Author Topic: How did you find The Dresden Files?  (Read 4322 times)

Offline EBRIEN

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How did you find The Dresden Files?
« on: March 11, 2022, 05:28:34 PM »
I first found the TV series, as I suspect did many of you. I didn't realize it was based on a novel until I was having a discussion with a waitress in a seedy bar. I've no idea how we even got to the topic other than maybe through science fiction, but she said I should definitely try the books. So, around 2010, I dived in and was transported to a new world. Dresden was a welcome respite from my real world woes and Dresden and I became fast friends. Over the years, Dresden's kinda been like family. I met Jim at the Big Trouble in Little China screening/book signing several years ago and got to say thanks. The theater was full of supporters I'm sure were there to share their own thank yous.

Dresden still provides respite at times. There's a familial comfort in rereading the stories or listening to them.

Hope you are well, Forum readers. This place is like Dresden, too. Familiar and comfortable.

Thanks---Brien

Offline Con

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2022, 06:12:59 PM »
So similar. I was into Buffy, Angel, Charmed, Supernatural around 2008 I was laid u with a broken ankle and binge watched them. Came across the tv show. Didn't think much about till 2010 and got hit with the twihard phase. Then I read Sookie Stackhouse. Then finally got into the books. Now its my favourite series. The books, the characters, the lore of the world within it and of course the fandom community as well. It's rare outside of Trekkies, Star Wars, Lotr, Harry Potter to find a passionate fandom that can argue about minute details for 9 pages (subtle look at my Star Born thread).

Thanks Guys
Con

Offline Mira

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2022, 06:23:09 PM »


Same with me, started with the television series, wasn't even aware that it was based on a book series.  Only disappointment is the character Bob, I loved the actor playing him and thus the character as well.  So the Bob of the novels was a bit of a let down...

Offline EBRIEN

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2022, 08:26:34 PM »

Same with me, started with the television series, wasn't even aware that it was based on a book series.  Only disappointment is the character Bob, I loved the actor playing him and thus the character as well.  So the Bob of the novels was a bit of a let down...

Yes. The actor, Terrence Mann, is so good. Have you seen Foundation with him as Brother Dusk?

Offline EBRIEN

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2022, 08:27:46 PM »
So similar. I was into Buffy, Angel, Charmed, Supernatural around 2008 I was laid u with a broken ankle and binge watched them. Came across the tv show. Didn't think much about till 2010 and got hit with the twihard phase. Then I read Sookie Stackhouse. Then finally got into the books. Now its my favourite series. The books, the characters, the lore of the world within it and of course the fandom community as well. It's rare outside of Trekkies, Star Wars, Lotr, Harry Potter to find a passionate fandom that can argue about minute details for 9 pages (subtle look at my Star Born thread).

Thanks Guys
Con

I suspect many of us have binged those shows as well. I know Supernatural is a definite favorite. 

Offline Eleyctra

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2022, 09:17:50 PM »
I'm in the minority I guess. I was introduced when I worked at Borders Books during my hard core fantasy reading phase in college, and a coworker noticed and recommended the series. I believe the most recent release at the time was Proven Guilty. Like many others, the first 2 books were good, but it didn't hook me until book 3. I am now a die-hard fan. Currently doing the re-read by audiobook while I work...until the next book release.
The written word stands between memory & oblivion.Without books as our anchors,we're cast adrift,neither teaching nor learning.They're windows on the past,mirrors on the present,& prisms reflecting possible futures.Books are lighthouses erected in the dark sea of time.
Jeffery Robbins-Gargoyles S2E4

Offline EBRIEN

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2022, 11:06:32 PM »
I'm in the minority I guess. I was introduced when I worked at Borders Books during my hard core fantasy reading phase in college, and a coworker noticed and recommended the series. I believe the most recent release at the time was Proven Guilty. Like many others, the first 2 books were good, but it didn't hook me until book 3. I am now a die-hard fan. Currently doing the re-read by audiobook while I work...until the next book release.

I used to love going to Borders. Sooo good!

I've read a lot of people say Book 3 and they were hooked as well.

Offline CrusherJen

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2022, 04:32:28 AM »
I was working in a bookstore when the books came out. Several of my regular customers recommended them to me so enthusiastically that I had to see if the series was really that good... and it was. I was hooked from that point on.  I think that was around the time Grave Peril came out, but I'm not sure. I've read and reread them many times since then, and made sure to get as many others hooked as I could.  ;D
« Last Edit: March 12, 2022, 04:35:54 AM by CrusherJen »
"An errand is getting a tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo."   --from Blood Rites

Offline Regenbogen

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2022, 04:51:15 AM »
I was the victim of amazon's algorithms. You know the one when books keep popping up and the bot recommends them to you: according to your reading behaviour, you are certainly interested in THIS one too.
It kept popping up for years and for a long time I said, no, most certainly NOT. I wasn't interested in the title and the cover! I didn't even look it up, my impression was that it must be about some "cool" guy with a long coat and a hat in Dresden (the German town). Whatever he was supposed to be doing there didn't interest me.

Then came a time when I was looking for new books to read. And I go into shops or look around online. I live in Germany, so there are not many books in English lying around in the shops, and I didn't find what I wanted. So I said, OK, algorithm, you won. I 'll read that weird book, but if the main character is this arrogant wannabe cool guy I think he is, I won't read on.

So I came to the Dresden Files with very, very, very low expectations.

Storm Front had me the moment Harry vomited into the bucket, lol.
That destroyed the image of the "cool" guy.
So I think I'm one of the few people who really liked the first two books, because I didn't expect them to be good.

Offline gog

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2022, 01:13:30 PM »
Small pile of the books in a jumble sale - picked them up, liked the first, then read the rest.

Offline Dina

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2022, 12:32:59 PM »
I began with the tv show too. I do not remember which was the newest book at the time I discovered them, but I began with SF, of course, and liked it but not loved it. I gave it a chance though, I liked Fool Moon more, so I decided it was promising and kept buying them. Summer Knight was the one that truly hooked me.
Missing you, Md 

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. Someone has stolen a book (Terry Pratchett)

Offline Avernite

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2022, 07:46:24 PM »
I used to be an avid tvtropes reader, and, well, the Dresden files kept popping up in all my funky tropes (with nice explanations to boot) so I eventually decided to get a 3-first-books bundle.

The rest is history.

Offline RobReece

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2022, 04:48:49 AM »
Mine was a little bit different.   
At one time I was trying to find online pool, billiard,  games that were free to play. One link surprised me and led to the SyFy channel's website and a game that was in the DF TV shows page, but had almost nothing to do with the show.  But that is how I found out about the show, which to my dismay, had just stopped airing 2 months before.  But looking for more information on the show led me to the books and I found the first few in a used bookstore the next week.

After getting into the books then finding out about the differences in the show make me glad I read them first.


Offline hiddendotgif

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2022, 11:18:41 AM »
One Christmas a few years ago, my great aunt gave me a big old box of books. Among them were the Dresden Files 5-9. I brought Death Masks with me on vacation, and when I got back, my mother told me the house had burned down. I then went on to find out more about the series, due to the heartbreak of lost books, and found a file-sharing site that I could get PDFs of the books from. (I have hence purchased copies, now that I have a job, but I was broke and young at the time). Since then, i've read them a few times, and they inspired me to write and publish my own story.
"Be the chaos you want to see in the world" - Mollymauk

Offline Dina

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Re: How did you find The Dresden Files?
« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2022, 11:29:47 AM »
Congrats for publishing!
Missing you, Md 

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. Someone has stolen a book (Terry Pratchett)