Thank you for that insight! I knew he’d gotten divorced, but nothing more than that. That’s super understandable to make writing a lower priority in that case. Although, honestly I’m the kind of person that believes if he’d wanted to fuck off and make pottery for 5 years, I think that’s just as valid.

I read The Aeronaut’s Windlass shortly after it came out, looked at the number and frequency of Dresden books, and thought, “Butcher’s pretty prolific; I won’t have to wait long for the next one.” Taught me that you can never predict release schedules, even for authors that look “regular.” 😭

And to be fair to Butcher, from what I can tell, he took a break from publishing anything for about 5 years after Aeronaut’s Windlass.

Honestly, I loved that book so much, even if there’s never a sequel, I would never regret reading it. Plus it made me check out Dresden to fill the time, which while I don’t love it as much, has still (mostly) been a really fun time! I can’t wrap my head around all the books I’ve enjoyed that I’d be missing out on if I limited myself to only finished series or standalone books. Sure, unfulfilled anticipation is a bummer, but it doesn’t diminish the good times I had.