The Dresden Files

The series takes place in a world where magic and the paranormal—including vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, outsiders and other monsters—are real but widely discredited. Large portions of the globe, including much of Central and South America, are controlled by supernatural factions. These factions are loosely countered by the White Council, an organization of human wizards that wields significant economic power. Each species has its own political and societal rules and organizations, acting to counter each other and maintain the masquerade. The human wizards depend on the White Council, while faeries either belong to one of two Faerie Courts or are unaffiliated, known as Wyldfae. Vampires generally belong to any of the four vampire courts. The series features other non-human creatures from a range of mythologies. ==Plot summary==

Harry Dresden is the only advertising wizard in the United States, living in Chicago and taking supernatural cases on behalf of both human and nonhuman clients. He serves as a consultant for the Special Investigations division of the Chicago Police Department, reviewing 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, he struggles to get by as a working wizard and private investigator. Main characters • Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a detective and wizard. He works as a self-employed supernatural private investigator and consulting for the Chicago Police Department. • Bob is a "spirit of intellect" who inhabits a skull most often perched on a shelf in 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. As the series progresses, she is demoted from Lieutenant to Sergeant and stripped of her command, then later dismissed from the force altogether. ==Background==

As a writing student, Butcher wrote several novels that he has since described as "terrible", the majority being traditional high fantasy. At the suggestion of his writing teacher, author Deborah Chester, he attempted a novel in the style of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, media they had discussed because Butcher was a fan. Resistant to her systematic approach to writing fiction, he set out to prove her wrong by closely following her methods. The result, which would require little editing, was Storm Front. Butcher has called the experience, "a valuable lesson about humility." Butcher next sought an agent or editor, a process that took over two years. Butcher is currently planning for twenty-two books in the "case files" of the series, to be capped by a final "double-length apocalyptic trilogy". ==Publication history==

In 2007, ROC began publishing hardcover reprints of books one to six. Volumes 7-15 (Dead Beat through Skin Game) were published first as hardcover, then released in paperback several months later. The 16th and 17th 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 continued to publish two books per month. In November 2007, Orbit bought the rights to Changes and Ghost Story, the 12th and 13th novels. All volumes of The Dresden Files, along with the companion short-story anthologies Side Jobs and Brief Cases, have been released as audiobooks. The first four novels were produced by Buzzy Multimedia Publishing, while later audiobooks were produced by Penguin Audio. All except Ghost Story were originally narrated by James Marsters. In a release on his website on June 27, 2011, Butcher reported that Marsters would be unable to voice Ghost Story, "due to scheduling conflicts"; instead, the narration was performed by John Glover. James Marsters returned to read the Cold Days audiobook. In April 2015, a rerecorded version of "Ghost Story" by Marsters was released. The Science Fiction Book Club has released omnibus editions, with each of the four volumes reprinting two or three of the novels in the sequence. 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". Bibliography ==Other media==

Television Debuting on January 21, 2007, the Sci Fi Channel TV adaptation starred Paul Blackthorne as the eponymous wizard. Harry's history in the series differed from that of the novels in several significant ways; his father, Malcolm Dresden, did not die from an aneurysm, but was instead murdered by Justin (named Morningway rather than DuMorne, and Harry's biological uncle). Instead of being a spirit of intellect, Bob is the spirit of a medieval wizard who, as punishment for using black magic to resurrect his life's love, is doomed to spend eternity inside his own skull; he can manifest a human appearance outside the skull but only within a short radius of the skull itself, and must return to the skull when ordered. 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. In "What About Bob?", it is revealed that he was also Dresden's primary magical teacher as a child. 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. As a private investigator, Harry drives a Korean-War-era military Jeep instead of the infamous "Blue Beetle" VW Beetle of the novels (a change made based on actor Blackthorne's height and the difficulty of filming inside a VW Beetle, as well as the fact it would look more like a 'clown car' on video than a serious vehicle). According to "Bad Blood", Harry was around 31 when he killed Justin, instead of 16 as in the novels; a Red Court vampire, Bianca, protected Harry while the High Council investigated Morningway's death. The two had a sexual relationship that does not exist in the books. In the episode "What About Bob?", the events surrounding Justin's death at Dresden's hands are fully revealed: only five years prior to the series Dresden discovered that Justin, using black magic, was responsible for the death of his father. Justin said that he did not kill Harry's mother, but he died before the truth could be divined. Dresden used thaumaturgy—in this case, a voodoo doll of sorts—to attack Justin, who fought back using his own magical ability. In the scuffle, Harry accidentally crushed the voodoo doll, causing Justin to die with a "circle-shaped crushing wound" around his heart. 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. In October 2018, Fox 21 optioned the Dresden Files for a new TV series. Graphic novels Jim Butcher and Dabel Brothers produced a Dresden Files graphic novel series: Working together with Dabel Brothers Productions, the Dresden Files are going to be translated into a graphic novel format. 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. Ever wonder what happened in Branson the month before Storm Front? How about what somebody saw in the lake in Minnesota between Storm Front and Fool Moon? Maybe I’ll get to tell those stories now! How cool is that? I will be assisting with the writing of the comics, and am also involved in the design and approval of the characters, art, tone, and so on. This is an actual hand-in-hand project in which I have full creative input and influence, and I'm friggin’ giddy about it. I mean, come on! Comic books! The four-issue miniseries called Welcome to the Jungle, ran as a prequel to Storm Front from early to mid-2008. A compilation of that run was released as a hardcover graphic novel in October. Storm Front was announced as the next adaptation, by the same creative team. The first issue was released in November the same year. Welcome to the Jungle was nominated for the first Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. Midway through the production of Storm Front, the title changed hands 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. Issue #6 was slated for May 2010. In 2017, a Dresden Files miniseries called Wild Card won the Dragon Award for Best Graphic Novel, and another Dresden Files miniseries called Dog Men won the Dragon Award for Best Comic Book. Roleplaying game Jim Butcher has spoken openly about a pen and paper roleplaying game released in 2010 based on the Dresden Files universe. The game has been produced by Evil Hat Productions. In January 2008, the project went into an early alpha phase of testing, and was in various beta testing phases throughout 2009. Pre-orders were opened up on April 4, 2010, and include immediate access to the pre-print PDF, dubbed the "Early Bird" version. Evil Hat released the game on June 23–27, to coincide with Origins 2010. The RPG currently consists of three books, Volume One: Your Story, the core rule book, Volume Two: Our World, a text describing the game universe, and Volume Three: Paranet Papers, expanding both the rules (including minor revisions) and the game universe (in particular, the DF version of Las Vegas). The game, which uses a modified version of the FATE system, emphasizes narrative structure over simulation of magical physics. 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. On release it won awards at the Origins Awards, the Golden Geek Awards, and the ENnies. In 2017, Evil Hat released Dresden Files Accelerated, a new standalone RPG based on Fate Accelerated Edition. Evil Hat was working on a live-action version of the RPG, named "Dresden Lives", but was cancelled during beta testing. Tabletop game In June 2017, Evil Hat Productions released a cooperative card game for 1–5 players designed by Eric B. Vogel, titled "The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game" after a successful Kickstarter campaign, where they raised $549,486 from an initial goal of $48,000. The card game involves Harry Dresden and his friends on cases from the bestselling Dresden Files novels in the what-if scenario, for example if Harry was on the scene with allies who were not present in the original story. 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. The game was fairly well received, with a rating of 7.2 out of 10 on Board Game Geek's site. The rating system is based on user ratings, with a minimum number of votes required, and is subject to change, although drastic change is uncommon. Three expansions for this game were released along with the base game in 2017, and two more were released the following year. Dramatized audiobooks In August 2025, a series of dramatized audiobooks courtesy of GraphicAudio was released, with Storm Front premiering in that medium on 27 August 2025. ==References==