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]
She makes it hard to read any other authors.
I agree, Krista. Have thought this since meeting Jamie Fraser in Book 1 Outlander.
Diana, I just finished OUTLANDER. Now I have to find the rest of these books. AMazon is high for paper backs I was like geez. I’m hoping to search Barnes and Noble for the others. I keep thinking about Jamie and Claire even since I finished it and read the excerpt of DRAGONFLY IN AMBER. You covered all the quesitons so well about time travel. I was in tears there when Jamie was at the monastery in France. I will have to find a copy of the movie too.I will be looking for the rest of the series and it seems I better get caught up soon before number 8 comes out. Great writing I loved teh book.
Love it! Great stuff. Can’t wait to meet the rest of the cast!
Diana did not SAY it was Ellen, Brian referred to “the Lass.” Possibly Jenny?
Futher more, if the lass is Jenny, maybe this is the time before Jaime was beaten so badly, that Brian died from the stroke. Could this be altered in history? Leave it to Diana to get my mind a wondering!
I don’t know what you put in these things but I am definitely addicted. I am only 44 years old but I am afraid something might happen to me and I will never get to finish the story. I could not go to my grave without the ending. Peacefully anyway
Oh my gosh!!!! I have had this exact same worry for over a decade!!!!
Weird isn’t it. I was in a dangerous situation recently and one of the thoughts that went through my mind was “drat… maybe I won’t get to read the series to the end.” I was also thinking of my family, but I was trying to distract myself.
That is exatly what I just said. What if I die? I’ll forced to roam the earth forever as a ghost longing for a book!!
OMG That is so AWESOME!!!! Sure didn’t expect that! LOVE IT THOUGH! I can’t wait for book 8. I just preordered Scottish Prisoner too, GREAT WRITTING DIANA!
WOW!!! Can’t wait for the next book, thank you for being such a wonderful author!
There are no words.
Gahhh! Too much to handle…
By the way, is there a publication date, a title, a book cover yet…?
This first thing that came on my mind was : does this affect Jamies future ???
Morag isnt it crazy how much we care?!
Ah,well – it is quite hard not to care `cos D.G. created such loveable character(s),no?
I guess I must have read the books about at least six or seven times and I am still facinated !
Diana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my word!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can see thousdans of folks gasping at this–I did–given the chance.
Oh wow… Just totally… WOW!!!
Okay, now that words have really failed me and make me look less educated than I like, I’ll quit.
Thanks for sharing that!
OMG Diana how on earth to you expect us to sleep at night with these great spoilers lol..wow i cannot wait to read this book . Echo in the bone was awesome and the cliff hangers were jaw dropping!!
I cherish your books as they were once my nans shes been gone almost 2yrs now and i feel like im reading it for her also she didnt get to read echo in the bone so i hope she was looking over my shoulder reading it with me. Your story lines are riveting and once i picked up one of your books i cant put it down till im falling asleep lol..
love your work xx
Love the excerpt. I stumbled onto the Outlander series in late June and spent the rest of the summer reading the entire series without stopping. With no book eight in sight, I started over again with book one. I have never, ever done something like that before. Please, stop touring and finish book eight!
I normally don’t do fangirl noises or anything near it but when I read this I went oh my god, OH MY GOD, OHMYGOD!!! in a highpitched voice XD
thanks for sharing this with us, I’m really looking forward to nr 8 ^^
LOVE IT! And the big dog must be Nairn!!
SWEET BABY JESUS ON A PIECE OF TOAST!!! I sucked all the oxygen out of the room when Roger saw the unmarred cabinet. Thank God I read this after my DH went to bed…he thinks I’m Outlandishly Over the Top already!!!
I spent a week trying to figure the timeline relationship between “Leaf”, “Echo”, and Roger’s Childhood….this blows that totally the heck out of the water!! Poor Roger…could he be anymore tied up the the knots of time??? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE knowing we’ll meet the ‘early’ Fraser Family.
Guess I’m in the minority regarding publication…I say take your time, so we can savor the the sweet anticipation… Keep up the amazing work!! Thanks for this wonderful tease!
I had to gasp inwardly and quietly (try that! lol) as I just read this excerpt with my 16 mo old granddaughter napping in the room. Now I am gasping for air! OM goodness, Diana Gabaldon, I love you!
Diane
OMG! Please finish as soon as possible! I have just finished reading The Exile and am now patiently awaiting the next part of the saga! Fell in love with Claire and Jamie with the first book, which I can say I have read probably 30 times now and the subsequent books almost as much! Everytime you have produced another book, I read it and then start over with the first and re-read them all! And now to find out that the Lord John books overlap with Claire and Jamie! Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into writing these wonderful tales! You have provided a much needed escape from the daily life of a working woman!
OH MY WORD! Holy cow…I can not wait to read this book. Holy cow….I have goosebumps. Never saw this one coming… How do you do it? Never cease to amaze me in your creativity.
Ok so Jenny is likely the lass making supper (remember she took all that on when her mother died in childbirth) so is he going to walk into the next room and find his chubby little redheaded father-in-law Jamie? Or is Jamie older and away from home? The possibilities are endless. All I can say is Roger and Uncle Buck must have had far too many gemstones on them. Holy Fireworks—He is going to have to wait a long time for Jem to show up –or did they wind up there because they were thinking of Jem and that is where her went—-What if he didn’t go back at all!!I’m exhausted thinking about it all!
Oh golly!!! Will we get to meet Helen? and little Jamie ? Oh my god, the wait for this book will kill me.