Butcher's original proposed title for the first novel was Semiautomagic, which sums up the series' balance of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction.
[1] 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).
[2] 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.
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.
[3] 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.
[1] 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.
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.
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.
Butcher is currently planning for twenty-two books in the "case files" of the series, to be capped by a further "big apocalyptic trilogy".
[19] Debuting on January 21, 2007, the Sci Fi Channel TV adaptation starred Paul Blackthorne as the eponymous wizard.
This version of Bob is also not a pervert obsessed with women like his book counterpart, but still occasionally encourages Harry to pursue romantic relationships.
Harry wears a magical "shield-bracelet" (and he also has the pentacle necklace, which makes an appearance in flashback scenes from "Bad Blood") that once belonged to his mother, and was given to him by his father.
Instead of having a staff and blasting rod like in the novels, Harry uses a hockey stick and a drumstick to focus his magic for stronger spells.
The series was canceled by the SciFi Channel in August 2007, despite a fan-led effort to bring the show back or find it a new home.
The current plan is to lay out the Dresden Files storyline at the rate of one of the novels every twelve to sixteen monthly issues, with occasional side-trips and independent stories thrown in.
Midway through the production of Storm Front, the title changed hands[24] from Dabel Brothers to Dynamite Entertainment, causing a long gap between issues #5 and #6.
Artist Ardian Syaf left the project to work for DC, and Brett Booth was brought in to finish the graphic novel.
[26] Jim Butcher has spoken openly about a pen and paper roleplaying game released in 2010 based on the Dresden Files universe.
It allows players to play a wide variety of characters, ranging from an ordinary human such as Karrin Murphy or Gentleman Johnny Marcone to magic users like Harry Dresden or Molly Carpenter to powerful supernatural creatures along the lines of Thomas Raith, all in the same game, with all the players able to make a contribution.
[34] Evil Hat was working on a live-action version of the RPG, named "Dresden Lives", but was cancelled during beta testing.
The core game includes Harry, Murphy, Susan, Michael, and the Alphas and plays through the first five novels as well as Side Jobs, a random scenario generator based on the short story collection of the same name.
[36] The art for the game is not screen grabs from the TV show, but is instead original artwork by Fred Hicks, Chris McGrath, and Tyler Walpole.
[42] In Ben Aaronovitch's book Broken Homes from the Rivers of London series, PC Peter Grant drinks a beer from a Chicago Brewery called "Mac's".