MANY thanks to the Lowell Observatory (in Flagstaff, Arizona) for including me in their wonderful “I (heart) Pluto” Festival this weekend!

Everyone had a wonderful time, including State Representative Justin Wilmoth, who is introducing a bill to the Legislature declaring that “Pluto is the State Planet of Arizona.” (As the Representative noted in his remarks, “No other state has discovered a planet!”)

(Yes, we know that Pluto is dismissed as a “planetoid” by the uninformed; (most of) the good people of Flagstaff decline to accept that designation.)

The text and image below shows (most of) the certificate the Observatory folks gave me, commemorating their naming one of “their” (as in, they discovered and registered it) asteroids after me. Quite an honor!

(28890) Gabaldon = 2000 KY65
Discovery: 2000-05-27 / LONEOS / Anderson Mesa / 699

Diana J. Gabaldon (b. 1952) is an American author. After earning a PhD in behavioral ecology and working as a university professor, she became a full time writer and is known for her bestselling Outlander series of novels. Her great-grandfather, Stanley Sykes, built the telescope used to discover Pluto.

(Text above about asteroid 28890 Gabaldon is from IAU’s WGSBN Bulletin, Volume 4, No. 2, released on Feb. 5, 2024.)

Click on the illustration above to view a larger version. Credit: Lowell Observatory.

More About Asteroid 28890 Gabaldon

28890 Gabaldon is an asteroid which orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it takes 4.34 Earth years for it to orbit the Sun. Its distance from the Sun is about 2.5 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth. The first diagram below shows a plot of asteroid Gabaldon looking down at an angle on the plane of the Solar System:

Click on the images above and below to view an enlarged version.

The orbit of the asteroid is tilted in respect to the plane of the Solar System. Below is a plot looking at the Solar System’s major planets and asteroid Gabaldon from the “side”:

In the two diagrams above, the numerous objects in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are not shown. Credit: IAU Minor Planet Center (MPC).

Stanley Sykes Interview

Not to bore everybody with my family history, but this is kind of neat: there’s a voice recording of a 16-minute interview with my great-grandfather, Stanley Sykes, made by a researcher for a collection at Northern Arizona University. The recording is dated 1949, so the sound quality isn’t crystal-clear, but it’s pretty good. He’s telling about his arrival in Flagstaff (from England—that side of the family is from Yorkshire) in 1886, and what happened thereafter….

https://archive.library.nau.edu/digital/collection/cpa/id/24638/

In 1928-1929, Stanley Sykes designed and built the telescope which astronomer Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto, a magnificent scientific achievement. Almost a hundred years old now, the Pluto-discovery telescope is still in operation, and you may visit it at Lowell Observatory. More about the Lawrence Lowell 13-inch telescope.

Notes on Naming Minor Planets

The person or persons who discover a new minor planet in the solar system are given the privilege of naming it. It was members of the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search project who discovered this asteroid at their Anderson Mesa facility in northern Arizona. It usually takes years, even decades, to verify that an object is new and orbiting the Sun, and then to officially name it.

The Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN) is part of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and is responsible for assigning official names to minor planets and comets in our Solar System.

Do you like astronomy and the Solar System? Did you attend the I (heart) Pluto event on February 17? Are you looking forward to the total eclipse in the U.S.A. on April 8, 2024?

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Posted on February 20, 2024 10:53 AM 4 Comments

Well. First, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! I hope you all had plenty of chocolate, and a nice day filled with warm breezes and spring flowers!

Weirdly enough, today was also Ash Wednesday—some of you will likely have seen the occasional person going about their business with a smeary black thumbprint in the middle of their forehead; this is the application of ashes, which Catholics take as a sign of the beginning of Lent, a season of penitence and preparation for Easter.

The combination of Ash Wednesday (when Catholics commonly fast) and Valentine’s Day (when people commonly eat chocolate) is a trifle disconcerting.

I thought I’d offer you a small, non-food-related valentine, to mark the day:

A few days ago, a writer friend asked (in the LitForum) what to do about an excess of eyes. <g> She explained that she’d noticed, reading some of her work, that there seemed to be eyes and mouths all over the place — eyes narrowing, lips pressing together, etc. — and asked if there was a way of describing emotions without constantly having the characters grimacing or bugging their eyes out, etc. (I paraphrase…)

I think this may be a common concern, going by the sorts of examples people post. As it was, I’d just been reading through a chunk of Book Ten, and there was a passage of conversation in which—purely by accident; I didn’t write it for illustration <g> — the emotions and responses of the characters are apparent, but there is no description of their facial expressions.

So I thought I’d post it as a small writing exegesis. (You may have seen this, or bits of it, before; I post it here just as an example of technique.)

[Excerpt from BOOK TEN (Untitled) Copyright © 2024 Diana Gabaldon]

Rather to William’s surprise, Fraser appeared for departure clad in a faded kilt with a ragged hem, this worn with a hunting shirt shadowed with ancient blood-stains, and a belt from which depended an assortment of weaponry and a small goatskin bag whose purpose was a mystery. Tartan stockings and a cartridge box that hung from a strap over his shoulder completed the ensemble.

“Camouflage,” Fraser said with a shrug, answering William’s look.

“What?”

“Oh.” Fraser was evidently taken aback for a moment, and his face reflected an extraordinarily rapid series of uninterpretable thoughts. “It’s, ah… from the French, I think. Camouflet, ye ken that one?

“I don’t, no. What does it mean?”

“Aye, well— camouflet is a whiff of smoke that ye blow in someone’s face. Camouflage just means ye want folk not to notice what ye are or ask what ye’re up to.”

“And… that is camouflage, is it?” William asked skeptically, gesturing at Fraser’s kilt. “You look like a bandit.”

Fraser smiled.

“Aye. And what would ye do, if ye met a bandit on the road? Stop and ask him his business?”

“I take your point.”

As he spoke the words, he had a sudden odd qualm and a coldness down his jaw.

Fraser’s smile changed to a look of mild concern.

“What is it, lad, are ye taken queer?”

“I—no,” William said abruptly. “I’m fine. And what, may I ask, am I meant to be, if you’re a bandit? Your accomplice?”

“If necessary,” Fraser said, “but I suppose ye could be my prisoner, in case of need. There’s a bit o’ rope in my saddlebags.”

“Jesus,” William muttered, and Fraser laughed. The man was in bloody high spirits, for someone snatched away from hearth and home to go off on what anyone might legitimately call a crackbrained venture.

OK. See what’s going on? I’m showing you the emotional response each of the men has to the other, not describing the details of their expressions. (Not that there isn’t a place for things like, “… he said, narrowing his eyes,” or “she bit her lip and looked down, lest he see what she thought of what he’d just said.” But if you feel overwhelmed by body parts in your writing <g>, this is one simple technique for dealing with the problem.)

If William asks something “skeptically,” I don’t have to describe what his face is doing; you know. Ditto, “a look of mild concern” doesn’t need physical detail — you know what that looks like. It’s evocation, rather than explication. Hope this may be of help, sometime.

[Many thanks to Papa John’s, for their lovely heart-shaped pizza!]

Posted on February 15, 2024 4:32 AM 2 Comments

HAPPY 11th of January!

Aside from the (no doubt) universal rejoicing at the fact that it’s my birthday <cough>—Penguin Random House would like to announce a couple of Really Entertaining new items. To wit:

THE OUTLANDER COCKTAILS BOOK – I wasn’t sure what this would be like, but it’s really gorgeous; the photography is fabulous! (The editor emailed me in great excitement, saying, “The cover looks so great I want a drink, and it’s only 9 AM!!”)

I agree, and I really only drink wine…. well, and the occasional wee snort of whisky, for medicinal purposes…

Whether you enjoy cocktails yourself, entertain a lot, or just know people who might enjoy a drink called “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash” before dinner—this is the perfect followup to a Dry January.*

https://bit.ly/outlandercocktails

And what is the perfect thing to accompany a great cocktail? <think, think, think…> Why, OUTLANDER TRIVIA, of course! (I’m not saying you can’t play this game sober, but it might be even more entertaining after a round of inventive drinks, whether alcoholic or not (I believe OUTLANDER COCKTAILS does include some non-alcoholic treats, as well).)

https://bit.ly/outlandertriviagame

 * This is not (repeat NOT) messing with or insulting people who choose not to imbibe alcoholic beverages, for whatever reason. (I personally didn’t drink At All until I was forty. As it was, I started drinking because of Outlander, but that’s another story (which you’ll find in the Foreword to OUTLANDER COCKTAILS).)

Bliadhna mhath ùr! (“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” in Gaelic)

Arby’s Ears

A number of people have commented on Arby’s ears (as well they might…). My husband refers to them as the Very Large Array—this being a U.S. government installation of a quantity of linked radio telescopes (gigantic radio telescopes) that we pass whenever we go to New Mexico by the northern route, through Socorro.

If you don’t live in that neck of the woods, I figured y’all might not ever have heard of the VLA, and might be interested. It’s Deeply Surreal to come across on that deserted desert plain….

https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/vla/

“My shield and buckler…”

Today I also released a new excerpt for Book Ten, “My shield and buckler…”

These posts also appeared on my official Facebook page on Thursday, January 11, 2024.

If you like, please share your thoughts about this blog post by submitting a public web comment in the “Leave a Response” form below. Note that due to ever-present robotic web spam clogging up the works, my Webmistress or I have to go through and approve each comment individually to make sure it’s written by a human being. Spam filters don’t catch everything. So it will take time, sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a few days, for your comment to appear, unlike social media.

Posted on January 11, 2024 7:00 AM 5 Comments

Happy New Year to one and all!

‘Tis the season for new resolutions and perhaps the odd spot of bibulousness….

So it’s New Year’s Eve— a time to sit down and breathe, sip something to aid contemplation (be that hot tea or cold gin…) and let the peaceful night surround you. (Unless you’re a party animal, in which case I don’t need to suggest anything to you…) Do you look to the past and see what the last year has held—and what you did or thought about it? Or to the future, with hopes and dreams—and possibly a few more concrete plans?

My own list for the New Year is fairly short:

Take care of husband, family, dogs, friends, etc.

Prune deadwood from the four citrus trees that didn’t get done last winter. Fertilize ALL the citrus, as well as the ancient pomegranate tree out back (I did manage to saw all the dead limbs off that one over the last two or three months. Vide previous replies to questions about why we have an Enormous Dumpster (from a conversation on my official Facebook page)… we can’t burn outdoors inside the city limits, and only rarely indoors).

Pull out the big California laurel tree and VERY thorny ex-rose-bush that perished during the Hotspell from Hell last summer. (It stayed over 115 degrees EVERY DAY for nearly two months.) Contemplate what the heck to do with the ex-grapevines, which have grown through and pulled over the chunk of iron fence they’d been using to climb on before they became ex (died of old age, aided by heat-stroke). (I need either an ax or a small, maneuverable chain-saw… I’d just dig up the stumps, but I can’t get near enough to do so, as the collapsed/entangled fence is in the way.)

Work on Book Ten. (NO, it’s not going to be finished this coming year (let us not be ridiculous…), but I think we’ll get a good deal further. It’s in a good place.)

Finish writing first Prequel Novel. (These will be about the size of one of the Lord John novels; those, I can finish within 9-10 months, so we hope for the best.)

Consult on Prequel show.

Consult on Season Eight.

(Consulting basically means reading all the iterations (average 6-8) of each script, plus—when filming starts—watching the dailies.)

Write script for Prequel show.

Write script for Season Eight.

(FYI – writing a script takes me roughly three weeks (not counting revisions, which tend to be quick). Writing one of the Big Books takes a minimum of three years.)

Do public appearances (VERY limited this year!).

Make curtain (FINALLY) for kitchen in old family house (I’ve had the fabric for the last fifteen years… a print of tiny Highlanders and Redcoats on a white background).

So that’s me in 2024. <g> How about you?

(If you like, please share your plans and thoughts in a web comment below. Note that due to ever-present robotic web spam clogging up the works, my Webmistress or I have to go through and approve each comment to make sure it’s written by a human being. Spam filters don’t catch everything. So it takes time, sometimes a few few minutes, sometimes a few days, for your comment to appear, unlike Social Media.)

Posted on January 01, 2024 4:30 AM 47 Comments

It’s just after midnight, which means that it’s Christmas! Merry Christmas to everyone, whether for you it’s a religious celebration, a time of seasonal contemplation and renewal, or just a few days off work!

It’s a slightly anomalous Christmas, in that an hour ago, it was both the Fourth Sunday of Advent… and Christmas Eve! (Well, this is the sort of thing that will happen now and then when you go setting dates according to a lunar calendar…)

However, this holy trinity of dates does in fact have a common root: Love.

The fourth candle in an Advent calendar is often called the “Love” candle (following Hope, Peace and Joy), and for those of us who celebrate Christ;s Mass (i.e., Christians), what we’re celebrating is the advent of Love into a world of darkness.

My family has always gone to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, which means that (since it’s at midnight), it is in fact CHRISTMAS! I’ve always loved the dark and cold and mystery, snow falling through the street lights on the walk to church—and then the blaze of lights and candles in the church, with the smell and drifting smoke of frankincense, a memory of the distant land where the story began. (Loved going home at 1:30 AM to eat brownies with milk, and open ONE present before going to bed, too.)

Whether this story is your story, or only a story, we all share the deep need of Love, and I hope you will all join me in that moment where the peace of the night flowers into the joyful light of Love, and hope fulfilled.

Merry Christmas!

[Excerpt from OUTLANDER, Copyright © 1991 Diana Gabaldon]

And if there was eternity, or even the idea of it, then perhaps Anselm was right; all things were possible. And all love? I wondered. I had loved Frank; I still did. And I loved Jamie, more than my own life. But bound in the limits of time and flesh, I could not keep them both. Beyond, perhaps? Was there a place where time no longer existed, or where it stopped? Anselm thought so. A place where all things were possible. And none were necessary.

And was there love there? Beyond the limits of flesh and time, was all love possible? Was it necessary?

The voice of my thoughts seemed to be Uncle Lamb’s. My family, and all I knew of love as a child. A man who had never spoken love to me, who had never needed to, for I knew he loved me, as surely as I knew I lived. For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary. It is all. It is undying. And it is enough.

Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander: A Novel (OUTLANDER, Book 1) (p. 580). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Posted on December 25, 2023 12:27 AM 5 Comments