SPOILERS: Book 18 title announced at Lexington book signing

[Griffyn612]

Did any alternative forum end up clearly winning out, anyway? I signed up for the google one, but I'm hardly ever on circles to see updates.

The new site (going live soon) is a clone of this one.  Assuming it remains successfully running and people use it, I'd like to eventually move to a dolphinpro or oxwall forum.  I like Invision Power Suite (what they're using over at 17th Shard) but it's pricey, whereas the others are free.

The dp/ow sites would allow us to have a forum, chat, wiki-like articles, pic and video sharing, and other cool features.  IPS works with a Discord add-on for those that would use it; and it may be available for the others as well.

But that's long term plans, assuming everything else goes well.

[SerScot]

I feel like Jim would write it in a manner that echos Blood Rites, which dealt with the porn industry.  There was some mention of the stuff that went down on set but it was nothing like the focus of the action as I recall.  Everything was centered on the people and events off camera.  I imagine that's how he would handle the wrestling- Harry's interactions with the bombastic personalities and the beings behind them at the center, and the actual wrestling nonsense as a side note.

With the exception of the reveal of Harry’s relationship to Thomas BR was among my least favorite of the Dresden Files novels.

[jonas]

The book will be awesome.  The focus (in my opinion) will be about the gods, how they get power, some cool fights, and some other non wrestling story arch.  Anything you dislike about pro wrestling probably won't be in the book.

Except Harry in a grudge match, expect that one lol.

[raidem]

Mmm the change from Fight Night to the current Body Slam is likely a indicator towards the deeper meaning(s) behind the book title...

It was I who brought up the "Fight Night" proposed title based off a quote by Murphy telling Harry "save it for fight night big guy."  There was never any WOJ that suggested the title was going to be "Fight Night." It was all my WAG. So another of my WAGs go up in smoke.

[wardenferry419]

In book 7, which was to be book 8, a magic tries to become a god.
In Book 18, maybe, a magic user kills a god.
I think the theory where first 10 book plots mirror last 10 book plots is still in play.

[Kindler]

With the exception of the reveal of Harry’s relationship to Thomas BR was among my least favorite of the Dresden Files novels.

Same here. I liked the Black Court side plot, but found the White Court main plot to be far, far too convoluted. A whole lot of Bond Villain Stupidity (JUST SHOOT HIM. SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD.) and too many layers of cat-paws. I get that they don't do anything directly, but come on. And I am... not a particularly big fan of the Suddenly Brothers aspect of Thomas and Harry's relationship. I would've preferred a different method of revealing that side of things.

Anyway, the White Court is part of why I like Kincaid so much. He'll just shoot you from a mile away. In the words of River Tam, "Bang, squish."

As for Body Slam, meh. I have a ton of distaste for wrestling as a... I guess it's technically sport (after all, Starcraft is a sport now). But none of the aspects of Blood Rites I disliked had anything to do with the setting. And, unless being sucked into the Mirrorverse and/or shenanigans on that side of the universal fence somehow frees Harry from the Winter Knight's Mantle, I expect Harry to be investigating on behalf of Winter.

(As far as Mirror, Mirror and losing the Winter Knight gig goes, I figure it's possible that jumping to a universe where there's already a Winter Knight (who I don't expect to be MirrorHarry) might mess with the Mantle—like, it tries to be in two places at once, and the power instead reverts to the constant from the Mirrorverse, or returns to MirrorMab. Either that, or simply being cut off from Prime Winter is enough to free the Mantle, returning it to Prime Mab as Harry gets sucked through. Or, you know, he just finds a good place to get rid of it on Halloween.)

[Kindler]

The new site (going live soon) is a clone of this one.  Assuming it remains successfully running and people use it, I'd like to eventually move to a dolphinpro or oxwall forum.  I like Invision Power Suite (what they're using over at 17th Shard) but it's pricey, whereas the others are free.

The dp/ow sites would allow us to have a forum, chat, wiki-like articles, pic and video sharing, and other cool features.  IPS works with a Discord add-on for those that would use it; and it may be available for the others as well.

But that's long term plans, assuming everything else goes well.

Sorry to derail further, but are you looking at self-hosting or their cloud packages?

[Griffyn612]

Sorry to derail further, but are you looking at self-hosting or their cloud packages?

Right now we're using a cloud server on TMD Hosting because they support all of those (save for IPS).  I'd prefer to avoid self-hosted because the plan is for me to manage things, but I can hand it off seemlessly if needed.

[jonas]

In book 7, which was to be book 8, a magic tries to become a god.
In Book 18, maybe, a magic user kills a god.
I think the theory where first 10 book plots mirror last 10 book plots is still in play.

See, I think the opposite, it was Halloween, EK was in the sky with the hunt... I think they meant to kill/consume an immortal, Mayhaps book 18 will be a God killing a mortal... one close to Harry.. in revenge for raiding his 'woodshed'?

[Kindler]

Right now we're using a cloud server on TMD Hosting because they support all of those (save for IPS).  I'd prefer to avoid self-hosted because the plan is for me to manage things, but I can hand it off seemlessly if needed.

Gotcha. Then yeah, the Invision suites get real expensive real quick depending on average active users. I suppose you'd have a better idea about simultaneous site traffic with the changeover; once Peace Talks come out, that should be a great stress test to see what peak activity looks like.

[Griffyn612]

Gotcha. Then yeah, the Invision suites get real expensive real quick depending on average active users. I suppose you'd have a better idea about simultaneous site traffic with the changeover; once Peace Talks come out, that should be a great stress test to see what peak activity looks like.

Based on what we heard recently, that he's only about half done, we've probably got a year before it comes out.  It might be sooner, or it might be longer.  So we might have a chance to migrate to a new forum software before that, in order to impress folks and get them to stick around.

[Kindler]

Based on what we heard recently, that he's only about half done, we've probably got a year before it comes out.  It might be sooner, or it might be longer.  So we might have a chance to migrate to a new forum software before that, in order to impress folks and get them to stick around.

If he hits his September-something self-imposed deadline goal, I think it'll be a bit sooner than that. I don't know if he has honeymoon plans or what have you, but he's done a lot of what disrupts post-marriage life already (moving, getting into a routine, etc.) Anyway, I figure he'll start editing publisher drafts sometime in October/November. I think (assuming no further delays) we'll be able to get copies no later than March 2019.

[jonas]

If he hits his September-something self-imposed deadline goal, I think it'll be a bit sooner than that. I don't know if he has honeymoon plans or what have you, but he's done a lot of what disrupts post-marriage life already (moving, getting into a routine, etc.) Anyway, I figure he'll start editing publisher drafts sometime in October/November. I think (assuming no further delays) we'll be able to get copies no later than March 2019.

Oh? sweet, those are the kind that really matter imo.

[Griffyn612]

If he hits his September-something self-imposed deadline goal, I think it'll be a bit sooner than that. I don't know if he has honeymoon plans or what have you, but he's done a lot of what disrupts post-marriage life already (moving, getting into a routine, etc.) Anyway, I figure he'll start editing publisher drafts sometime in October/November. I think (assuming no further delays) we'll be able to get copies no later than March 2019.

The turnaround time for his "finished" to "published" is apparently 6 months. For other authors, it's actually a year.

3 months is supposedly possible, but probably unlikely when the publisher already has a release for him this year.  Whereas if he were to finish by September 1st, we'd be looking at a March release next year.  That'd probably be better for their accounting books. 

Not that I know enough about the industry to know if that's accurate or not.

[Dina]

Same here. :/

And here...

Besides I really can't be interested in book 18 announcements with book 16 not even in the horizon