Welcome to the boards! I believe I sent your publisher something like 4-5 letters (with specific issues and suggestions) when the first book came out basically begging to beta read - some other lucky person got there before me:)
Love the books, can’t wait for the next one! Will you be doing any bookstore signings when you come in April?
You should be really happy now…lol
Hey Jim, Welcome to the straight dope, and thanks for signing my wifes book in Dallas.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
ahem
Why yes…yes I am.
(eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…)
Wait wait wait…you mean Bob the Skull doesn’t actually exist? 
Huh, you say that like they don’t live there now. 
:eek: Should Harry ever piss off the White Council bad enough to get sentenced to Fort Wayne, Indiana (a sentence worse than death ) I hereby volunteer to beta-read any and all books involving Indiana.
Heck, I hereby volunteer to beta-read any of your books anyway.
<starts plotting how to get to Chicago in April>
<worries about getting fangirl SQUEE all over her favoritest fiction author EVER>
<who cares, he’s probably used to it>
<and if not, he should be>
<back to plotting how to get to Chicago in April>
<hyperventilates at the thought of Jim Butcher posting in my thread>
April? Is this in addition to your trip in June for the Sf convention? I’ll be back in Chicago for that, and am trying to talk the friend who introduced me to your books to come along.
Jim, I’m trying to set up an interview with you - Cecil wants to do a column on this subject - but going through channels is taking a while. Can you contact me directly? You can get my e-mail through my profile. Obviously you have some big fans here. Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.
It’s great to hear from a well-respected author here on the Dope. Frankly, I’ve never read your stuff before but based on the comments in this thread I will be picking up a book shortly.
Here’s hoping you’ll come back for more thoughts and comments!
The author Gus Russo writes of this underground city in his book The Outfit: The Role of Chicago’s Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America. He even goes as far as to say that the term Underworld for the criminal fraternity actually owes something to the Chicago underground.
I don’t know what truth there is to it but the book is very well researched in other areas.
Something I can actually contribute to, excellent. I recall, from a past Chicago Architecture Foundation tour, that there’s actually a place where you can SEE the sinking of a Chicago building. Granted, it’s the Monadnock, which is exceptionally heavy, as it has masonry load-bearing walls (and is supposedly the tallest building of that sort), but I’ve seen the evidence. If you go into one of the main entrances and look under the mat just to the right (if I recall correctly) there’s a window inset into the floor down to the original floor after the new one was built back up to street level. It’s no “underworld”, but it’s cool to see. I can’t find any photos online in a quick search, but this is a link to someone else who’s seen it:
http://vincemichael.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/lavra-layers/
Cecil is on it. Got an interview with Jim Butcher set up for Thursday.
Well done. Where can we check out the interview?
The column that includes the interview is scheduled for March 19.
I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a reading/signing event, but if it means I get to stay up late on a Monday…
CHICAGO, IL
Monday/Tuesday, April 6th/7th, 2009
BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC #020
1500 16th St, Ste D
Oak Brook, IL 60523
10:30 PM: Pre-signing of books begins, followed by a reading.
12:00 AM: Books go on sale at midnight!
The column is here: http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20090319.php
I’m still walking on air from being in on the phone conversation with Jim Butcher. He comes across in person just as fun and wonderful as one would guess from his writing of the Dresden Files.
That’s an awesome read. Well done to all getting the interview and putting up a great story. It was fun to read – and it sounds like it was fun to write/research/interview.
One thing though: Are we *really *still pretending that Cecil Adams is real? In situations like these I find it kind of embarrassing.
But otherwise excellent job all around.
Yes, Virginia.
Hey all, along the same vein, I just got a friend (he’s a Chicago native–I’m not) hooked on the series. We were thinking of doing a “Dresden files tour” of Chicago this summer, but, short of re-reading all of the books again, I need to make a list of locations mentioned in the novels.
The ones I can remember:
Gold Coast
Cabrini Green (but so think we’ll be avoiding that)
Graceland Cemetery
Field Museum
Hotel Sax
can anyone think of others? Thanks!
Morrand has the story quite correct about swamps and sewers.
Chicago does not have the full underground city that Seattle does, but there are several cool spots, in addition to the aforementioned coal tunnels, which predate any Chicago subways by almost half a century. Wacker Drive of course dates from the 1920s and is mostly built up from the swamp.
A dozen years ago I watched construction at Madison and State reveal an iron balcony a full story below street level that was the UPPER level of a two-story restaurant underground. I think Tim Samuelson confirmed that.
Marshall Field’s has three sub-basements, which they quite regretted during the Flood in '92. At the time, many people wondered whether the flood would weaken foundations, but of course it couldn’t, since you can’t flood a swamp - you can only flood the artificially dry spots you put into the swamp.
The Art Institute’s lower levels include some formidable sea walls, and it is worth recalling that Michigan Avenue was the location of Lake Michigan in the early 19th century before that little 300 acres of landfill we call Grant Park appeared.
Monadnock has sunk a bit, but it is even more dramatic at the Auditorium Theatre, despite Louis Sullivan’s efforts to pre-sink it by piling pig iron on during construction.
I jumped in on this because I have followed the Straight Dope my whole life, my blog was referenced in this thread and I remember when Zottis were in the McCarthy Building (1872-1989).
We were? What were we doing there?