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Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is an American author. He has written the contemporary fantasy The Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and Cinder Spires book series.

Personal life

Butcher was born in Independence, Missouri, in 1971. He is the youngest of three children, having two older sisters. He has one son, James J. Butcher, who is also a fantasy writer.

Career

While he was sick with strep throat as a child, Butcher's sisters introduced him to The Lord of the Rings and The Han Solo Adventures novels to pass the time, beginning his fascination with fantasy and science fiction. As a teenager, he completed his first novel and set out to become a writer. After many unsuccessful attempts to enter the traditional fantasy genre (he cites J. R. R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, and C. S. Lewis, among others, as major influences), he wrote the first book in The Dresden Files—about a professional wizard, named Harry Dresden, in modern-day Chicago—as an exercise for a writing course in 1996 at the age of 25.

For two years, Butcher floated his manuscript among various publishers before hitting the convention circuit to make contacts in the industry. After meeting Butcher in person, Ricia Mainhardt, the agent who discovered Laurell K. Hamilton, agreed to represent him, which kick-started his writing career. However, Butcher and Mainhardt have since parted ways; Jennifer Jackson is his current agent. Butcher has written two series: The Dresden Files and Codex Alera. Codex Alera has ended after six novels and The Dresden Files are still ongoing; he has also written a Spider-Man novel, entitled The Darkest Hours, released on June 27, 2006. In addition, he contributed a short story for publication in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding with Charlaine Harris and Sherrilyn Kenyon, among others, released in October 2006. He has since contributed to the anthologies Many Bloody Returns in September 2007 and My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon in December 2007. In October 2008, he released another short story in Blood Lite and a novelette, "Backup", illustrated by Mike Mignola.

Dresden Files series

Six months after Butcher was signed by Mainhardt, Storm Front, the first novel in The Dresden Files, was picked up by Roc/Penguin Books for publishing. It was released as a paperback in April 2000. Fool Moon followed nine months later on January 1, 2001, and the third book, Grave Peril, was published in September 2001. Thereafter, the release schedule slowed, with Summer Knight appearing on September 3, 2002. The fifth and sixth books, Death Masks and Blood Rites, appeared in August 2003 and 2004, respectively. Coinciding with the release of Blood Rites, Butcher published a Harry Dresden short story, entitled Restoration of Faith, on his website, chronicling Harry's life before The Dresden Files as a private eye for Ragged Angel Investigations. In December 2004, the Science Fiction Book Club picked up the first three novels in the series for release in a hardcover omnibus edition titled Wizard for Hire for a March–April 2005 rush release in order to arrive on store shelves before the seventh novel in May.

Dead Beat, released on May 3, 2005, was the first hardback release in the series by Roc. The first printing of 15,000 copies sold out in three days, and the book was immediately reprinted. A second omnibus edition, titled Wizard by Trade and containing Summer Knight and Death Masks, appeared in early 2006, followed by Proven Guilty on May 2, 2006, the same day as the paperback edition of Dead Beat. Proven Guilty quickly climbed to #21 on the New York Times Best Seller list and #91 on the USA Today list. A third omnibus release from the Science Fiction Book Club entitled Wizard at Large and containing Blood Rites and Dead Beat was released in November 2006.

A ninth book from Roc, White Night, was released on April 3, 2007, shortly after the paperback edition for Proven Guilty in February. White Night reached the top five of the New York Times Best Seller list on an initial printing of 100,000 copies. Small Favor, the tenth book in the series, was released April 1, 2008. It debuted at number two on the New York Times Best Seller list, Butcher's highest debut ever, and number three on the USA Today best seller list.

The eleventh book in the series, Turn Coat, was released April 7, 2009.

The 12th book in the series, Changes, was released April 6, 2010. The 13th book, Ghost Story, was released July 26, 2011. The 14th book, Cold Days was released in hardback in November 2012. The 15th book, Skin Game, was released on May 27, 2014. The series garners a strong following and is now available in several languages, including Spanish, Dutch, French, Czech, Polish, German and Mandarin Chinese.

Codex Alera series

After the success of the beginning of The Dresden Files, Butcher returned to the traditional fantasy genre with his second series, Codex Alera. The series chronicles the life of a young man named Tavi from the Calderon Valley of Alera on the world of Carna. The people of Alera have grown complacent with the trappings of empire (the story is based loosely on the late Roman Empire) and their control of powerful elemental forces known as furies. The inspiration for the series came from a bet Butcher was challenged to by a member of the Del Rey Online Writer's Workshop. The challenger bet that Butcher could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and he countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger's choosing. The "lame" ideas given were "Lost Roman Legion", and "Pokémon". On March 3, 2003, Jim Butcher announced that Ace had won a bidding war against rival publisher Del Rey Books for the rights to the series.