Did you discover the books because of the TV Show?

[Ebenezar McCoy]

I spend a great deal of time at the local Barnes and Nobles and I found out about Harry a few years ago. I am glad they made it into a TV series, it should help with popularizing the series further.

[whitetrash]

nope  i differnt forum told me about them and a tried them and cant put them down and just watched the show for the first time last sunday

[sandranne]

Hi, I'm 62 and have been an SF fan since 1956 when I discovered Heinlein in the school library.  Haven't been a big fantasy fan.  Saw ads for The Dresden Files and fell in love with it more each episode.  It was only 12 days ago that I discovered it was from books.  I've read them all now and love it all even more.  Terrific job, JB!

[spork]

I don't know if I count really...  I mean I absolutely first heard about it on the Gateworld interview with Mitch Pileggi (he was reading the books at the time of the interview and thought they were great).  The whole idea of a open wizard PI in present time intrested me a lot.  But with RL constantly demanding immediate attention I forgot about it until I saw the early commercials for DF on Sci Fi.  So I had nothing pressing and wanted something to read, I went online and held the first 3 books (well, minus SF as it seemed to be missing).  I absolutely devored them, and read all but SF, PG, and DB before watching the series began.  So you can say that I knew about the books but it wasn't until the series that pushed me to reading them...

Spork

[Spectacular Sameth]

I don't think I would've heard of them without the TV series. Sometime in December I watched a really good miniseries on Sci-Fi called "The Lost Room" and I saw a commercial for the Dresden Files and was rather intrigued, so I started recording it and got into it, then I realize it was a book series and decided to read it.

I would like to think that since I'm a somewhat avid reader that I would've eventually heard of it when White Night came out, but the publicity behind that is due partially to the TV series. (Yeah, these books were all on display when I went to buy them. It made it really easy for me to find.)

[Rock Me Asmodeus]

I work at Borders North East Distribution Center.  If you live on the East Coast of the US and you shop at Borders, there's a chance your new copy of White Night passed through my hands and since it wasn't written by John Edward, I promise I didn't sneeze in it.   

I read the backs of a couple of Jim's paperbacks on slow nights at work, but didn't start devouring them until I caught a couple episodes of the show and said to myself "Damn, I wish this was better."  The books ARE better.  The books are exactly what I wanted them to be- fun pulpy fantasy noir that keeps you turning the pages until you run out.  I only wish they were longer.  I tend to read them in one or two sittings (My weekends utterly belong to Harry). 

Don't get me wrong.  I DO like the show.  It's not great.  I tear every episode apart as I watch it, but I NEVER miss one.  I like the hockey stick of doom and the drum stick blasting rod.  (They remind me of Changeling: The Dreaming.  What better way to hide the fantastic than under such a mundane 'seeming.')  I was a Bob fan from the moment Terence Mann uttered the words "Where there's kids, there's snot."   

The show just can't hold a candle to the books.  I've read the first three (which, given my tasty discount I technically didn't pay for.)  Right now, I'm trying very hard not to read Dead Beat.  I picked it up early because it was actually THERE and because I was hooked by the chapters posted online.  I've since decided I should read them in order.  I can do this.  I'm sure the shakes and the cold sweats will pass.   

I'm also eagerly awaiting the RPG.  I doubt I'll ever find anyone IRL who'll play it, but I admit I'm searching the net every week for some inkling of when it will come out.  I've promised myself I'm NOT buying another game that I'll never get to play and I haven't since 1999.  For the Dresden Files, I have to make an exception.   *wipes drool off keyboard*  I love this world of Jim's and the brain wants to play in it.

[jbisawesome]

read fist

i did a double take looking at the speecial display in the sci-fi section. i remember seeing the author and series somewhere before but couldnt remeber where so i looked the first two over and bought them. i had downloaded(legally and at nocost) the pilot episode off iTunes but never watched past the first 5 minutes. i love the series dont have cable so just read but on average im reading a book every 2 nights

[Magus Dresdenarus]

I'd seen all the promos on the Sci-Fi Channel;  So, I decided to take a chance on the series because Robert Hewitt Wolfe's name was attached to it.  He did great stuff with Andromeda before Kevin Sorbo was made an executive producer.  (Andromeda really stunk after the Wolfe-written episodes completed their run.)

Chit-chatting at the local comic store the week the episode aired, my friend Drew asked what I thought of TDF.  I replied that I thought the show had potential and planned on giving it a few more episodes to decide.  He didn't like it and said the books were better. (Although he still prefers the books, he's since changed his mind about the tv series.)

About a week later, while having coffee with other friends at a local Borders, I pointed out Storm Front to Baelmyrrdn after having mentioned it a couple days previously.  She read the first 50 pages

So, having a second opinion on the books, and having missed out on the references and in-jokes amongst friends because I skipped the "Harry Potter" series, I bought Storm Front and found that what Drew said was true: The books are better than the series. (And the series is good, so that's saying a lot.)

Since then, I've read the first five books, am taking a break to read The Red Church by Scott Nicholson, and the sixth book will be next.

That's how I encountered the books and the TV series.

So, with Battlestar Galactica, The Dresden Files, and now the stellar premiere of PainKiller Jane, the Sci-Fi Channel may actually redeem its reputation. . . .

[tehuti]

Well I feel better knowing that 60% of the folks here found out about Harry through the show, as I did. In fact it was about 2 weeks ago that I even discovered that there was a book series. I was actually wondering where the story came from when I stumbled upon a reference to the Harry Dresden book series, and I immediately investigated. Right now I'm about half way through Storm Front, and I actually like the TV characters better than the ones in the books. But I will reserve judgement until I've read a few more of the books.

tehuti

[Spectacular Sameth]

So, with Battlestar Galactica, The Dresden Files, and now the stellar premiere of PainKiller Jane, the Sci-Fi Channel may actually redeem its reputation. . . .

Have you seen their miniseries "The Lost Room?" That was one of my favorite miniseries ever. It had a good story, wasn't terribly corny, it was fairly well acted, and so forth. They could make a good solid series out of it if they weren't morons.

Also, they have another good series coming back in July called "Eureka." So Sci-Fi isn't doing too terribly, their better shows just aren't getting enough support, I think.

[Rock Me Asmodeus]

I liked Eureka, but I'm always at work when it's on, so I rarely get to see it.  If they'd put Eureka, Doctor Who, and Dresden Files on together on Sunday, I would be a very very happy fan.   In fact, I might change the quickname I have in my hotmail address book for the Sci Fi channel from "Pinheads" to something a little more flattering.  (I emailed them steadily for about a week once upon a time to get The Chronicle back).  I don't watch much TV these days.  I catch Dresden on Sunday and whatever half hour anime catches my fancy on Saturday.  That's pretty much it. 

[Spectacular Sameth]

I record everything I watch to watch at a later time. I usually don't watch The Dresden Files until Monday night.

[RedLocque]

Hello all...

As a matter of fact, I did! 

If you live in Spain, as I do, the chances of your obtaining quality material to read in its original version, be it English or some other language, and at a affordable price are slim to none. However, you are well off in comparison to how utterly down the gutter the TV programming is. Can you spell "cruel and unusual punishment of the mind"? So I am unashamed to say I am indebted to all those wonderful people who record and post good TV series on the net for the entertainment poor and underprivileged such as I.

I have to admit I am more of a scifi reader who treads very, very carefully in the printed world of magic. It is a subject which, IMHO, has sadly been very poorly handled in the past.
Harry Potter is palatable, and I do admit I have all the books. I am sure Rowling slips a mickey into the pages to make you crave it, or maybe we are all rooting for Empire. God Save the Queen, and so forth...

As to magic in television: Well, after (what is it?) nine years of Buffy and the absolute devaluation and defacement of the vampire as a creature capable of inspiring fear, and an equally excruciating long time of Charmed, which relegated the eternal fight between good and evil to the level of your everyday, street corner drugstore hold-up and whose only enticement was Alysa Milano's cleavage and the occasional (or not so occasional) glimpse of thigh... is it any wonder I approached "The Dresden Files" with a healthy amount of dread?

But, 'lo and behold!; the show is good. Amazingly so. Good character development, solid stories and the action is never over the top (although the dragon was tiny). We have a winner! If you add to that the fact the show is based on an actual literary series, how can you lose? So yes, I just recently found out about the fact there were books involved in this whole "Dresden" affair, and my discovery of the author's identity is even more recent. A couple of hours ago, in fact. And since I don't like forming an opinion on something without all the facts, I am in the process of procuring the last eight books in Jim Butcher's "Dresden" series. As soon as I read them I'll be able to comment on his writing prowess.

Ta-ta!   

[Ramones]

I found the books from a friend as could be described as a Psycho JM fan. I fell for the books since it has so many of the elements I love in a great brain candy book, detective, mystery, Chicago, supernatural and the tall everyman hero.

I started to watch the show after about the 3 or 4th episode. I was afraid to watch because I loved the books so much for fear it may change my mind's eye of who Harry and the others are but have to say even with the slight changes made I really have become a fan of both books and TV show.   

[FooDog]

I like both the show and the books. But you have to view them as two different universes. Adaptation from novel to film is a difficult thing to accomplish in a one hour show or a 100 minute movie and still get all the nuances. A TV show needs to hook an audience as quick as it can and then slowly feed the rules of that magical universe to the audience. It's when they violate their own established rules that I walk away from that show.
I'm sure many of you may have read Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice? There are at least 3 adaptations of the novel to film available on DVD, and none of them are exactly the same. They just try to capture the spirit of the main characters for the film, but play a little loose with the plot details for time. They were all enjoyable, but none of them had the depth of the novel.
I think the TV show captures the essence of the characters of Dresden, Murphy, Bob and Morgan pretty well. They played a bit loose with Ancient Mai and Bianca. I think the reasons we like the books better is that there is more background in what are the limits of power of each character in the Dresden universe.