any word on Jim?

[RobReece]

has anyone heard anything from or on Jim?  not trying to dig into his personal life, just curious if even the Betas have had any contact with him...

[spiritofair]

I hope he is well and is writing the Olympian Affair. I'm really looking forward to that book.

I wish we got some sort of updates on this website, Twitter, or somewhere (anywhere). I saw the video from Dragon Con where he said he thought he'd be having something finished by February... it's now February. I wonder how things are progressing...

I yearn for the days when Jim was cranking out a book a year!

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Convention season really doesn’t start until after February, taking a 3 month break for the holidays, so you won’t see him then. Check the Convention websites see if he is GOH. He normally does DragonCon as a member rather than GOH and may do other Cons if they are going in-person, just to get back to seeing people he hasn’t seen in 2 years.

He has the lead story (and cover) in the Heroic Hearts anthology coming out on 3 May 2022, so I would expect a rash of on-line interviews or in-person events to promote this in April, with Jim kicking back and celebrating May 4th.

His son, has also sold his first novel, urban fantasy but he’s doing a bit of a Joe Hill, so he may or may not be around with him promoting that.

He may also be in protracted silence if he is negotiating on a new Dresden Files show with someone like Disney or Amazon or Netflix, and we suddenly see him everywhere promoting that. I think of the recent Amazon Jack Reacher series which popped up out of nowhere seemingly. Given the tug of war over his creative input on the Blackthorne series you have got. It’s been 15 freaking years now that this major IP has not been on screen.

[morriswalters]

has anyone heard anything from or on Jim?  not trying to dig into his personal life, just curious if even the Betas have had any contact with him...

Crickets.  It's been 1 year and 5 months since Battle Ground. Nothing on reddit or twitter.

[Dina]

Or the official site.

Convention season really doesn’t start until after February, taking a 3 month break for the holidays, so you won’t see him then. Check the Convention websites see if he is GOH. He normally does DragonCon as a member rather than GOH and may do other Cons if they are going in-person, just to get back to seeing people he hasn’t seen in 2 years.

He has the lead story (and cover) in the Heroic Hearts anthology coming out on 3 May 2022, so I would expect a rash of on-line interviews or in-person events to promote this in April, with Jim kicking back and celebrating May 4th.

His son, has also sold his first novel, urban fantasy but he’s doing a bit of a Joe Hill, so he may or may not be around with him promoting that.

He may also be in protracted silence if he is negotiating on a new Dresden Files show with someone like Disney or Amazon or Netflix, and we suddenly see him everywhere promoting that. I think of the recent Amazon Jack Reacher series which popped up out of nowhere seemingly. Given the tug of war over his creative input on the Blackthorne series you have got. It’s been 15 freaking years now that this major IP has not been on screen.

Where did you find that about Heroic Hearts? It is a Dresden story?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Or the official site. Where did you find that about Heroic Hearts? It is a Dresden story?

Why yes, a point of view story from Toot, where he teams up with Mister to deal with a threat Harry doesn’t notice. Look on Amazon for Heroic Hearts and Dresden. The story is Little Things, no idea how long so it is, but it will be a “short story” given the protagonists, the first since The Good People which may end up as part of Next Book. The cover appears to show Toot and Lacuna fighting off foes in their approximate size range post Battle Ground given the armour.

[Regenbogen]

Or the official site. Where did you find that about Heroic Hearts? It is a Dresden story?

I've actually got the Heroic Hearts info from Patricia Briggs' website. She has a story in there, too. The second time I heard about it, was somewhere here. Maybe a transcript of an interview or so.

[Dina]

Thank you both! 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Yes, we all have the dilemma of whether to pay the full price for a book for a little hit of Dresden.

If it’s half a dozen pages it will be very annoying, if it 90 pages much better. As the headliner I would hope the latter.

[Regenbogen]

Yes, we all have the dilemma of whether to pay the full price for a book for a little hit of Dresden.

If it’s half a dozen pages it will be very annoying, if it 90 pages much better. As the headliner I would hope the latter.

I'll pay it, because there are several stories I'm interested in. I think it was 4 or 5 stories, but I can't remember them all. Actually I must admit, I'm not too excited about a story about Toot-Toot. But I definitely want to read the love story with Asil from the Mercy-Thompson-verse. And there is a story by Kelley Armstrong and one by Kevin Hearne.

[Mira]

Yes, we all have the dilemma of whether to pay the full price for a book for a little hit of Dresden.

If it’s half a dozen pages it will be very annoying, if it 90 pages much better. As the headliner I would hope the latter.

Those are the ones I put on my Kindle..   If we get a full length book in less than two years, not bad.  But if it is another three to five years until a full book, I begin to be pissed because I feel like crumbs are being tossed my way.  Since it is about a beloved character I too am hoping for 90 pages or more, Toot and Mister both deserve it.

[Dina]

I will probably not buy it. I have bought several times anthology books only for the JB story, both on paperback and kindle. But the economic situation in my country has made that buying thing in dollars is too expensive. I really need to think before doing that sort of purchase. If it was a normal Dresden story, I will probably do not hesitate in buying it. A Toot-toot one? Nah, I can wait and see what other people think on the story and even if the price of the book is reduced with time.

[spiritofair]

He may also be in protracted silence if he is negotiating on a new Dresden Files show with someone like Disney or Amazon or Netflix, and we suddenly see him everywhere promoting that. I think of the recent Amazon Jack Reacher series which popped up out of nowhere seemingly. Given the tug of war over his creative input on the Blackthorne series you have got. It’s been 15 freaking years now that this major IP has not been on screen.

This would be amazing, and I've wondered about it. It would certainly be pretty awesome to see a modern production of a Dresden Files show. I could see 4 to 6 episodes per book, with 2-3 books per season. Season 1 is first three books (3, 3, 4 episodes), Season 2 is next three books 12 episodes (4, 4, 4 episodes), and subsequent seasons are two books (they get longer in word count) per season at 5 episodes per book. It'd be 12 seasons to get through everything, which is a LONG time, but that would give actors time to age (the timeline would still have to be compressed) and Jim time to write the remaining 8 or 9 books... (Or maybe not, considering current production.)

Something like that would be absolutely incredible.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The streaming service model seems better suited to adapting existing IP from book sources. Episode lengths can be variable, and a smaller episode count per season allowed, as well not being tied to the TV calendar of sweeps and holidays. This means the rhythm of the original narrative can be more easily retained, and all this seems to allow for more input from the original creator.

As the old joke goes about the aspiring actress “she was so dumb she slept with the writer” indicating the writer was the least influential in the film making heirachy. Jim could expect way more say as a creator these days, commissioning buyers for the streaming services know that they are reaching out to the existing fan base first and foremost and don’t have to cheapen or dumb down the product to appeal to a wider audience, in part because they can now reach everyone in that fan base at the same time and in part because the wider audience these days have a better understanding of comic, SF and fantasy ideas and tropes. The wider audience were not confused by the Multiverse concept in No Way Home, and seem to be willing to try the new. Look at the success of Squid Game.

I would start with an adaption of Grave Peril and do an abbreviated version of Storm Front as a flashback within that story, same with Summer Knight and Full Moon.

[spiritofair]

The streaming service model seems better suited to adapting existing IP from book sources. Episode lengths can be variable, and a smaller episode count per season allowed, as well not being tied to the TV calendar of sweeps and holidays. This means the rhythm of the original narrative can be more easily retained, and all this seems to allow for more input from the original creator.

As the old joke goes about the aspiring actress “she was so dumb she slept with the writer” indicating the writer was the least influential in the film making heirachy. Jim could expect way more say as a creator these days, commissioning buyers for the streaming services know that they are reaching out to the existing fan base first and foremost and don’t have to cheapen or dumb down the product to appeal to a wider audience, in part because they can now reach everyone in that fan base at the same time and in part because the wider audience these days have a better understanding of comic, SF and fantasy ideas and tropes. The wider audience were not confused by the Multiverse concept in No Way Home, and seem to be willing to try the new. Look at the success of Squid Game.

I would start with an adaption of Grave Peril and do an abbreviated version of Storm Front as a flashback within that story, same with Summer Knight and Full Moon.

It's funny, lots of people aren't big fans of Storm Front and Fool Moon, and I admit that when I first found the series, Storm Front didn't really grab me. Neither did Fool Moon. But after reading Grave Peril, I was hooked and went off to buy all of the rest of the available books at the time (I think through White Night).

That said, upon re-reading, I still really like Storm Front and Fool Moon. I think Storm Front is still a good introduction to the story. A first season consisting of the first 3 books would be pretty powerful, ending on the high note of Grave Peril, really setting up future seasons.