sometimes here because people seem to enjoy it and it makes them happy for some reason. I don't get that, because I'm just one more nerd at a keyboard in his Jedi Knight bathrobe. But I like making people happy when I can.

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and again I applaud George R. Martin for making some sort of statement ...

Here's my statement:

I didn't come over to your house, sit down in your living room and start telling you about how fun LARPing is--you came looking for more from me, and I elected to share it. I'm not responsible for adhering to your expectations--you make those, not me. You have absolutely zero interest in my contracts or my deadlines, because you aren't the one taking risks in the hope of reward. That's my publisher and me.

And my personal life is really none of your goddamned business.

Damn.

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I haven't read any of the Dresden Files, but I have enjoyed the Codex Alera books that I have read. I just wanted to say way to go Mr. Butcher! Sometimes fanboys (myself included) get a bit too entitled when it comes to the works we love, it is nice to have an author/creator remind us when we are being out of line.

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You're supposed to type extra spaces after periods on typewriters. Try it on a computer and the copyeditor *waves* who has to delete them all will be a little miffed. (Less miffed now that Adobe InCopy allows mass search and replace.)

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