I remember a scene from the third X-Men movie; The Last Stand, the one that totally botched the Dark Phoenix storyline, where Magneto sends a bunch of his recruits into battle, but holds his most powerful ones back and says of the first group, "They're cannon fodder."  I get the feeling there is something similar going on with the Black Council or Circle.

There are actually a surprising number of people and not people who know something is going on, that something big is about to happen and for various reasons see it as an opportunity to gain power for themselves.  Only a few are really clued in and they don't have any problem with using and sacrificing people they pretend to bring in to the conspiracy.  So for example, it's possible that Cowl was behind some of the planning that went into the assault on Demonreach island in "Cold Days," but he sure as hell didn't make himself a potential target by riding on any of the barges with the practitioners who were attempting the ritual to bring down the island prison's defences.  In "White Night" Madrigal Raith thought he was joining the Circle, but even Vitto Malvora thought of him as a fool who could be sacrificed as the need allowed.  Vitto was given power by an Outsider, but I would bet that Cowl thought of him as nothing more than a tool that could be sacrificed when the need arose, as it did. 

We know there was a plan of some sort discussed by Margaret LeFay, Duchess Arianna of the Red Court and Lord Raith of the White Court.  We don't know, but suspect that plan is at the heart of the Black Council / Circle.  The first two people named are dead and the third might as well be dead, though I suppose it is technically possible for Lord Raith to make a comeback.  Justin DuMorne had been a sometime ally to Margaret LeFay; presumably when she was full red light saber, so he may have known about the plan and he may or may not have been in direct contact with the Outsider HWWB.  Harry believes that Justin called up HWWB, but Harry isn't a 100% reliable narrator.  Margaret tried to get Ebenezer McCoy to join this conspiracy, but he refused.  At least, that's what he told Harry.  Finally, it's theoretically possible that Lara Raith may have learned something of her father's role in this plan, if she didn't turn him into a potato before she thought about questioning him for useful information.  However, Lord Raith may have been too dangerous to do anything less than give him the equivalent of a lobotomy when Lara pacified him, so she may still be in the dark.

It seems to me that one day, when Harry gets more clues about what's going on and becomes a little bit inquisitive, he's going to have a conversation with Ebenezer and see if the old wizard can tell Harry about what Margaret's plan was about, assuming it has anything to do with the Black Council / Circle.  Of course, Ebenezer could die before Harry ever thinks of asking his grandfather about that scheme.  In fact, I think it's more likely Ebenezer would bring the subject up first, and might do so if he was dying and Harry was there.

 

There was only a couple of things I liked about the Sci-Fi series. The use of hockey stick as staff and drumstick as rod plus giving Bob a sometimes human form due to the actor playing Bob. The rest of it....not a fan.

I agree, though I also thought the actress who played Murphy wasn't bad, considering she looked nothing like the character we know from the books and she wasn't given very much to work with in terms of the writing in that show. 

However, I hadn't read any of the DF novels until I heard Jim being interviewed on a podcast (The Slice of Scifi podcast, which was unrelated to the TV channel.) where Jim was promoting both his books and the TV show, which was only a week or two from airing its first episode.  Listening to Jim being interviewed, I remember thinking, "This guy is funny, I think I'll pick up the first book of this series and maybe watch the show too."  So in an odd way, the creation of the the TV series led me to the novels. 

Of course, reading Storm Front and part of Fool Moon before the TV show was cancelled drove home how the show kept missing the mark.  I'm not going to go into details, because frankly I don't remember most of them, but all I could think at the end of most episodes was, "This show has potential, but arghhhhhhh!  They never quite get it right.

By the way, Jim's up to chapter 42 now.

As of Jan 17, Jim is up to Chapter 41.  Others have stated that 52 chapters is about average for the last few books.  So yea, probably a Christmas release.

Harry blasting the fae lord was Time Bandit like, but I don't think it was a direct reference.
Here's a link to the scene in the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8w6eCogCvc 

This is a small point, but I find it interesting that the first time Mavra sends one of her minions at Harry, it's when he's in a car; with Thomas, entering the apartment or condo complex where Arturo Genosa is having a party announcing his new movie.  After the attack both Thomas and Harry become aware that someone/something else is out there.  We can be 100% certain it was Mavra.

So why was Mavra there?  I ask this because she had her minion take the place of the security guard before Harry and Thomas drove up.  To refresh your memories, the guard wasn't dead, he was having coffee at the front door with a second security guard instead of being at his post.  This meant Mavra was already there and saw an opportunity to test/attack Harry when the guard left his usual position.  (Unless Mavra has the ability to make long-range mental suggestions to ordinary mortals like; " I should get some coffee now," which I don't remember ever being listed as a power of the Black Court.)

So did Mavra know Harry and Thomas were on their way their way to see Genosa?  This would be odd because Harry didn't know he was on his way to Genosa's before Thomas talked him into going to see him.  The implications of that are disturbing, to say the least.  Was Thomas in league with Mavra, at least to a point?  Even if Mavra had one of her minions following Harry and or Thomas all night, and occasionally checking in via long-range mental communication, Mavra was already outside Genosa's.  An alternative explanation; which also seems odd but not impossible, is Mavra was scouting Genosa because she wanted to find out how an ordinary mortal was defying or avoiding the control the King of the White Court.  Harry's appearance gave her an opportunity to test or attack the wizard.  Did she even know Thomas was with Harry?  Perhaps not.   

There's one other odd moment in BR.  During the fight with Mavra's minions, the one ear'd black court vamp says, "Raith's second in command," the vampire rasped. "As well as the White who betrayed us. Now you're both mine."  When did Thomas betray them?  Bianca betrayed Thomas, so you can hardly blame him for then taking Harry's side.  Unless that betrayal didn't happen at Bianca's at all.

I think that goes a long way to making my point. A bunch of people believe in supernatural things, but don't talk about it because they don't want to be teased, and I'm not just talking about religious beliefs. In 2017, only about 25% of Americans said they didn't believe in ghosts, according to one poll.

But then you have other people who not only believe, they will go to great lengths to tell you about their beliefs or tell you their story of supernatural encounters.

I used to work with a person who; during an after-work converstaion, went into great detail about a ghost encounter she once had and why she knew it wasn't a hallucination or a prank.  This dispite the fact she had previously told me she had been a heavy drinker and drug user at the time of her encounter.   

Just this past Summer I met a man who is retired, whose hobby is to travel to various parts of the country with large forrests where he finds animal trails and places video cameras, set to film in very low light conditions and has them set up to start recording when motion sensors pick up movement.  (He must have lots of recordings of possums, owls, coyotes, the occasional mountain lion or bear.)  He collects animal fecal matter and sends it to labs for DNA tests.  As you might guess he's looking for evidence of Bigfoot. (As a side note I asked him he if was part of that TV show (Finding Bigfoot, I think) that looks for Bigfoot.  He was somewhat dissmissive of the show but he didn't go into details and I didn't press him for his reasons.)  He told me and several others; this was at a dinner party, that just a few weeks before he was in a forrest (in Kentucky, I think) where he was out at night checking his cameras and a Bigfoot came up right behind him, "I could feel his breath on the back of my neck."  He said a friend who was helping him, came looking for him, calling his name and the Bigfoot ran off, and even though he spun around to take a flash picture the only thing his cell phone camera got a picture of was disturbed leaves moving on low hanging tree branches.  He told us that he was next going to someplace in the Pacific North West to check out the latest "convincing" sightings he had heard about.

(I didn't laugh and I was very polite; because you never know how a mentally unbalanced person might react if you tell them that you doubt the CIA has satellites that can look inside their head and that can secretly control them.  However, I did say he was lucky it wasn't a bear that had come up behind him, because black bears aren't usually agressive but if you were to incur on their territory or if they felt threatened things could go bad fast.)
 
Anyway the point I want to make is that while fewer people may say they believe in things that go bump in the night, the ones who do can be very vocal about it.  Plus, with the internet, cable TV and social media, it's easier than ever for these people to spread their messages of experiencing supernatural encounters.   

I have to agree that Hades would only have the highest quality diamonds as part of his personal collection, even if they were being used in a kind of art exhibit, the flowing fountain of diamonds.

About the White Council, or Marcone or anyone (but mostly the White Council) having a cleanup crew for supernatural battles.  I find it odd that many members of the White Council don't like Harry openly advertising himself as a wizard, but if I read this Christmas eve story correctly, it's possible the White Council didn't mind having a knock down brawl in the middle of one of the largest cities in North America.  That's hardly a way to remain discrete.

As far as mortal authorities noticing what went on.  Even paying for all those funerals and the medical bills for the injured wouldn't remain hidden for long.  Sooner or later that would attract attention.