A successful author came to Town and Country Public Library in Elburn on June 20 to talk about the series of novels featuring a wizard named Harry dealing with the world around him.

No, not that Harry, and no, not that author.

Jim Butcher, author of the New York Times best-selling series of “The Dresden Files,” spoke to the library’s writers’ group and many other curious individuals in a standing-room only atmosphere.

Butcher has seen much success come his way, in large part due to the now eight-book series featuring Harry Dresden, a wizard who helps solve crimes in Chicago.

It didn’t take sorcery, said Butcher during the 90-minute gab session, but persistence.

“I wrote my first novel when I was 19, and it was quite bad,” said Butcher, who has also written the Codex Alera traditional fantasy series and a Spider-Man novel due out this summer. “I didn’t know any better, so I kept writing and got “Storm Front” (the first novel in the Dresden Files) in 2000 when I was 29.”

Butcher noted the influences that helped him along the way in the literary world.

“I grew up in the “Star Wars” generation, and I can’t escape that. I grew up reading and own the “Lord of the Rings” novels. As far as the detective and private eye side, which you see in “The Dresden Files,” it’s a lot of Raymond Chandler and Robert Parker.”

There is also the Chicago influence, which is remarkable considering Butcher, before last week, had not stepped foot in the Chicago area. “It was suggested by a writing teacher in college (Oklahoma University) that I set novels like these in some place other than Missouri, which is where I’m from, so I picked Chicago,” said Butcher.

“Harry lives in Midtown Chicago, which doesn’t exist, but I’ll take elements that are true and I’ve asked friends to drive past Graceland Cemetery in Chicago to tell me what a certain wall looks like,” Butcher added.

It turns out Chicago was an ideal choice for a contemporary wizard to have adventures while struggling to pay bills and find the right woman. “I love Chicago; it’s a really old city and there is so much history to where it’s conceivable that folklore can reside there,” Butcher continued.

Now, Butcher’s works are read by many fans, a number of whom came to hear him speak and get their books signed.

“The books are really funny and well-written,” said Karen Zeilenga of Sugar Grove. “It’s fast-paced and the characters are real and true.” After years of constant hard work that still continues, Butcher has seen several “Dresden Files” books be converted into audio form and read by James Marsters of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel fame.

On the horizon, a two-hour movie and series based on “The Dresden Files” is slated to come to the Sci-Fi Channel of the in January 2007.

“Basically, my input consists of going ‘yay!’ after the producers run something that they’re going to do past me. Paul Blackthorne, (English actor from “24”) is going to play Harry. He looks like a young Sean Connery and has a gift for reactions for things that are happening around him,” Butcher said.

Future plans for Butcher are ambitious and entertaining.

“I am looking to have the Dresden series go 20 books; I’m not kidding. As far as other mediums like TV, it might be cool to try one day,” said Butcher.

In the meantime, Butcher is continuing to write, meet and greet, and, like Blackthorne in the upcoming Sci-Fi series, react to what’s happening around him.

“It’s a surreaI feeling. I still have a lot of fun with it and really get into it.”