Ooookay. THIS weekend (August 26-28) is Bubonicon, which takes place in Albuquerque, NM, at the Airport Sheraton Hotel. I’ll be there from Friday evening through Sunday, and will be doing several different appearances:
8:30 PM on Friday night—a panel on “Beyond Goddess/Whore”
1:00 PM Saturday–a panel on Jules Verne
4:00 PM – Mass Autographing (with other authors) – I _think_ this is open to the public, but can’t swear to it, and
10:00 AM Sunday – a 70-minute talk/reading (with Sam Sykes)
I’ll also be taking part in the Sunday afternoon tea, and will just be generally around most of the time. See you there!
Or if not at Bubonicon….
NEXT weekend (Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-4), I’ll be at DragonCon in Atlanta. I’m doing two appearances there:
Title: Whiskey, Haggis, & Madmen: Myths & Reality of the Scottish Highlands
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Location: International BC – Westin (Length: 1)
Description: The stories that made Scotland famous: why kilts, why Braveheart was an inspiring fairy tale, and how the Scots invented everything. Yes, everything.
Title: An Hour with Diana Gabaldon
Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: International BC – Westin (Length: 1)
Description: The best-selling author discusses her time-traveling Outlander series, and more!
Now, I’m _not_ doing the Decatur Book Festival this year, but with due regard for Atlanta-area folk who might want to see me and get a signed book, but don’t want to fight their way through the DragonCon zoo {g} (or pay for the privilege of doing so)….I _will_ be doing a talk/reading/signing event in Decatur (about three miles from downtown Atlanta):
3 PM Sunday – Talk/reading/Q&A/signing
Eagle Eye Book Shop
2076 N. Decatur Road
Decatur, GA 30033
404-486-0307
www.eagleeyebooks.com
This is a free public event, so for any of y’all that can’t make it to DragonCon (or turn pale at the thought {g})—I’ll see you in Decatur!
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Righto. Now, with business out of the way, I did promise to post the excerpt that made tents full of people gasp in Fergus last week. {g}
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WARNING/WARNING/WARNING/WARNING/WARNING/WARNING
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE SPOILERS FROM BOOK EIGHT
DON’T READ THIS!!!
(still with me?)
(OK, then….)
Excerpt, Book Eight: Roger in the Past
Copyright 2011 Diana Gabaldon
[You may recall that at the end of AN ECHO IN THE BONE, we left Roger embarked on a quest through the stones to find his son Jem, whom he believed had been taken into the past. From Craigh na Dun, Roger goes immediately to Lallybroch, figuring that if Jem had managed to escape from his captor, he’d head for home.]
His heart rose in spite of his anxiety, when he came to the top of the pass and saw Lallybroch below him, its white-harled buildings glowing in the fading light. Everything lay peaceful before him; late cabbages and turnips in orderly rows within the kailyard walls, safe from grazing sheep—there was a small flock in the far meadow, already bedding for the night, like so many wooly eggs in a nest of bright green grass, like a kid’s Easter-basket.
The thought caught at his throat, with memories of the horrible cellophane grass that got everywhere, Mandy with her face—and everything else within six feet of her—smeared with chocolate, Jem carefully writing “Dad” on a hardboiled egg with a white crayon, then frowning over the array of dye-cups, trying to decide whether blue or purple was more Dad-like.
“Lord, let him be here!” he muttered under his breath, and hurried down the rutted trail, half-sliding on loose rocks.
The dooryard was tidy, the big yellow rose brier trimmed back for the winter, and the step swept clean. He had the sudden notion that if he were simply to open the door and walk in, he would find himself in his own lobby, Mandy’s tiny red galoshes flung helter-skelter under the hall-tree where Brianna’s disreputable duffel-coat hung, crusty with dried mud and smelling of its wearer, soap and musk and the faint smell of her motherhood: sour milk, fresh bread, and peanut butter.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered, “be weeping on the step, next thing.” He hammered at the door, and a huge dog came galloping round the corner of the house, baying like the bloody hound of the Baskervilles. It slid to a stop in front of him but went on barking, weaving its huge head to and fro like a snake, ears cocked in case he might make a false move that would let it devour him with a clear conscience.
He wasn’t risking any moves; he’d plastered himself against the door when the dog appeared, and now shouted, “Help! Come call your beast!”
He heard footsteps within, and an instant later, the door opened, nearly decanting him into the hall.
“Hauld your wheesht, dog,” a dark man said, in a tolerant tone. “Come in, sir, and dinna be minding him. He wouldna eat you; he’s had his dinner.”
“I’m pleased to hear it, sir, and thank ye kindly.” Roger pulled off his hat and followed the man into the shadows of the hall. It was his own familiar hall, the slates of the floor just the same, though not nearly as worn, the dark wood paneling shining with beeswax and polishing. There was a halltree in the corner, though of course different to his; this one was a sturdy affair of wrought iron, and a good thing, too, as it was supporting a massive burden of jackets, shawls, cloaks and hats that would have crumpled a flimsier piece of furniture.
He smiled at it, nonetheless, and then stopped dead, feeling as though he’d been punched in the chest.
The wood paneling behind the halltree shone serene, unblemished. No sign of the saber-slashes left by frustrated redcoat soldiers, searching for the outlawed laird of Lallybroch after Culloden. Those slashes had been carefully preserved for centuries, were still there, darkened by age but still distinct, when he had owned—would own, he corrected mechanically—this place.
“We keep it so for the children,” Bree had quoted her uncle Ian as saying. “We tell them, ‘This is what the English are.””
He had no time to deal with the shock; the dark man had shut the door with a firm Gaelic adjuration to the dog, and now turned to him, smiling.
“Welcome, sir. Ye’ll sup wi’ us? The lass has it nearly ready.”
“Aye, I will, and thanks to ye,” Roger bowed slightly, groping for his 18th-century manners. “I—my name is Roger MacKenzie. Of Lochalsh,” he added, for no respectable man would omit to note his origins, and Lochalsh was far enough away that the chances of this man—who was he? He hadn’t the bearing of a servant—knowing its inhabitants in any detail was remote.
He’d hoped that the immediate response would be, “MacKenzie? Why, you must be the father of wee Jem!” It wasn’t, though; the man returned his bow and offered his hand.
“Brian Fraser of Lallybroch, your servant, sir.”
[end section]
Yay!!!!!! That’s so awesome!
I keep getting wave after wave of chills!!! DG, you have a special way of torturing us so that we’re forced to come back for more!
Woah…..So freakin exciting! i have shivers.
Ms. Diana your books are the most gut wrenching, heart stopping, nerve wracking, cant put the damn thing down yet suppers burning, bite all my nails off, tear jerking, weirding out my kids with my bad scots accent, makin’ me fantasize while I fall asleep, addictive masterpieces i have ever read. But I think you almost hate your characters as much as you love them what with all the BAD things you let happen to them….(gasp!!!!!) I know you have said it but, you_really_are_Black_Jack_Randall.
You are this Great Goddess puppet-master magic orb weaver, with us all at your mercy. Just PLEASE dont kill off anyone important! I don’t think the masses could handle it. I know I couldn’t….. But love u! Cheers!
I SO agree with everything she just said!!!!!!!!
Me too!
Double -ditto….I AGREE!!!!
This is torture. You know that right? In spite of the lame disclaimer at the top (like that would stop ANYONE). How in the blazes can you expect anyone to sit on their hands awaiting the next installment of Clan Fraser?
Now I know why writing all the prison torture bits in Outlander came out so well – you truly do have a talent for torture.
Pleeeeaaaaassssseeeee, put us out of our misery soon and give us another book.
I would love to have Brian and Ellen’s story included in this book. I would especially love it if Jem could meet them, or see Jamie again. But Roger with Brian? I can only stand it if Bree is coming around the corner! One more year…I can hardly wait…and will probably read this book in a day! OK, two days!! Thank you, Ms. G. You’ve touched me (and so many others) deeply!
Sob…. No….. I have read that Book Eight might not get to us until 2013!
what!! WHAT????
You slay me Diana, what a gift you have! Can’t wait for the book, and I am sure you are sick of us whiners going on about it!
Still youtr Number One Fan!
And I was just wdoneirng about that too!
Oh my god!! That was such a tease. I don’t know how I am going to make it until the next book is done :):)
Thank you for the “teaser!” Am anxiously awaiting (like everyone else!!!) the finished product. And know you’ve heard it a million times over, but I have never read a book(s) that have touched me the way these have. Thank you for sharing your gift of storytelling.
Argggh, woman! You have us all holding our breaths now for what comes next. But I love the idea of meeting Brian and young Jamie and Jenny, and maybe even their older brother. What a twist!
Can’t wait to see you at Dragon*Con – they will gasp there, too, I have no doubt!
Thanks for the excerpt – I am sure this one will be a wild ride!
Wow, came to read about Dragon*Con, and got an awesome excerpt, thanks!
For those who **are** coming to Dragon*Con, the Saturday evening panel promises to be a hoot, complete with a piper and lots of men in kilts.
(And afterward, there will be a Pub Sing panel and a pilgrimage to a pub that is next door to the hotel, so anyone on here reading this, feel free to stick around for the fun.
Diana, you are most especially invited!
Oh — never in MY wildest imaginings would I have believed we’d learn about young Jamie!
We’re going backwards more! And Bree is in the “present” with her children and a crazy man!
Questions:
Is William still alive? how old are Jenny and Jamie?
Will Bree & Roger find each other?
Will Roger try to get back to the “present”? or rather, when?
Will Bree and Jem be forced to go to the 18th century with Rob (?) for the Spaniards gold?
Who are Rob’s ancestors?
What happened to Buck? — did he get to the 18th century?
and, and,
We needs must wait for more to be shared with us —
Meantime, I’m on my 4th reading of Dragonfly…..and first of Outlandish Companion — just became available at my library after months and months of waiting!
Diana, you are indeed blessed almost as much as we by being able to read your creations.
M
I think I may have just inhaled all the oxygen out of the air in this room.
Diana, you are a genius! LOVE this.
Waiting for book 8 is making me itchy and easily distracted from reality.
You never fail to disappoint. But take your time – the story is always so much better when there is a long lapse. Call me a sadist….
JESS, you are sick! LOL, none of us can wait, and you WANT a long lapse?!
I think we should nail Jess’s ear to the pillory.
Only joking.
I agree with that!!! Jess, do not encourage her to take her time or she will be reading 20 books a day, doing endless book tours, and wringing her hands while giggling like a mad chemist because of the torture she knows she will be giving us. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be withdrawing like crazy crack-heads waiting for a book that may or may never come all because you said, “Take your time.”
Although, in all truth I know Diana could never be that cruel to her fans. She knows we love her. I just wish this book was already in my hands. Sorry if I took out my frustration on you Jess. Maybe we will only nail one ear to the pillory.
Thank you for sharing – loved it.
How exciting! Can I hold your pen for you? Get you coffee? Take care, dear.
Well, that has taken the wind from my sails, for sure.
Imagine if Jem and Jaime were pals!!! And so poignent if Willie still alive.
Looking forward to getting to know Brian Fraser, and hopefully, Ellen too.
You sure know how to reel us in!!!
You’re killing me! My favorite is Roger. First you leave Jem in a tunnel and then Roger goes back to early…there’s no peace with you! (said lovingly of course)
Tricksey, TRICKSEY Hobbit!
Write, write, write, it has been almost 2 years since the last book, I don’t know if I can stand the suspense for another year.
That was so delicious! Give us more of these snippets! Thanks so much!