So Priscellie posted a picture from the Peace Talks trailer, and one of her directing.  Click on it for a better look.  What do you think is happening?

I wonder if the man in the right side is Marcone, because he's steepling his fingers as Marcone has been described doing in the books?

The idea here is that Harry isn't the most introspective person.  When Harry finally starts to think things through he won't have many answers, but he should be able to think of some people, and not-people he can ask.  So what one question do you think Harry should be asking, and is there someone he should ask?  If you think another character should ask Harry a question, that's fine too.

I'll start.  I think Harry needs to learn Winter Law.  I have a feeling Molly won't be able to tell anything to Harry.  There's probably some Winter Queen compulsion about preventing the mortal help from becoming well informed, or Mab could just put a geas on her.  Harry should ask Ivy; assuming she's in PT, if she knows if there is a source on Winter Law that Harry could read.

Looking through the WoJ section I found some bits and pieces that might allow us to add a little to our knowledge of what's coming next.

Someone asked Jim, way back in 2011, when we'd see Injun Joe again.  Jim replied, "Injun Joe will have to be in there by [pause to think] at least by book 15.  Probably 15 and 16, he’ll both be in. [pause] Yeah, that seems about right.  I have to think these things through, I haven’t thought of the answer to absolutely every question."

So Peace Talks is book 15.  I could see a role for him in Mirror Mirror too.

When asked if we'd see Agent Tilly again, Jim replied, "Yes definitely.  Tilly I had to get into the story a little bit earlier on, for when things are happening on more than the Chicago level later in the story."

Damn that's pretty vague, but it sounds like Tilly is coming back eventually, but probably not in Peace Talks, but I'm not really sure about that guess.

After talking about Mirror Mirror a bit in 2014 Jim said this:"There’s Skin Game and then the next one the White Council is going to come to town and there’s going to be a big brouhaha, and then I think I can do Mirror Mirror after that. And then maybe we’ll do professional wrestling stories. Because I love professional wrestling. I watch it for the writing. And you can sort of pick out, well, wait, what’s the inspiration for this show? And you can figure out what the book is the inspiration for this show, this particular segment of the wrestling. It’s like, ‘Ah ha! This is the Return of the King episode. Look! They’ve destroyed the evil guy and now the good king is back, and now he’s the champion of the league, and so and so has been fired, and so and so has been re-hired, and he stretched forth his hand and cured a girl of cancer.’ It’s wonderful. I love watching wrestling. It’s great fiction."

There was actually more interesting info in there about the wrestling book than Peace Talks.  However, I can make a guess about Peace Talks if I add in that Jim recently said this book will get apocalyptic. Perhaps more than just a couple of representatives and bodyguards from the White Council will eventually become involved in the story.  My guess is, at first there will be one or two senior council members sent as negotiators with a retinue of security forces, but when the situation devolves into something uglier, this will force the White Council to commit more forces (more senior council members); or at least the Senior Council will justify their actions that way.  I also remember the post Peace Talks, Christmas Eve story where it's mentioned that Harry tried to warn people that things could get out of hand.  It wasn't said who Harry warned, but it seems most likely that Harry would have warned the Council, probably Marcone and maybe Lara Raith, that their actions could have dire consequences.  I don't think Harry would warn Mab, because he'd know that she wouldn't care.  Mab's going to do whatever she thinks is necessary to get the job done.

Right now we know Thomas, Ramirez and Marcone will be in Peace Talks, even if we don't know how extensive their roles will be.  From this limited information we can guess that Lara Raith, Justine and probably Ms. Gard will also be on hand.  Mr. Hendricks is somewhat in doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if he will be on the scene too.  I also think there's a good chance Lady Molly will make an appearance.  Beyond those characters it's anyone's guess who else we will see.  There will certainly be a fomor and some servitors and someone important; maybe more than one important person, from the White Council.  So name one character you really want to see in Peace Talks and why?

I really want to see the Merlin.  There is a thread speculating on whether Ebenezer will survive PT.  I think it's a good guess that Ebenezer will be in Peace Talks, or maybe it was mentioned in the first chapter of Peace Talks that he will show up, I don't remember.  What I don't want to see is Eb showing up with someone I don't really care about like Ancient Mai or Martha Liberty.  Maybe one or both could be interesting, but I really want to see Arthur Langtry's reaction the first time he sees Harry again.  I want to know what he thought when Harry wiped out the Red Court.  I want to know if he really wanted Harry to attack the Red's and he just used a little reverse psychology to goad Harry into doing so.  I want to learn about what has been happening within the White Council.  How close did it come to civil war?  What has Cristos been up to and is the Council fully stabilized or are there still tensions that threaten to tear it apart?  Finally, I want to see Harry say something to the Merlin that makes his eye twitch.   

If you didn't read the my post in the Dresden Files Spoilers page, Jim said at Westercon he will begin writing the next book in the Cinder Spires series in two weeks.  He also said that a recent rereading of The Aeronaut's Windlass felt to him like he had been a kid playing with action figures who smashed them together multiple times in order to have fun.  He wants to tell The Olympian Affair; the next Cinder Spires book, in a smoother and more compact style (using less words) than he's accomplished before.

(Now to the new stuff.)  When Jim was thinking about the characters he had decided to create for the Cinder Spires, he specifically thought about which character cosplayers would most be attracted to and knew it had to be Folly, so he went out of his way to make her appearance memorable.  Captain Grimm's appearance was tailored so Jim could play him.   

When asked if new etherealists have a choice in whether they will lose some of their grip on reality but maintain their humanity or keep their hold on reality at the cost of their humanity, Jim said the side effects of being an etherealist were completely random.  Jim said it was similar to an individual dealing with a mental illness and that he has had to deal with his own depression and feelings of anxiety, and etherialists have to cope with their own individual mental issues.

Jim went on to say that the more etherealists use their ability, the more mental damage they incur and therefore they should use their abilities sparingly.  (I think that was already said in the book.)  Cavendish blew a hole in her humanity by overusing her talents.  However, etherealists can see and do things normal people can't.  Jim said he wanted to explore the relationship that sometimes exists between madness and creativity.

In the Olympian Affair there will be a mission to Spire Aurora for an attempt at peace talks which will probably go about as well as the peace talks Harry Dresden has been dealing with.  Jim also said the surface of the planet is a green (or grey, I was at the back of audience and couldn't tell, and it was the final question.) hell that no one wants to go down to, so of course that is exactly where we are going in the next book.     

 

The demon Chaunzaggoroth told Harry both his parents died unnatural deaths.  Assuming the demon wasn't lying, we can easily guess that Harry will want payback if the perpetrator is an obvious bad guy like Cowl or Lara Raith. (I don't think either of them are responsible.)  There won't be anything he can do if Justin DuMorne was the murderer and was solely responsible for Malcolm's death.  (No Justin IS dead.) 

I think the reason why Harry hasn't tried to determine if Chauncy was telling the truth about the deaths of both of his parents isn't that he had nowhere to search.  Harry is a wizard with both major and minor contacts within the supernatural world and on the White Council.  Aside from supernatural beings, Harry could have asked Ebenezer, Luccio or even Morgan when he was dragging him around in Turn Coat, if the Council had any knowledge of Malcolm Dresden's death beyond when it occurred. 

How did the White Council know Harry was Margaret LeFay's son?  Presumably the Council either knew this before Harry became Justin's ward or they learned about it after Justin died.   In the first scenario the Council approved that Justin was teaching Harry.  In the latter scenario the Council did an investigation after Justin died and discovered the truth then.  Ebenezer met Malcolm Dresden and may have even soulgazed him, but that doesn't mean he reported this meeting to the Council.

I'm not saying anyone on the White Council could give Harry the information he'd be looking for.  It's possible none of them know anything about Malcolm Dresden other than his name, date of death and possibly his profession.  So why didn't Harry ask any of the three people I named if they knew anything?  OK, maybe asking Morgan is a stretch because of the stress and time constraints Harry was working under in Turn Coat, but there were times both onscreen and off when Harry could have asked either or both Ebenezer and Luccio about Malcolm Dresden.

Here's my answer to the above question and I've said this in another post.  I think Harry knows there is a potential volcano of anger over the death of his father just waiting to erupt if he discovers his father was murdered.  Before he learned the truth about his mother's death Harry could tell himself that Chauncy was lying.  He can't do that any longer.  I think deep down Harry is afraid to ask any further questions in this area, so he blocks any and all thinking about this at all.  So the question I am asking in the subject of this thread is what will Harry do if:

1. Ebenezer murdered his father on orders from the Council?
2. The Council knew Justin had Harry's father murdered but looked the other way because Justin didn't do it himself, meaning he didn't break any of the Laws of magic, and they felt safer with a former Warden teaching Harry?
3. Lea murdered his father because of a deal she had with Justin?
4. Lea knew Malcolm Dresden was going to be murdered but did nothing because Malcolm's safety wasn't covered by her deal with Margaret?
5.  Or some other really ugly scenario featuring the above players or anyone else Harry trusts or at least doesn't think of as pure evil?

You see, I think that just because Harry's life was turned upside down after Changes and he's had to adjust to an entire new set of threats and responsibilities that he still hasn't faced his greatest emotional challenge.  Sooner or later the truth will come out about Malcolm's death and Harry will be faced with a real moral dilemma.  I think Margaret LeFay's murder will have been simple by comparison.  A bad guy wanted revenge and a bad guy got revenge. 

What do you think will happen?  Perhaps this will be when LTW teaches Harry how to deal with anger?  Perhaps you think Harry has other issues or mysteries that will bring him personal grief.  Discuss.   

   

In "Changes," Harry tells Mab he will become the Winter Knight if she heals him so he can rescue his daughter and "give me your word that you will never command me to lift my hand against those I love."  So I'm not talking about that caveat in their agreement.

I want to know if anyone on the forum who has read about the mythology of the fae knows of something, anything the fae aren't allowed to do to, or ask of mortals, even if it isn't specifically about Mab or any of the fae with names that might signify Mab.  I have this odd idea how Harry might get out of the Winter Knight gig.

When Harry agrees to be the Winter Knight Mab says to him, "Once you are my Knight, once this last quest of yours is complete, you are mine. You will destroy what I wish you to destroy. Kill whatsoever I wish you to kill. You will be mine, blood, bone, and breath. Do you understand this?"  That sounds awfully complete, but the term "blood, bone, and breath" sounds more like a term of art; Mab bragging about being Harry's new boss, rather than an actual terms that he must fulfill.  It seems to me the destroying and killing part are the crucial orders Harry has to carry out.  Plus, I find it more than just odd that Harry doesn't automatically get to learn Winter Law or have an easily obtainable source; like a book or tutor, to learn it from.  It's almost like Mab doesn't want Harry to know anymore about Winter Law than she needs him to know.

So I'm thinking, what if Mab really wants Harry to do something, but it's not something he's obligated to do as the Winter Knight.  If Harry thinks he has to do Mab's bidding, it doesn't matter, he does the job, Mab is happy and (if he survives) Harry remains the Winter Knight.  However, if Harry learns that Winter Law doesn't apply to this particular job, he could say, "I will do it as a favor Mab, if you ask me."  Then; if Mab is forced to ask Harry to do this task as a favor, I think Harry's old deal with Mab supersedes the current one.  As a reminder that deal goes like this; "From time to time, I will make a request of you. When you have fulfilled three requests, your obligation to me ceases."  I don't think there was anything said when Harry became the Winter Knight that nullifies that.   

I think many of us have had the thought that if Harry finds a way out of the Winter Knight job, Mab can still ask one more favor of him.  That not only seems logical, it's something we can all predict will happen.  If I'm right about why Harry doesn't have an easy way to learn Winter Law, then not only is the idea that Harry might be able to turn the tables on Mab a viable one, it's something Jim might want to do in order to subvert our expectations, but do so in a good way.  (Not like we have seen in a once uber popular, now crippled, maybe dying movie franchise that I will not name.)   

I followed a link in another post to the Amazon webpage for the 16th Dresden Files novel that doesn't even name it Peace Talks and (wisely) doesn't give a release date.  After seeing this (placeholder?) webpage I had a very real desire to create a fake book review for PT.  I clicked on the link to do so and it looks like I could if I wanted too.  I wasn't sure how I would claim to know what's in the novel.  It wouldn't tell a blatant lie such as Jim let me see an advanced copy of the novel.  That would be gauche.  I thought of doing something more creative.  I played with the idea of claiming; after I wrote a long extended sentence or two of BS to hide or obscure my deception from most readers, that I psychically read the entire novel before Jim finished writing it.

The real problem is what I'd write about Peace Talks itself.  I'd give it 5-stars, I know that much, but it gets a little fuzzy after that.  Normally, if I review something; which is pretty rare, I don't like to give away any spoilers.  However, in making up a fake review perhaps creating some fake spoilers would be fun, but then there's the question of how far to go with my make believe spoilers.  For example, it would be one thing to say to my audience, "Those of you waiting for Ebenezar and Thomas to finally meet one another won't be disappointed," but it might be far more enjoyable to be more creative and say something like, "I had wondered what would happen when Eb and Thomas first spoke to each other, but I never  pictured them having to team up to fight a kaiju to protect a wounded Harry.  That scene was more cool than Harry riding zombie tyrannosaurus Sue in Dead Beat." 

Of course rather than making up nonexistent book scenes to review I could hint at scenes without actually describing anything at all.  For example, "Some readers may be upset at direction Jim appears to be heading Murphy towards."  That's a really vague statement that could mean anything to anyone.

So I guess my challenge for anyone reading this post is to create a fake spoiler for Peace Talks; however detailed or vaguely suggestive you'd like to make it, and post it here.