If you are not familiar with the fictional character, Bob the Skull, from Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” series of best-selling books, what you are about to read will bring you up to speed on the character and teach you everything you need to know. I dare say, you’ll be able to carry on a conversation with a Dressie* and pass as one of us. If you’re already a fan of the “Dresden Files,” not only will this article be a good refresher for you to read and brush-up on your Bob knowledge base, but it will also help you ferret out folks who are trying to pass themselves off as fans, and therefore, cool.

Bob the Skull started his literary life as many of Butcher’s creations do—someone presented him with a challenge. Way back in the day when Butcher was unpublished and still working on pulling the pieces of the “Dresden Files” together, he realized he needed a means to explain the mechanics of magic to his readers without info-dumping. Debbie Chester, his writing teacher at the time, advised her student that by adding a character to specifically discuss the nature of magic with Harry was fine, but to be careful not to make this new character a “talking head” (a character whose sole purpose is to dispense information).
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