The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault

Harry really needs to get himself a hat like that

I recently read Side Jobs, an anthology of short stories by Jim Butcher based on his series The Dresden Files. All but one of the stories have previously appeared elsewhere, and thus, they weren't all new to me. The stories cover the span of the books thus far (12 novels and counting), with the first story taking place before the first novel, and the last (the previously unpublished one) taking place about an hour after the most recent novel.

All of the books take place from the perspective of the eponymous character of the series, Harry Dresden. The Dresden Files are dark/urban fantasy. Harry Dresden is a wizard living in modern day Chicago (my hometown), working as a private investigator. As such, the series also has elements of crime novels, with a heavy noir influence. Think Phillip Marlowe with access to magic. Dresden generally makes his pay by finding lost objects and other trivial matters, but every now and then he gets pulled into something bigger and darker, which of course is what the novels are about.

Each of the stories in Side Jobs takes place in between two of the novels, which are broadly spaced a year apart each. Basically, they're tales of jobs Harry took that go above his normal "find my lost keys" job, but don't directly tie into the main plot arc of the series. Like the novels, the stories are written from Harry's perspective, except for "Backup," which follows Thomas Raith, another character from the novels, and "Aftermath," which follows Karin Murphy, a Chicago Police Officer and good friend of Harry's.

"Aftermath" is the afore mentioned final story in the anthology, and was the one I was most eager to read. It was both what I expected it to be and different. Changes ends on a major cliffhanger (or possibly not, depending on how it turns out when Ghost Story comes out), and while I knew the story wouldn't resolve anything, I hoped it would address the ending of the novel, show people's reactions to what happened. It did that, interwoven within a story that would have been compelling even without that hook. That was the part I hadn't expected. I had thought it would be contemplative character piece, which in some ways it was, as it lets the reader into the mind of Murphy, when previously we only had Dresden's point of view to consider. But within that inner conflict was an outer one just as interesting; both in its own right and because it gives the reader a glimpse into the reaction of the supernatural community to the events of Changes.

I had gotten into The Dresden Files a few years ago when a friend loaned me Storm Front, the first novel in the series. But I'd only gotten about as far as the fourth book, until two of my friends ordered advanced copies of The Dresden Files RPG. I'd had reservations about it, I'm generally wary of games based on books or movies. I never even picked up a copy of the Babylon 5 RPG, and that's based off what's probably my all-time favorite TV show.

But I have to say that Dresden Files makes for a nifty setting, and the rules system complements it well. It uses the FATE System, one of those rule systems that favors Roleplaying over Roll-Playing. Systems like that can be real hit-or-miss, especially if you've got a gaming group that wants everything neatly determined by the random chance of a 20-sider, but FATE handles it pretty well. Most RPGs stress that a character isn't just a set of stats on a piece of paper, and with FATE that's literally true. Your character doesn't have any attributes or the normal stuff, his or her capabilities are determined solely by skills and the like.

Ghost Story, the 13th book, comes out in April of 2011. I have to say I'm really itching to read it. Jim Butcher has really hones his craft with these books, you can see him mature as an author as you progress through the series. These are the kind of stories I want to tell. I don't mean urban fantasy, but the scope and the sheer "can't put it down" nature of these novels. Those following my other blog will know that I've been working on short stories and looking for places to submit them, but deep down I feel I am a novelist. It's my earnest hope that one day I'll have a series of books like The Dresden Files to point to in my old age and say "I was here." In the meantime, I can appreciate the fruits of others' labors.

-Long Days and Pleasant Nights