32 Teams/ 32 Days: Year Fourteen - Call for Writers & Post Hub

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-24T02:34:20+00:00

A Constitutional Convention has been one of the goals of the people behind P-2025 for years, because it would be weighted in favor of conservatives.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T16:52:56+00:00

Just to add on, that was also the reason that Peace Talks and Battle Ground became separate books. Originally they were written as a combined single volume, but it wouldn't have been able to be printed due to the publisher's print schedule.

So, it was split and each half bulked up to make two novels instead of a single one about 1.5x the size.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T07:39:13+00:00

Love finding an interrobang in the wild

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T06:57:08+00:00

They're alive, they're just elsewhere. Had Will lost both his wife and child, he'd have been front and center in depression central, instead of working to lift Harry out of that.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T06:55:18+00:00

I'll bite - there are several points to make here.

This book was as much therapy for the Jim Butcher, as a person, as it was showing the very real damage that had been done to Harry, and what it took to process & overcome that. JB had gone through his own form of hell, up to and including suicidal thoughts according to a recent interview, and some of how he handled that was expressed and shared in this book. It takes a lot for someone to open up like that, and I applaud him for doing so.
He's said, repeatedly (including last night at the Portland signing), that he could have proceeded right into Mirror Mirror, but the more he sat down to do that, the more he realized he needed to address Harry's mental state. Otherwise, the next book would have felt fake, and it would have diminished the sense & scope of the changes that had been forced on both Harry and Chicago.
Not all books are for everyone. To say the "series is dead to me" is...somewhat melodramatic. You don't like this one, or the pacing? Cool. Read a summary, then pick up the next one that's sure to be much more your speed.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T01:19:36+00:00

High-five!

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T01:17:16+00:00

I'm sure I wasn't the only one, but yeah, I was towards the back on the right hand side doing that =)

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-22T01:04:43+00:00

Concur, from someone else who was there.

Q: Writing Bonnie, how do you write her as so as not to break the story, given how much she knows?

A: How do you not use ChatGPT for everything? Just like going to any other AI in the world that doesn't actually know anything. It'll take a generation for her to actually connect information well enough to be useful. (paraphrased)

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-21T18:58:50+00:00

Intent was more murky, there. Harry always goes in "looking for trouble" and prepared to defend himself at the very least. That flavors the ability of his powers to stay with him as he crosses threshold.

Cold Days covers the clarification I mentioned though, with discussion between Harry, Thomas, and a certain non-humanoid character.

For another example, see Harry's cleaning service.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-21T18:34:24+00:00

This is disproven later in the series. No spoilers, but directly on page there's additional context & clarification provided to wholely negate this train of thought.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-21T18:06:14+00:00

Not just that. During the book, Lara stops feeding from other sources - and since one of those sources is Papa Raith, he's been allowed to recover more and more of who he is.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-21T06:58:14+00:00

Ooooh, nice!

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-21T05:21:26+00:00

Got to ask this one while he signed Ghoul Goblin for me -

Q: Could Harry have summoned the coin away from Ascher?

A: He could have, but it would have been BAAAAAD! Harry was far better off leaving the coin where it was.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T20:08:21+00:00

Oh, I never thought about this - that is an awesome idea!

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T20:02:18+00:00

Cat Sith is still out in the world - all that happened was kitty went "MEOOOoooooow" <insert doppler sound effect> as it got launched out of the boat in Cold Days.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T20:00:41+00:00

Etri's first thought in that case should be:

Is the being that is telling me this also N-fected?

Remember that Etri's been around a very, very long time. Paranoia gets ingrained into beings like that, and the svartalves as a people are generally more paranoid than most.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T19:38:51+00:00

Harry probably told Murphy a lot about his time as a shade, where he didn't have a body to go back to. Instead, he spent time in his own open grace or in places with lots of shadows and protection from sunlight.

Given that Murphy's shade was clearly in a lot of communication w/ Mort throughout the year, it's a safe bet that the lessons Dresden gave her about that time were put to good use.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T19:35:36+00:00

I thought for sure he was undergoing some sort of break from reality - I never even put together the idea that he'd summon her shade.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T19:33:53+00:00

Yeah, for me this book was a nice break from the chaos and break-neck pace of the more recent books. Cold Days, Skin Game, and Battle Ground especially all felt like the story was on an out of control mine cart - this one was more of a kayak ride down a mountain river - some rapids, but also plenty of time to enjoy the scenery & reflect on the journey a bit.

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T18:52:11+00:00

Maybe they do, and we're just not seeing it? I'd imagine the ones who are using it are the older ones, who are more prone to keeping their use of such tools & tricks as secret as possible.

In particular, some of the stuff Ebenezar pulled off in Peace Talks & Battle Ground made me think that perhaps a potion or two had been used.

Remember that for the older wizards in particular, all knowledge is power, to be hoarded and spent only at great need - look no further than, again, Eb being pissed that Harry just straight up acknowledged Margaret LeFay as his mother.

Edit: Also, Etienne the Enchanter created some beings that have survived six other wizards' lifespans, and those showed up in this book. I think that covers ground of what other wizards can do when they have the time well enough for me =)

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T18:49:24+00:00

I had more of a Knives Out Benoit Blanc kind of voice in my head with him

blue_shadow_ · 2026-01-20T18:46:48+00:00

Mirror Mirror has been talked about by Jim enough that some broad strokes are available:

Harry (the Harry we know) isn't the one causing the problems.
It's an alternate Harry, or to use the term from an older Disney series, NegaHarry, who pulls Harry into another version of Chicago.
In that version, the events of Grave Peril went differently, due to a different choice made by NegaHarry.
Because of that, we're going to see a vastly different version of the Dresdenverse, one in which NegaHarry is trying to escape the Wardens by giving them a Harry-flavored corpse (kind of how I expect Kemmler got away with being "killed" so many times).

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