When I was 14 (about 9 years ago) I began practicing witchcraft and was already deep into Occult lore. I asked my girlfriend at the time what name I should choose for myself (as I HATED my name at the time, Garrett [yick]) and she told me that I should call myself Dresden. She'd gotten the idea from the band "The Dresden Dolls", which I fell in love with and became Dresden King.
Then a few years pass by and I'm sitting in bed with my wife (not the same girl as before) doing my research and jotting down notes. We had it flipped to Sci-Fi and out of nowhere I hear...
"I sorcerer for Hire..." yadda yadda, and then "The Dresden Files" and I was like
. And my wife looked at me at the same time. Then my mom called and told me she'd seen the preview and immediately thought of me.
She later told me that there was a book series. So before the show premiered I had read the first 4 books (SF, FM, GP & SK).
Now I'm an addict, and have spread the Dresdenverse drug to my friends and family. My mother, uncle, and all of my friends have read the books. And even better, they can't help but think of me. My friend Brandon was telling me "yeah..every time I read Dresden I go 'yep, that's what our Dresden would do, too...if he could.'" haha. It's very flattering.
And no...I haven't contacted the fey yet. But interestingly enough, I AM an Occult Investigator here in Oregon.
SHORT VERSION: Heard a commercial and was told of the books soon after, read them quickly. I'm an addict now, thanks Jim.