Harry makes lots of mistakes but I'm looking for what you think are big critical ones that will return some how in future books.  Here are some of mine.

1.  Handing over the Book of Kemmler to Mavra.  She was blackmailing him, but was protecting a friend from her career getting ruined worth handing over a book like that to a monster?  I don't think so, and I imagine it's going to come up again.

2.  Staking claim to Demon Reach.  This was a really big move, and it seems to have worked out well for him.  That being said, Jim said "He's going to wish he never stepped foot on that Island".  So I imagine it was a bad move.

3.  Splitting up Bob.  Seemed like a good idea, but I think Evil Bob is out there, allied with who knows who.  He had access to horrible knowledge.  Can't imagine that will end well.

4.  Killing the entire Red Court.  Some of that may be becoming apparent already with the Fomor.  I'm wondering if Harry will realize he had another option, and the one he chose was the wrong one.  As a wizard I'm wondering if he could have worked out a spell, and used that source of power for something else, rather than sacrifice Susan and wipe out out the Red's.

Just some off the top of my head.  Can you think of some critical decisions he made that may have appeared right but will return to haunt him later?

Turning down Ebenezar's help after finding out he's the Blackstaff. Well, assuming that He Who Walks Behind did get summoned back like he said rather than just pretending he was to fuck with Harry.

What are some the favourite creatures that you have used in the Dresden Files? Some of the creatures that you've created?

I've gotta confess, mostly I like the creatures that just have a really good name that I really feel proud of so if I come up with a good name like Chlorofiend it's like "okay that's a good name I like that one." Mostly it works on that but I mean- I take so many things from folklore that I don't feel like I can take a lot of credit for anything. But occasionally when I make up something new though, it's like "okay, that's fun".

But the names are important.

Yeah yeah, /Octokong/, yeah like that. If they'd been more chimpy they'd have had to have been Octopong and that just sounds weird.

Yeah it sounds like a drinking game... Which series adversary do you think has been most difficult for him to beat?

*crowd voice says Marcone*

Well yeah Marcone he still hasn't got the better of Marcone, really, that's a pretty good one. Mab he hasn't really gotten the better of, Lara he hasn't gotten the better of. Really, Harry just tries to survive, basically I just write his worst weekend of the year every year and if he gets through it he's pleased with that.

Now from your perspective, do you think that Harry was more shocked to learn that he had a brother or a daughter?

*She asked this exact same question last year at DragonCon 2020 so skip, the answer is Maggie*

Would you say that there is a common thread that runs through all of your series or even just a couple of them?

Um well, if you want me to get all English major thematically-

Yes.

Well I would say the most common thread is the examination of power and how it's used. How you use it well and how you use it poorly and Dresden's been... he's used it well and poorly as he's gone along depending on his choices, but almost everybody he goes up against is somebody who's using power the wrong way, so.

Harry could write a book, couldn't he?

Probably yeah. And there's also a sub-theme of lifting up the people around you because increasingly as the series goes on it's the people that are around Harry that wind up helping him out- oh thank you very much guys, really very bright. Oh I can see everyone now! There are a lot of you! Hi. But yeah that's kind of one of Harry's- that's one of the recurring themes of the Dresden Files is the little people that he's helped grow up along the way that are now there to support him and help him.

This is from Randy, he says thank you, the last two books were phenomenal, was there anyone that you had planned to kill but didn't? If so, who?

*laughter*

I think I might have chickened out on Michael, I don't know, that was kind of a coin toss there.

*crowd groaning*

Geez.

Well I guess you know what the reaction would be.

What a room, my gosh. Are you sure you're here for /my/ panel? Wow. The imaginary people are so much more valued. But in the end I decided I could tell a better story of it going a different way, plus I got to have him go out for one last ride so that was cool as well.

This is from Daniel Parks.

Hi Daniel.

What piece of fiction do you enjoy that you think has an important story to tell?

I don't know. I don't read fiction for it's importance I basically read it for how much it's going to occupy my imagination and how much it's going to amuse me. Whether or not it's got something deep to say I think mostly comes from the person who's reading it anyhow. You can get just as much out of things that you really just find deeply and soul-satisfyingly entertaining. Lately I've been rereading the Belgariad.

*cheering*

Right? Such a good series. And he only wrote those five books.

*laughter*

It's kind of like Matrix 2 and 3 or Highlander 2, yeah I'm gonna put that follow-up series in the same hole as Highlander 2. But yeah I've been rereading that and I realised what a strong influence that had on me, I think I picked it up when I was about 13 and started reading that series and it really was formative for me. Another series that I read are the Spenser books by Robert B Parker because if you need a hardboiled private eye man he is the master of that genre. As a professional he's kind of my idol, he didn't start writing until he was in his 40s and he kept writing until he was in his 80s and then he died at the keyboard /like a man/.

*laughter*

And that's kind of the path I'd like to follow, I'd like that as well.

Before we get to the next question, I neglected to ask this in the beginning, how many Dresden Files cosplays do we have in the audience today?

Stand up everybody so folks can see you. All right... and there's a cosplaying dog over here too who I have christened Cute Cute so... it is adorable.

Very nicely done everyone.

Okay this is from Rob, do you ever plan to return to Alera?

I've got a couple of ideas about how I could go back, I might go back in like novellas or something like that that I can sell myself online, that might be a good way to do it. But I've got a couple different ideas I'm not quite sure where to go back because let's be honest the first Alera series was humans vs Zerg, it really was. So obviously the point to go back to that series is when the Protoss show up.

*laughter*

Which is like- they're like these crystalline beings (really more 3M tall treemen), point is, I could go back there. The other place I could go back is about five years after the first series and what we would be focusing on in that series is... Fidelias would be kind of Dumbledoring around in the background and Ehren would be McGonagalling around in the foreground. And then we would have the new class of cursors coming through, so I could write about them so it's gonna be the first Marat cursor, the first Canim cursor, and work with all of those folks and see what kind of story we can tell there because that would just be /fun/.

*applause*

Sounds like there's some support for the idea, okay, Karrin.

Okay this is from Mag, if you could be roommates with any character from the Dresden Files, who would you pick?

Oh gosh let me think... not Harry.

*laughter*

He would hit me in the mouth so many times, not Harry. Not Thomas, yeah I'd go with Mouse and Mister maybe, I think that'd be the right choice. Maybe Lara, briefly.

*laughter*

Or occasionally.

Oh yeah, Bob would be awesome, Bob would be the best Alexa ever. Kind of.

Now there's an idea for a short story.

Okay, William H asks, which magical being or beings are responsible for Covid-19 and what magical rites can we perform to end this pandemic?

Let's go ahead and blame this pandemic on the Jade Court. As far as curing it goes, that would be... that would have to be a White Council thing they would have to be on that, and I don't think they'd be too much better at it than any other government around.  But yeah, they would jump on it, I don't know how well they'd do with it but they'd try.

They'd make an effort.

Well they'd look like they were making an effort.

Okay, Kevin Mathis asks who created the White Court of vampires and/or have we met them yet?

Who created them? They've just been around for a long, long time. I actually haven't gotten to- I actually haven't gotten myself into the origins of that too much, maybe I should do that?

*applause*

Would that be okay with you guys? Yeah Harry's gonna be hanging out with Lara a lot so you know I suppose they've got to talk about something. He's gotta date her once a month, it's a whole thing, the lawyers have to look at the contract for the date and make sure things are within certain prescribed limits and so on, it's a whole deal.

Lee Jordan asks. one of my favourite trademarks of the Dresden Files is the witty titles, if you had free reign, what's the title you wanted to used but couldn't?

Hehe, hey man, at first I wanted to name the first book Semiautomagic.

*laughter*

And they wouldn't let me, the second book was always Fool Moon, what was Grave Peril let me think of... it was a different title when I got started. It's been so long I'm forgetting now but I remember that Death Masks I originally wanted to call it Holy Sheet.

*more laughter*

They got upset about that. Blood Rites was originally going to be Family Matters and they said no that makes it sound like a Norah Roberts book and I was like "yeah, I don't wanna share that success". But there's been a bunch of them like that, these days they more or less let me do what I want to because I kinda know what they're aiming for so.

While we're on that subject though, title of the next book is gonna be Twelve Months or Twelve Dates I'm not sure which yet. But yeah I was gonna do Mirror Mirror next but I think it'll hit harder if we see a little bit more of what- I don't wanna go away to alternate Chicago when we've got Chicago Prime changing on us and I want to be able to show that first before we go to alternate Chicago. Yeah, kind of a big deal.

This is from Dez or Dezzie, have you ever regretted killing off a character somewhere down the line?

Gosh it's a good thing I didn't kill Michael I guess, I might have regretted that here and now. But no I don't really regret killing characters because unfortunately the way the world works is that we lose people and we lose them and they're gone and we just have to figure out how to go on, that's life, that's something that's common to humans. So I don't really regret it when I lose characters- occasionally I've gone "aww this character would have been perfect" for something or other while I was writing but then I think to myself "oh but you killed them" "oh right".

This one has no name but they ask how has your son's witch and partner idea been coming along?

Whoever asked that, thank you very much, so this is my opportunity to brag on my son. My son, James Butcher I named him after my father, he's got his first contract now and his first book comes out soon. He's here, kid, where'd you go? Stand up a second I want to show you off. But James has his first contract, his first book is called Dead Man's Hand and it's scheduled to come out next October so keep an eye on that as an urban fantasy. It's a great idea I wish I'd stolen parts of it but I can't, it's my son, anybody else yes but not my son.

Maybe in the future we'll have to do the Jim and James?- we'll work on that.

Yeah then you'll just get someone up here who runs me down all the time, he's awesome at that.

Okay this is from Chris K, are you planning on working on the next Cinder Spires or another Dresden book?

The next Cinder Spires is about 40% done and I anticipate finishing it before my birthday and then I'll start the next Dresden and I'll want to finish that in January or February or so. I do have- I've got a novella that I think I'm gonna try and publish independently, a Dresden Files novella called The Law. It's kind of about Harry getting back on his feet after the events of Battle Ground, it's a much more PI focused thing because essentially now that Marcone's got not just all the underworld power but also the Underworld power backing him up Dresden has to exercise his authority a little bit more carefully when he goes up against outfit guys, you know, so. Essentially him and Marcone come to an understanding that he's not gonna use any of his supernatural abilities in combating some injustice that he's finding. It's Dresden going off and doing almost all PI stuff until the other guys break the rules so.

Instead of him for once.

I've been reading a lot of Parker lately, I kind of had to.

Ray C asks, must the fae queens' mantles go to mortals and does the mantle change their dna?

Yes and yes. Yeah I mean there's a lot of power that's happening there and in the end the Dresden Files universe is one that's in the camp of free will and for that to happen you need mortals around because we're the only ones who have it.

Does Molly still technically have free will metaphysically?

Wow deep question. And I'm not sure what the answer to that question is, I'm still exploring that because a lot of the stuff I kind of know the outline of it, kind of the "guess that Pokemon" outline but I don't get to see the Pokemon until I get into it and start writing about it. Molly at this point is still very- she does have free will cause she is exercising it to change things. Whether she will continue to have it or not is kind of a question because as the roleplaying game pointed out to me that I didn't realise that I was writing, the more power you get in the Dresden Files universe kind of the more trapped you are by that power which is sort of the way it works in real life too. So even though you're able to do all these incredible things you also have all these limits that other people don't have because they're not wielding the same kind of power you do. Zuckerberg, he's got an awful lot of money and power but he can't just go out to the restaurant, he's trapped by that.

*laughter*

He could but he might have a few issues.

Buy the restaurant.

Next please.

The Merlin said he was going to destroy the Red Court root and branch, what was his plan?

Oh the Merlin, he turned Dresden loose on them, geez.

*laughter*

They got wiped out. I don't know if you noticed but there was a whole book about it. I'm still- I question the morality of the people in this room because I just wrote a character who committed genocide and y'all are still backing him up. But yeah, the Merlin is a guy who- he talks one way but the things he winds up doing are something else. He's one of those folks that you kind of have- you know the Sherlock Holmes phrase "look for the dog that is not barking"? There's somebody who fled the scene of a crime and Watson was trying to figure out which way he went and Holmes was like "listen we know he didn't go this way because there's no dogs barking over there, one of the dogs would be barking if he had fled this way". So when you're looking at the Merlin and his actions look for the things he could have done and didn't and then you kind of see a little bit more about who he really is. Dresden doesn't have a clear view of really anybody on the White Council because he's got such massive issues with them, so.

*continue at 22:30*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g6EbjOFxKY

The Reddit write up didn't include my question that Jim answered. "Must the fae queen mantles go to mortals and does it change their DNA?"

Jim answered, Yes, and yes. Since mortals are the only ones who have free will, the queens must start out with free will. Which is odd, because we've already seen examples of how Molly doesn't have free will in all things, already.

Later, one of the other questions was about Harry's free will. Jim said that his free will is dependent upon how many commands Mab saddles him with.

I have an audio file of the Q&A. I intend to write a transcript, but I haven't had time. Perhaps I'll load it up to YouTube.

Load it up pleese.

🤔 no he wasn't? He was discussing what happened with anduriel while harry gave him mad amounts of lip, that's not a self preservation instinct, that's harry. Harry's not an IT either so..

His arm quivered for a second, and then he lowered his eyelids until they were almost closed. A moment later he very, very slowly relaxed his arm, allowing me to breathe again. My throat burned, but air came in, and I wheezed for a second or two while he stepped back from me.

I glared up at him and debated slamming him through one of those Corinthian columns by way of objecting to being manhandled. But I decided that I didn’t want to piss him off.

Nicodemus’s lips moved, but an entirely different voice issued from them—something musical, lyrical, and androgynous. “At least it has some survival instinct.”

I think the assumption is based on who could be that good to use that much fire in Winter. TN seems to qualify, where few do. One question, though - when did Harry turn in Lasciel? Could Hannah Ascher, a good fire mage even before taking up a coin, have picked her up and been the fire user? Lasciel is not as good as TN, but Hannah starts way above Marcone.

He turned Lasciel in after White Night, the book after Proven Guilty, she then took it up some time (implied to be a few weeks or so) after Changes.

You know it would be really interesting if Harry working with Bob, and Bonea were able to put together a potion, or talisman or something that allowed him to use his Sight, but not be so completely floored by what he saw.  Work kind of sunglasses letting in some light, but protecting you from light that's too bright.  I wouldn't be surprised if Senior members of the Council can open up their Sight in a more controlled way, to have more control over it.  I'm almost positive that Rashid's magical eye allows him to use the Sight in a more controlled way.

That's basically Luccio's old glasses, also way too useful for whodunit parts of the plot to be allowed by Jim.

In BG, I think Harry turned heads because he genuinely surprised the big players.  They weren't aware of how chummy Harry had become with the Little Folk (since they're mostly ignored by them and nobody had real success uniting them before). 

Remember that a group like that was enough for Harry to take down Aurora before other power ups.  That that was how he did it is probably not widely known, but uniting the Little Folk is not a small feat to totally escape notice.

Yeah, I think that's a really good analogy.

Pretty much, it's one thing to hear that he's got a couple dozen pixie minions, it's another to see those couple dozen pixies are armed, armoured and in perfect sync and there's a couple million irregulars on call who are also organised.