People like Jim Butcher

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.

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.

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, thus 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.