Many thanks to whichever nice reader is a scriptwriter for “General Hospital”! Earlier this month, a number of people called my attention to the fact that one show featured a young girl bringing books to her older sister in the hospital—at one point, pulling a copy of the trade paperback edition of OUTLANDER out of her bag and saying, “It’s really long—but really good!” {g}
I did have someone ask whether this was product placement by the publisher, but I can assure you it wasn’t. With the dire state of publishing these days, nobody has ¬that kind of money, even if they thought it would be a good idea (which I kind of doubt). Random House does have a lot of great promotional ideas—they’re giving away mass-market copies of OUTLANDER in all kinds of venues, in anticipation of the new 20th-anniversary edition (more about that in a separate post, a little later), doing Google-TV ads, and other entertaining things—but I’m sure they would have told me if they’d figured out how to get the book on “General Hospital”. {g}
This isn’t my first brush with screen-fame, though. One of my books—I think it was DRUMS OF AUTUMN—was visible on Eddie Murphy’s nightstand in the movie “Dr. Doolittle.” (Or so I’m told. I never watch television, and see movies mostly on DVD years after release—have just now started watching the Matt Smith first season of “Dr. Who”.)
I do get the occasional shout-out from someone else’s book, too—always appreciated! Both Dana Stabenow (the Kate Shugak series) and John Sandford (BAD BLOOD) have had characters reading a Diana Gabaldon novel. {g} I get by with a little help from my friends!
Thank you!!
Well, you’re a lot more current on the Doctor Who–that season just ended this past winter. And you’ll definitely enjoy it!
Ah, the price of fame!
Hope we get a few more DG fans after that episode…went in for a job interview and mentioned my hobbies, one of which is reading, was asked who was my fav. author..said yeah DG is my all-time fav. and the person who was interviewing me knew who DG was!! +1 in my favor of getting the job I should hope! =]
I love it! All DG all the time!!! (One can hope, right? lol) I ran out of ‘new’ books to read, so I picked up Outlander last night and started all over from the beginning~for the umpteenth time :0)~ and remembered you mentioning the 20 year anniversary in a previous post. So I looked in my book to see when it was published~ 1991! And I got it (used) from my sister-in-law in 1997 and it was already on the 12th edition! Amazing. I am so thankful for that bag of books she gave me~with the very real treasure in it that started my lifelong love of your books
It still amazes me that, no matter how many times I read each book, it never gets old, the storyline never disappoints, the characters never lose their flavor, and Jamie and Claire’s love just grows more timeless. Here’s to a lifetime of Happy Reading~ Slainte! (And Happy St Patrick’s Day!)
They are really great books and going through all the comments made me feel how many we all are who love and enjoy your books. I usually give away books but your books are in a special place that are constantly availble when I need one that can ease the stress of travelling.
Yes they are long and the books are huge and thick. But that makes them a lot more enjoyable and pleasurable.. ha ha I sometimes wish they are twice as long because I am sure that I will get to enjoy more exciting times.
I list you with my favorite authors in my FB account. I got some extra copies for my girlfriend so that she can read and enjoy them too. I ended up reading it first (again) when we were up on a mountain farm and I did not have my usual bag of books to read during cold night.. ha ha
Thank you, Diana. YOU really are the best. May God bless you and keep you going.
Hi Diana!
It looks like you are becoming a household name! Now that you are casually mentioned on the soaps! I can’t believe it has been 20 years. I was lucky to discover these books sometime around 1993-4. I was 15. They have awed and engaged me ever since. Claire has intrigued me and guided me on a path that led to natural medicine. I am now a practicing Naturopathic Physician and have to say that many a time have I actually prescribed for a patient that she pick up Outlander for a healthy dose of delightful escapism. It does the body, the mind and the soul good! I just had an exuberant email from a woman today thanking me for recommending Outlander. She has her whole book club reading it now!
I thank you for the gift of your story telling. Jaime and Claire are like dear and familiar friends to me now. I will always hold them close.
Happy Writing!
Juliet
Dear Juliet–
That’s lovely–thank you for telling me!
–Diana
I love it! I recommended your books to a friend who likes really long (and really good!) books. She is hooked
Oh, and I am really enjoying Matt Smith as Dr. Who. How are you enjoying his version?
YEA DIANA! That is wonderful news! Congrats!
Diana! Outstanding! I am so pleased for you! Plus all those new people about to be introduced to Outlander! Yay! Congratulations … you always deserve the best!
Kitty, San Diego
I agree; it is both really long and really good. My fave book of all time, truthfully.
Speaking of shout-outs in other books, I have one coming out in June and you are in the acknowledgments. I want to send you a copy and am not sure the best way to do so. If you get a chance, please let me know. Thanks, Diana!
Cyndi
Dear Cyndi–
Congratulations on your new book! What is it called?
There’s a mailing address under “Resources,” if you’d really like to send me a copy; I’d be very interested to see it!
–Diana
Diana,
The book is called Between. Here’s a link to the blurb: http://ctefft.blogspot.com/p/between-ya-paranormal-romance-novel.html
I will send a copy to the address under Resources when it comes out. I hope you enjoy it. You have been an inspiration to me and so many others!
Cyndi
Hi Diana,
I am a checker at a local grocery store, and every time somebody comes through my line and is purchasing a romance novel (I know Outlander is not a romance novel, but I figure most people who enjoy romance novels, would be more receptive of an Outlander recommendation, and are more apt to actually heed my advice and read it), I ALWAYS say “Oh, have you read the Outlander series?”. I either get “Yes! They are SO good!” or a shake of the head, and “No, I haven’t heard of that one”…after which I proceed to tell them how life-changing the series is and how they should go out and buy it immediately. Then there are the very strange people that look at me like I am some crazed lunatic and they have no idea why I am asking them a question other than “Would you like paper or plastic?”. The most recent reaction that was a little awkward was “Yeah.”….that’s it.
So, I am not a popular soap opera series showcasing your outstanding novels, but perhaps I have encouraged one or two people to become devoted fans like I:)
-Heather
Dear Heather–
Well, as my beloved first editor used to say: “These _have_ to be word-of-mouth books, because they’re too weird to describe to anybody!” Which is totally true. {g} So I much appreciate the good word of mouth!
Thanks!
–Diana
Oh I wouldn’t say the books are “too-weird” to be described. I refer to them as “historical fiction with a twist”. Too many writers get hung-up in what genera they are in, I think the integrity of the story gets lost. I tell my students to “Go with what inspires you, if it’s soo awesome that it cannot possibly be contained in the confines of your head GO FOR IT AND DON’T LOOK BACK. And if by chance it fits in some one’s idea of what makes up a genera… GREAT!.. if not don’t sweat it.” Art is for arts sake.
L
Hi Diana,
I’ve been getting friends hooked on the Outlander series for years. Recently, movers did something to a box containing my entire series, but one book was missing…Dragonfly in Amber, the first book I read long ago. Hope the guy enjoyes it and passes it on to others with rave reviews. Looking forward to what’s happening to your characters next.
Catherine
Hi Diana, just read An Echo In The Bone. Couldn’t put it down, to my husband’s annoyance as usual.
Have read all previous books and sincerely, dearly, prayfully and hope you have a continuation of the “Claire and Jamie Fraser” series.
You have left me worried about Jem, Brianna and Roger. Amanda I believe is too young yet to be touched by history. I believe though, and I hope, that she will be involved in the many changes coming their way.
Dear Bronwyn–
You can’t possibly have reached the end of ECHO and not realized that there’s another book. {g}
As for your husband–try getting the audiobooks and play them in the car while traveling with him.
–Diana
Bronwyn,
My husband and I have read the entire Outlander series together, and have thoroughly enjoyed it! It makes for great conversation, and when one of us see something that makes us think of something in the books, we can easily talk about it without having to explain. We love reading together….it is one of our favorite things to do!!!
Enjoy!
I Can’t believe it’s been 20 yrs already. I must admit I picked up Outlander because the cover intrigued
me. After Clair walked through the stone, you had me. It wasn’t so much the time travel, but the story got very interesting after she landed two hundred years in the past. I really like to read, all the time if I could, but you are my favorite author and I always reread all the books when ever a new one is close to being published. I love your sense of humor and the Outlandish Companion was just like reading a novel. I know all of us fans are after you to FINISH the book , but it’s you’re fault. Jaimie and Claire, Brianna and Roger, Jem and Amanda are like family to all of us. I’ve laughed and cried over
many pages of all the books, but one day I got curious about publishing dates. Outlander, Drangonfly in Amber, and Voyager were published within a year of each other. Then Drums of Autumn was published 2 or 3 years after Voyager and then, I would suppose, as the story became more complex, the
the publications were further and further apart. The worst part about that is I usually pre-order your next book and when I get it, I read it in less than 24hrs., and then I have to wait 4 or 5 years for the next one to be published. I read and re-read the excerpts you put up on you web site, and reread the books I have, I read other authors, but I’m still waiting for your next book. And I can’t wait for the novel about Brian and Ellen. Jeeez!!!!!
Dear Mikie–
What it was, is that it took the publisher more than eighteen months to decide what to _do_ with OUTLANDER after they bought it. {g} (It being pretty much indescribable–and therefore unmarketable.) I, of course, had no idea this was going on, and was therefore happily working away on DRAGONFLY–which took me about two years to write. Ergo, it was done six months after OUTLANDER came out, in plenty of time to be released a year after OUTLANDER. I had immediately started work on VOYAGER (I don’t really break for more than a couple of weeks between books), so had a six-month jump on that one–which again took me two years, and therefore was published eighteen months after DRAGONFLY (in 1994–OUTLANDER in 1991, DRAGONFLY in 1992).
At that point, though, I had no more built-in lead time, and the publisher couldn’t publish any faster than I actually wrote. {g} DRUMS was published in 1997, having taken about two and a half years to write. (Yes, the books do become more complex–also longer. OUTLANDER is the shortest, at 305,000 words {g}–FIERY CROSS and ABOSA both come in a just a hair over half a million words each (or, as I helpfully pointed out to my editor at the time, “It’s exactly the same size as SHO-GUN!”). I promised my foreign-rights agent that I’d keep ECHO shorter (the books expand in translation, so foreign publishers tend to turn green when presented with a 500,000-word book), and it is. Some. {g}
The other complicating factor, though, is that the books have gotten tremendously popular in a lot of different places–which is definitely a Good Thing–but which means I do a HUGE amount of traveling, interviewing, etc., to promote a new book–as well as doing things like maintaining a blog and website (which didn’t exist back when I was writing OUTLANDER, DRAGONFLY, and VOYAGER). That all takes one ungodly amount of time, and it does slow down the production, but there you are.
–Diana
Well thank goodness your books have become tremendously popular…whenever I need a lift I pull them off my shelf and take the journey with Jamie and Claire again and again.
LOL…wasn’t it said when computers became mainstream that life would become less complicated and computers would allow us more time to do the things that we love? Ooops!
lauren
Hi Diana
I have been reading your books for some time now. My biggest problem lately I don’t know where to go from here. I just finished Snow and Ashes leaving Briana and husband and son gone back through the stones. There are a lot of Sir John books, do I continue with them?
Please help me.
Thanks
Carol
Diana (if I may presume to call you by your given name as I feel as if you are a close family friend by now!) My mother is an Anderson from Glasgow and came to the States when she was 17 where she met and wed my father and has resided ever since. She brought me on a trip “home” when I was 15 (some 20 years or so ago!) while my Nana was still alive and still living in Glasgow. We took day-trips to Edinburgh castle, Stirling castle, Skye, the highlands (including Loch Ness of course! I WAS a tourist in fact!) all of which I was enchanted by and also gives me some reference point while reading the Outlander series.
I give you this information in order to relay the familial ties I have to Scotland which made the Outlander series just that more personal for me to read. Over the years I have met such a range of people, from all different backgrounds and socio-economic classes, that are avid fans of the series! From the nurse who checked me in at triage at the Emergency room when I went in for a horrible tooth ache (and thanked God I was not in the 18th century with Claire pulling it without anesthesia!) where I had brought my copy of Voyager which she instantly recognized, to a peer in a rehab I was in 8 years ago (I am a recovering heroin addict myself) who had not graduated high school but was yet another great fan of the series. When you meet another fan there is an instant connection as anyone who enjoys your books as I do must have a character that I inevitably find suited to my own.
I have read your postings on this site and understand your time restraints (2012, REALLY??!!) so just wanted to send this as yet another adoring fan who is most anxiously awaiting the next chapter in the ongoing saga of Claire and Jamie!!
Yours truly, an adoring fan;
Emily Moon
Hi, Diana,
I SAW that scene on GH. My husband was sitting next to me and he grinned, knowing how much I adore your books. Have given the first four to several friends to whet their appetite. I just mentioned to my husband how much I miss your characters; we were watching an old video on Scotland. Guess I need to go back and reread again in anticiaption of the next.
Thanks for 20 years of good reading!
Kathy
Dear Kathy–
My pleasure! {g} Thanks for 20 years of reading!
–Diana
Diana, your books will never go out of style, they are timeless………..Whenever I am feeling blue or alone, I pick up one of your books, and I feel the love of family and close friends again. I lost my Jamie, about 5 years ago, after a wondeful marrige that lasted 38 years. Sometimes I laugh at jamie’s sense of humor, it is much like my husbands. If you are lucky in love, I think you can see your own dear one in your Jamie. A wonderful husband, lover and father, and my own warrior who would do whatever needed to be done to care for me….yes, your books help me remember just how lucky I have been!
Your number one fan,
Deborah
Deborah, I hope that I am not intruding. What you wrote is beautiful.
General Hospital is my favorite show and Diana Gabaldon is my favorite author so that was a great day!
Diana- I can’t imagine why Showtime or HBO doesn’t gobble up Jamie and Claire….. I love to see a series or miniseries- surely would let the characters grow more than a film?
Dear Jennifer–
Well, the production company that has an option on the books right now has a contract that would let them explore feature films _and_ (or) mini-series possibilities. So kind of up to them, and what develops.
–Diana
Diana,
I’m a long time GH viewer and was pleasantly surprised to see and hear her mention Outlander!
My daughter-in-law recently asked me for a good book to read. I recommended Outlander. Since then she is up to book 4, her mom is on book 3, her grandmother, in another state, is on book 2 and grandfather on book 1. My best friend originally introduced me to the series. My biggest complaint with your books, once you start reading you CAN’T put it down. But, who cares! I am presently reading “An Echo in the Bone”! Very good, as usual. Would love to see a mini series on all the books!!
thanks for weeks of enjoyment!!
Carol
How wonderful for you GH did that!. I couldnt stand waiting and did not want to leave anything that had to do with “The Outlander”. So before we left last week I went out and got ALL of the Lord John books. I had a great liking of Lord John thru the series and wanted to know more about him. I am into the second book by about 150 pages…. Love it,,, Love the flip side of the Jamie to Lord John insight in them. Thanks again! I will be off to LOL site when I am done…. It is wonderful to be able to speak to people whom are just as enthralled as I am…
