lkh_lashouts | Mar. 15th, 2006

People on my f-list and in real life are probably fed up with me pimping Butcher, but GODDAMMIT, it's worth it. I'm working hard on getting people addicted to these books.

He's the author of The Dresden Files series.

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting Advice. Reasonable Rates.
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Harry Dresden is Chicago's only wizard that's listed in the Yellow Pages. He does odd jobs and consults with SI - Special Investigations - police squad, kinda like Anita Blake and RPIT, only less crime scene squick and more actual consulting and metaphysical research.

It's all very gumshoe detective, film noir style, only you give your wise-cracking PI magical powers and your femme fatale might turn out to be a vampire, and this is the Dresden universe. All these things exist, but for the most part, people don't want to know it exists. SI is an attempt to try and deal with the supernatural problems without having to acknowledge that there's weirdness in the world and if anything does wind up broadcast on the news? It's quickly written off as a hoax. So, the hero can save the world only nobody will know and he goes largely thankless.

For the most part, Harry's struggle is just to pay the bills. Oh, and avoid multiple head injuries and people that want to kill him. The books have two threads - the case Harry is working on, and the arc of Harry's character. He's got a dark past - and refreshingly doesn't wangst or wail about it ad nauseum - and this is one of the few series that can make me sit back and go, "Wow!" because the ending isn't always what you think it will be. The characters are humourous, dark and scary, and it's nice to see Harry getting beat up and have to fight for every inch of victory he gets. It's nice to see a hero that doesn't always pull some miraculous magical whatsit out of his backside to win the day and it's awesome to see that all of Harry's actions have consequences.

The series has a pretty big Buffy following - I think mostly because James Marsters reads the audiobooks - and if you love the Buffy sense of humour, you'll love these. So far, it's seven books strong and just keeps getting better.

Oh yes, and enjoy the pun-tastic nature of the titles.

The Dresden Files
1. Storm Front
2. Fool Moon
3. Grave Peril
4. Summer Knight
5. Death Masks
6. Blood Rites
7. Dead Beat

Official Website: jim-butcher.com
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