The Dresden Files
Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher! If circumstances surrounding a crime defy the ordinary and evidence points to a suspect who is anything but human, the men and women of the Chicago Police Department call in the one guy who can handle bizarre and often brutal phenomena. Harry Dresden is a wizard who knows firsthand that the everyday world is actually full of strange and magical things--most of which don't play well with humans. Now the cops have turned to Dresden to investigate a horrifying double murder that was committed with black magic. Never one to turn down a paycheck, Dresden also takes on another case--to find a missing husband who has quite likely been dabbling in sorcery. As Dresden tries to solve the seemingly unrelated cases, he is confronted with all the Windy City can blow at him, from the mob to mages and all creatures in between.
Stats for nerds
20recommend
50mentions
46people
2010–2026years
44% recommend50% neutral6% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- You just nailed the difficult balance in copyright law. I agree that life+70 is wayyyyy too long. But you also want to incentivize creators to keep trying to make something of their existing IP. Sapkowski is one example. Another good one is the Dresden Files series, which is 26 books in and still going strong. Each book in the series repeats some of the basics that were covered in the original (often using the exact same phrasing). Then the author extends the story over the course of a few hundred pages. If the original book were already public domain, anybody could write a fairly convincing in-universe book and I have to imagine the author would have moved on to other series.
Personally, I think 50 years strikes the best balance. Everything from the '60s would be fair use, so Spiderman would be public domain but not a wizard named Harry.
- Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Read few books of that, then switch to something other and then back. "Small Favor" at the moment. "Dead beat" has been favourite so far.
- I am currently reading The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Steve Baxter (it’s part of the Long Earth series)
For fun -
Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde Hitchhikers guide is a given The Chronicles of St Mary by Jodi Taylor (and Time Police)
If you can make your way over to more fantasy, then:
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacks
- I've enjoyed these books during long drives and flights to Japan during the past decade.
The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher.
The Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson.
The Stormlight Chronicles, by Brandon Sanderson.
Choose Your Own Autobiography, by Neil Patrick Harris.
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, by Cary Elwes.
Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, by Mark Skousen.
The Book of Mormon.
The Story of Civilization Series, by Will Durant.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux.
My Bondage and My Freedom, by Frederick Douglass.
- I don't know where you lives, but do hicking with her if you have time.
Try to do some theater of mind games (d&d or whatever she or both likes). Maybe you can't afford going somewhere but nothings tie you there.
Talking about that if you lives in a city big enough, there must to be hidden places with a story to tell, grab a map a visit that with her. Think about a story you can tell with that. I learnt more about buenos aires (the city where I live) and Chicago (the city where I'm moving soon) because Dresden Files books and roleplaying, than from school. And I learned how to love every city secret because of that.
Why I'm talking about roleplaying and walking time together? Because both will be spending time together and will be knowing (a looot) each other, and over that, you will be feeding her imagination and curiosity.
And it is free.
- Erin Morgenstern's "the Night Circus" and "the Starless Sea", and Jim Butcher's latest two Dresden Files books (Peace Talks and Battleground).
