The State of the Wicket* – as of New Year’s Day, 2013
This is a quick run-down of everything I know about that y’all might possibly want to know about. [g]
1. The cable-TV series of OUTLANDER.
a) It _is_ an agreement for a cable-TV series.
i. It is NOT a mini-series.
ii. It is NOT a movie.
iii. It is not regular network TV.
iv. Yes, if it gets made, unless you already subscribe to STARZ, you will have to pay to watch it, sorry.
b) The cable-TV series is being developed by STARZ.
i. It’s being _developed_.
ii. It’s not (yet) being _produced_.
iii. There is no casting call at present.
a. If there was one, I’d have nothing to do with it.
b. Please stop sending me pictures of your male relatives that you think look like Jamie.
c. Please stop sending me photos of yourself, even if you’re _sure_ you look just like Claire.
d. _Really_ stop sending me photos of that grotesque Irish wrestler with the clown hair.
e. Yes, Kevin McKidd, Gerard (not Gerald) Butler, Kate Winslet and Alex Kingston are all wonderful actors.
f. All these people are about twenty-five years TOO OLD to play any of the main characters in OUTLANDER.
g. Jamie is 22. Claire is 27.
h. Makeup and special effects do have limits.
c) No, I don’t know when the series will air.
i. The pilot script is still being written.
ii. The pilot script is not yet approved.
iii. If it is approved, STARZ might or might not agree to confirm the whole series or they might shoot the pilot first; we don’t know.
iv. When I _do_ know, I’ll tell you.
d) Ron D. Moore is the developer, writer, and show-runner for the OUTLANDER cable-TV series.
i. Yes, I like him.
ii. He came out to my house and spent a whole weekend with me, talking over the books, characters, etc.
iii. I believe him when he says he cares about doing a faithful (but effective) adaptation.
iv. I liked his ideas and suggestions.
v. Yes, I’ve seen the outline for the (projected) first season.
vi. Yes, I think it’s good.
vii. No, I haven’t seen the pilot script. But
e) IF the series does get produced, I can pretty much guarantee that it will have a lot of sex in it.
i. If you are one of the readers who reads the books with a black marker in hand in order to cross out naughty words and scenes of intimacy, you might want to make plans to watch something else.
2. MOBY. Aka WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD. Aka Book 8 of the Main (Big Book) Series. Aka Yes, it’s about Jamie and Claire. (My Own Heart’s Blood = MOHB = MOH-B = MOBY. Geddit?) Also, it’s probably going to be fairly large. (Precedent, you know?)
a) No, it isn’t on bookshelves today, even though it –is- now 2013.
b) No, it won’t be on sale this month, either.
c) BECAUSE I’M STILL WRITING IT, THAT’S WHY.
d) Yes, it _will_ (God willing and the creek don’t rise) be published this year.
e) In the Fall, OK?
f) I live in the Northern Hemisphere. I mean MY Fall. All y’all Australians and Kiwis are smart people; I have complete confidence that you can make the mental adjustment.
f) No, I don’t have a pub date.
g) The publisher sets the pub date.
h) The publisher certainly wouldn’t set a pub date without some reasonable expectation of having a manuscript in hand by said date.
i) They don’t have a manuscript in hand yet.
j) BECAUSE I’M STILL WRITING IT, THAT’S WHY.
m) No, I can’t tell you that I will be finished writing it on X date.
n) Because it doesn’t work like that.
o) And for heaven’s sake, what possible difference could it make? (Talk about OCD…)
3. Other Stuff.
a) Novellas. There are several novellas, dealing with secondary characters from the main series. Most of these were originally written for various anthologies, but as I get the reprint rights back, are now being made available as print collections and/or standalone ebooks.
b) Which form you, personally, can get hold of easily depends where you live. Printing rights are sold and managed on a geographical basis: i.e., print rights are sold _separately_ in the US and in other English-speaking countries. In practice, it usually works out that the US and Canada have the same rights and timing, while the UK/Australia/NewZealand group of countries may have something different.
c) Now, I do urgently need to go back to writing MOBY, so I’m not writing up all the ghastly details of where/when/what about the novellas AGAIN. I’ve done it on Facebook and on my website, _and_ as a special “extra” for the UK edition of THE SCOTTISH PRISONER. You can find the complete (mind-numbing) explanation on www.DianaGabaldon.com later this week. However—
d) IF you live in the US, you can get “The Custom of the Army” as a standalone (i.e., cheap
http://tinyurl.com/CustomArmy
and likewise “A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows,” which is the story of Roger MacKenzie’s parents in WWII.
http://tinyurl.com/LeafHallows
e) IF you live in the UK/Australia/NewZealand end of things (OR you want to go to the expense of getting an imported book), you can get A TRAIL OF FIRE, which is a print volume containing both the novellas noted above, plus two others: “Plague of Zombies,” and “The Space Between” (which deals with Michael Murray, Joan MacKimmie, the Comte St. Germain, and Mother Hildegarde, among others).
f) “The Space Between” _will be_ released in the US/Canada market IN AN ANTHOLOGY (that means you should look up the title OF THE ANTHOLOGY on Amazon.com/ca, not the title of the story) in February of This Year. Right soon now. The ANTHOLOGY is called THE MAD SCIENTIST’S GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION. (I’ll be doing an appearance to sign this—and anything else anybody wants signed—on Feb. 20th, at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, along with John Joseph Adams, the editor of the anthology.)
g) For information on getting autographed copies of any of my books, see
http://bit.ly/DianaGabaldonAutographed
THANKS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!