One of the great pleasures of working on my Master of Fine Arts in writing popular fiction is that I’m required to read books in a variety of genres. The requirement breaks me away from my go-to mysteries and thriller genres, and often leaves me happily surprised.
This semester, my MFA’s all-program read is Jim Butcher’s “Changes.” The book is the 12th in “The Dresden Files” series. The widely popular collection features an adult wizard, Harry Dresden, who has a unique sense of humor and a way with the ladies.
“Changes” begins with Harry receiving a telephone call from a former love interest, Susan Rodriguez. While the two were well-suited for each other, Susan’s cravings broke them apart — as a half-turned vampire, Harry looked too tasty to her.
It had been several years since the two were together, so the telephone call came as a shock to Harry. The even-bigger shock came, though, when Susan declared they shared a young daughter, and the girl, Maggie, had been abducted by a group of crazy vampires. The vampires were undoubtedly bent on killing Maggie.
Thus begins a wild ride for readers. Harry and his band of followers — which include an archangel, a fairy godmother, a police detective and a dog — set off to save the girl and trample the bloodsuckers. In the course of the novel, Harry’s business is blown to bits, his apartment is set on fire, he’s attacked by giant centipedes and accosted by an ice queen. All that, and I haven’t even mentioned the vampire fights.
While “Changes” left me impressed with Butcher’s ability to produce realistic pictures of things that simply could not happen, the part of the book that moved me most was the author’s note at the end. In it, Butcher describes how he first became interested in writing. Butcher was a boy, sick at home for a week with strep throat, when his sisters bought him two boxed sets of science-fiction and fantasy novels. Butcher devoured the books. “From there,” he writes, “it was only one more step to decide I wanted to be a writer of my favorite fiction material, and here we are.”
“Changes” is a fun, entertaining escape from reality.
For more information about the books and the author, visit www.Dresden FilesRPG.com.
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Miller welcomes book suggestions. Read her blog at www.anitalay donmiller.blogspot.com or email anita.l.miller@att.net.