General rule is 6-12 months between books iirc.

 

Speaking as someone who prefers quidditch, classes and romance to Death Eaters and war, I quite enjoyed HBP. The only thing I really disliked waa the continual mentions of Harry's mediocrity. 4-5 sentences which ruined the whole book.

 

Wrong thread.

 

The power of Taure's canon is such that it blends into every verse in which there is a Harry. Depart, heathen scum!

 

Both threads have exactly the same name -_-

 

Which is why most people just use the Skin Days release thread.

 

Were any preview chapters released for Skin Game? I recall for the last few books there were.

 

There is a recording of Jim Butcher reading the first four chapters on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-p_CTynqd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTwQRaKPvys

The chapters will be put up on the website closer to the release date.

 

A few pages back people linked to the first 3 or 4 chapters. Audio recording was horrible so there a lot of <Blanks> in it though.

 

Here's the transcript I posted before, in case anyone wasn't able to find it in the other thread:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BMy2Ustky7oNECxZJHDSKxpCl6Fn1KdHHpP_ACImbE4/edit

 

So I just read Proven Guilty again and had a few questions in no particular order:

Why was Mab not moving her troops from the they border with summer when the reds broke the accords? What did she gain from that?

How did the Black Council get enough firepower to blast down Arctis Tor? I know thorned Namshiel was there but to take on Mab you would need a god, as Dresden said. And why would that even want to attack winter in the first place? Is this to do with Outsiders?

And why was Mab seemingly happy Dresden was there with the wink at the end? Also why was Molly taken in the first place?

 

Pretty sure we don't know the answer to this for certain yet. There are lots of theories. Its been suggested for example that Lea might have made a bargain of somekind to do her best to keep winter troops locked in like that, so that when Mab froze her (to heal her), that bargain would have moved on to Mab, just like Leas bargain with Harrys mother moved to Mab.

Though it might just be a part of some longer game that we havent seen unravel yet.

Again, unknown at this time. Nicodemus reacted with shock upon learning of this (assuming he was not faking it), so it might imply that outsiders are involved and that they have subverted part of the denarian order. If so, answers to this question might come in the next book. Another possibility is that Lucifer acted directly here. We know that he can (helped capture Ivy), but it gives an opportunity for the other archangels (like Uriel) to also interfere and screw him over.

As for where they got the power (if it was not Lucifer), this is again unclear. Outsiders maybe? Or maybe Mab had been weakened from the effort to cure Lea from Nemesis infection, and the attackers took advantage of that. Another possibility is that Mab was making sure she herself was not Nemesis infected from dealing with Lea, and so was limited in her ability to act in another way.

It should also be said that Word of God states that even if the attackers managed to blast down the gates, at the end of the day, Mab was still there and the attackers were not. In other words, she ultimately won that fight.

We don't know for sure, but Harry being there might well have served many of Mabs designs. In that place, he learned more about Nemesis (saw Lea possessed by it), and learned that Mab was likely not infected (or she would not have been healing Lea). He also learned what happens to Winter Knights who betray Mab. Heck, it might just have been to show Harry not to get too cocky, and to show him he only succeeded in his raid at Arctis Tor, because it was Mabs will that he do so.

Why Molly was taken there is unclear. It might have been something to do with preparing her to become a queen of the sidhe. Or it might have just been to lure Harry there. Or something we don't know yet.

Unfortunately at this point your questions don't really have any clear answers yet. We may get some in the next book, since not only is it a denarian book, its also a sidhe book (I expect we will see how Molly is doing).

 

Is it common for the Dresden Files to be on the NYT's best seller list? I find it interesting that despite being published in 2000, Storm Front is #14 on the list right now, and 4 of books in the series are ranked in the #16-#25 range of the list. Or is it some sort of resurgence of interest in the series?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/combined-print-and-e-book-fiction/list.html

 

It's probably because of the hype surrounding Skin Game bringing new readers into the fold.

 

Happened with the HP series all the time after OOTP. I believe when DH was out the HP books had 7 out of the top 20 spots.

 

Why does Kincaid work for Ivy? Or more to my real point, why does he work?

He is at least several hundred years old, worked for Drakul for a long time, probably got paid a bit, or at least aquired a bit, has obviously taken numerous jobs for a lot of money (He charged Dresden a lot). He should have so much money he can retire and live off the interest, or do anything he likes.

Now he seem invested in Ivy personally so there is that.

There is also the fact that maybe he loves his job...

Spoiler for SG following:-

Spoiler

Goodman Grey talked of paying Rent. And most people speculate he is most likely a sicon of a Nagoloshi and a human... like Kincaid is supposed to be, but by a Demon in his case.

Do you think that maybe they are in a way obligated to work? Maybe to hold onto their supernatural abilites, if they give up the "work" they turn vanilla and die?

 

There is very likely a connection between what Kincaid does and why, and with Goodman Grey, yes.

 

I guess that Kincaid might have your typical cliche mercenary mindset - he's good at it, so what else is he supposed to do? Start knitting? If he were to retire he'd be bored to tears...

As for the exorbitant fees - he might be paying some kind of tribute (or making his own retirement fund). I think it's more likely that his yearly upkeep is quite high - fancy guns and other toys or safehouses around the globe (and he's bound to have a few of those) don't come cheap.

 

Kincaid has been the bodyguard of the Archive since Ivy's grandmother's time, so he's got a personal stake in her safety. He's also a mercenary though, so if Ivy were to fire him he would move on.

 

A question that kind of rose from the other thread:

Is Luccio's lifespan even more expanded now, shortened, or unchanged?