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 45 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

Today is the First Sunday of Advent. Like Lent, which comes before Easter, Advent is a time of preparation. But while Lent is a time for penance and reconciliation, Advent is a time of contemplation and growth. By prayer and good works, we make ready—ourselves and others—for the birth of Jesus and the renewal of the world. Like most religions, our feast of birth and new growth coincides with the physical turning of the world and the coming of light into the dark of winter. Happy Advent!

Like Lent, Advent is a journey—and when you set out on an important journey… you make preparations.

[Excerpt from Book Ten (Untitled); Copyright © 2023 Diana Gabaldon]

Rather to William’s surprise, Fraser appeared for departure clad in a faded plaid with a ragged edge, this worn with a hunting shirt shadowed with ancient bloodstains, and a belt from which depended an assortment of weaponry and a small goatskin bag whose purpose was a mystery. Homespun stockings and a cartridge box 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 taken for 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.

On the other hand, he reflected, maybe he’s glad to get away from his tenants…

Mother Claire appeared at this point, with several packages in her arms, and Frances behind her, similarly burdened.

“Food for the day,” Mother Claire said, handing her husband a cloth bag that smelled pleasantly of cheese, cold meat and dried fruit. “Food for tomorrow,” and she handed William a similar bag. “And after that, you’re on your own for nourishment.”

“What’s this?” William asked, as she handed him a cloth-wrapped bundle that didn’t smell of food.

“Bandages,” she replied succinctly, and handed him a small wooden box. “And medicines for diarrhea and constipation.”

“Ah. I’m sure those will be helpful,” he said, gingerly stuffing the medical items in his haversack.

“I really hope not,” she said, giving him a bleak look. “But I’ve known your father far too long to have illusions.”

“What about drink?” Fraser interrupted, with what even William could see was mock innocence.

“Just here,” Frances said, with modest triumph, and handed over two similar bags, these clinking and sloshing as they moved. She met William’s eye with a tranquil face—no trace of what had happened in the stable half an hour before.

The qualm fluttered through him once again, but this time he knew what it was. Jane. Standing just behind his shoulder.

“I take your point,” he’d said to her, once.

“Well, that’s a novelty,” she’d replied. “It’s usually the other way round.”

“Goodbye, Frances,” he said abruptly, and turned to mount his horse, consciously not looking as Fraser took farewell of his wife.

[end section]

Click to visit my Book Ten webpage for information on this book, and to read more excerpts from it.

Photo is by me, Diana.

This excerpt and introduction was also posted on Sunday, December 3, 2023 on my official Facebook page.

This excerpt was also posted with the temporary title “Camouflage” on Monday, September 20, 2023. And also on my official Facebook page.

Posted on December 03, 2023 12:45 AM 2 Comments

Well…

A brand-new Outlander coloring book is available now. The Outlander Coloring Book, Volume 2 features forty-five all-new illustrations. The thrilling world of Outlander awaits! (Publisher’s hyperbole, you know…?)

ANYway…The Outlander Coloring Book, Volume 2 is indeed out today, and available pretty much everywhere. ALL the buy-links from various retailers are available on the publisher’s page for this book:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725652/the-official-outlander-coloring-book-volume-2-by-diana-gabaldon/

Publisher’s Description (Volume 2):

Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed series is brought to life in this spectacular coloring book featuring forty-five all-new illustrations. The thrilling world of Outlander awaits!

From the bustling market streets of Paris to the resplendent court of Versailles, through secret passageways into forbidden apothecaries and onto battlefields to fight for freedom, the colorful world of Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser is now yours to explore. Featuring gorgeous natural landscapes of Scotland and France, detailed drawings of royal court fashion, and heartwarming scenes from Jamie and Claire’s epic love story from renowned illustrators Ana Jaren, Ben Perini, Cat Willett, Matthew Land, Mélanie Delon, and Monika Roe, this official Outlander coloring book will welcome you back into the beloved series with open arms and plenty to drink.

The Official Outlander Coloring Book, Volume 1

The beautiful first volume of the Official Outlander Coloring Book was first published on October 27, 2015, and features forty-five illustrations to color. It is still available for purchase.

ALL the buy-links from various retailers are available on the publisher’s page for the original coloring book, also:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535337/the-official-outlander-coloring-book-by-diana-gabaldon/

Publisher’s description (Volume 1):

The world of Outlander awaits!

From the lush green of the Scottish Highlands to the military red of a British soldier’s coat or the vibrant hues of a tartan kilt, the colorful world of Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser is now yours to explore. Featuring gorgeous natural landscapes, detailed drawings of Claire’s medicinal herbs, depictions of the books’ most beloved scenes and characters, and intricately rendered clothing, weapons, and armor straight out of eighteenth-century Scotland, these exquisite black-and-white images—from renowned illustrators Juan Alarc&oacute:n, Yvonne Gilbert, Craig Phillips, Jon Proctor, Tomislav Tominć, and Rebecca Zomchek—are designed to dazzle and inspire. Fans of the series, as well as lovers of history and art, can party like it’s 1743.

Pull out your colored pencils, markers or watercolor paints! My webmistress, Loretta, loves these. She was introduced to coloring books for adults over a decade ago. Both creative and good stress reliever, she says, plus “you get to choose your own colors for everything in the Outlander universe.” <g>

Enjoy! And drop me a line in the web comments below. Remember that web comments are public and are moderated.

-Diana

P.S. Should you happen to want a signed copy, either of #1 or #2, I was just by the Poisoned Pen a couple of days ago, and signed at least a hundred copies of Volume 2, plus a few of Volume 1 they had on hand.

https://store.poisonedpen.com/browse/diana-gabaldon

Posted on October 17, 2023 9:16 PM 2 Comments

Just to pass the time—for those interested, here’s the video of my talk at American Revolution Museum at Yorktown last month:

https://vimeo.com/868319035

(as you can no doubt tell from my appearance, it was a Very Warm evening and there were 400 people in a smallish space…)

More about the American Revolution Museum…

Surrey Conference and Local Signing

Well, it’s October…which means that the Surrey International Writers Conference is coming Right Up…

This is the only conference that I do every year—this will be my 32nd, I think… (This is Surrey, British Columbia (i.e., Canada) we’re talking about, btw—not the one in England.) See my appearances page for more information.

And while it may be a bit late to come to the conference this year, there will be a special Reading and Signing event that’s connected to the conference, but open to the public. Here’s the announcement from the conference coordinator:

Hello!

If you’re not attending an SiWC Thursday evening master class on October 19, we have something wonderful for your calendar: a reading and signing event hosted by our independent bookstore, Western Sky Books, in partnership with The Royal City Literary Arts Society. Come hear and get your books signed by Diana Gabaldon, Sonali Dev, and Renee Sarojini Saklikar from 7-9 p.m. on October 19 at the Community Art Space at Unit 103-78 10th Street, Columbia Plaza Square, New Westminster.

Posted on October 09, 2023 8:20 AM No Comments

Phew… is what’s on my mind…

VERY quick trip to a smoky New York five days ago for the Season 7 Premiere of Outlander! (Though we did fit in a quick visit to the Met…)

Wonderful to see everyone, and a Real Thrill to watch Episode 1 with a theater of Hugely Enthusiastic fans!

I’m sure y’all will be equally delighted to see it, too! Do let me know what you think!

Yes, I am short.

-Diana

Outlander, Season 7

“In order to protect what they’ve built, the Frasers have to navigate the Revolutionary War. They learn that sometimes to defend what you love, you have to leave it behind.”

The first episode of Season 7 of Outlander is available from Starz in the U.S.A. through streaming online, the Starz app, or the Starz cable network.

The new season is also available on cable networks and streaming services around the world. (See below.)

Season 7 begins with episode 701, ‘A Life Well Lost,’, in which “Jamie races towards Wilmington to rescue Claire from the gallows, only to discover that the American Revolution has well and truly reached North Carolina.”

Click to watch the Season 7 trailer on Youtube, released a few months ago.

In the U.S.A. – Starz Network and Streaming:

Season 7 consists of sixteen episodes, with the the premiere released today on the Starz website and streaming app at midnight (Eastern time) in the U.S.A. The next seven episodes of the first half of Season 7 will be released each Friday in the weeks after on the Starz website or app for streaming at the same time.

On the Starz cable channel, the first episode will premiere today at 5 p.m. Pacific Time (8 p.m. Eastern Time).  The next seven episodes of the first half of Season 7 will be shown each Friday in the weeks after on the Starz cable channel at the same time.

The second half of Season 7, another eight episodes, will be shown in 2024 in the U.S.A., with a release date to be determined.

For those who are new to the Outlander tv series, Seasons 1 through 6 are available for streaming on the Starz website and app.

Seasons 1-5 of Outlander are apparently available to stream on Netflix, also. A new season of Outlander is usually released on Netflix two years after the finale episode airs on Starz in the U.S.A.. So Season 7 may be available to stream on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Global Release of Outlander, Season 7

For viewers outside the U.S.A., please check with your local cable network and streaming services for all options, which differ from country to country (much like book publishing!). Below is information that has been announced for some countries for Outlander Season 7 by a CNET article:

Canada – W Network. Season 7 will premiere on Sunday, June 18, at 9 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific times).

United Kingdom – Lionsgate Plus. Streaming service Lionsgate Plus has the rights to show Outlander Season 7 exclusively in the U.K.. Like the U.S.A., the new season premiere will be released on Friday, June 16, with new episodes being added once per week. Lionsgate Plus is also available as a channel add-on for Amazon Prime Video in the U.K.

Australia – Foxtel and Binge. Outlander season 7 debuts Fox One on Saturday, June 17, at 7:30 p.m. (AEST). If you don’t have a cable package that carries Fox One, an alternative option is the streaming service Binge, which will have the new season on demand.

Countries including Belgium, France, India, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, Poland, South Korea, and Singapore will have access to weekly episodes of Outlander Season 7 on Netflix alongside its release on Starz in the U.S.A. (above), as was done with Season 6.

Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, and Sweden will have access to Season 7 on Netflix one year after its premiere on Starz, likely a June, 2024 release.

CNET’s article also mentions the use of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) for streaming the new season, but that’s only for the very tech savvy to attempt, IMHO. <g>

The Outlander television series is produced by Starz, Sony, and Tall Ship Productions.

Information on the premiere and release dates outside the U.S.A. are thanks to CNET and Collider articles.

Posted on June 16, 2023 12:00 AM 27 Comments

Sorry to be MIA—we went to New Orleans for several days (just for fun, weirdly enough <g>—ate, slept, walked around looking at interesting things and listening to great music) and I didn’t take my laptop with me.

I did get a bit of work done, though, in the middle of the nights (the ones where I woke up in time…):

I don’t think anything in this excerpt constitutes a spoiler, but it is from Book Ten.

[Excerpt from UNTITLED BOOK TEN. Copyright © 2023 Diana Gabaldon.]

I uncurled the tiny fist to check again. I’d caught only a glimpse, but… By reflex, I turned my left hand up and glanced at my own palm. It was a maze of wandering lines: head, heart, life, love, fate—and dozens more caused by the daily wear of age and work. A net to catch an unknown future.

But the twitching little starfish in my right hand was almost a blank slate, save for a single smooth, deep line across the upper palm. Only one. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis called it a simian crease.

The little fingers curled again, gripping my index finger. Weak, but definitely a grasping reflex. The birth had been easy—it was Mhairi MacDonald’ eighth labor, but things could go wrong with any birth. Apgar scores were on the low side, but tolerable—with the exception of some of the other reflexes; I couldn’t get a Babinski reflex at all—and the muscle tone overall, which was… the baby gave a sort of floppy, convulsive movement that nearly spilled her off my lap and made a grunting squeak that wasn’t quite a cry.

“Shh, sweetheart, I’ve got you… don’t worry, everything will be fine…” I picked her up and cuddled her—small, but warm and solid, wrapped in her older brother’s shirt, for lack of a blanket—against my shoulder and glanced at the mother, a cold, heavy feeling in my chest.

I knew. Had known by the time I’d started swabbing the little body with oil. Not all the signs were there, but… enough. The flattened nose, the unusual space between the big toe and the second toe… What could I—what should I tell them?

Old Mrs. MacDonald was helping her daughter, kneading her flaccid belly with a firm but kindly touch, whispering what I thought was a blessing in Gaidhlig. Mhairi lay on her sweat-soaked pillow, breathing slowly, eyes half-shut, making little grunts that sounded not unlike her new daughter’s.

Maybe I shouldn’t say anything …specific. “Down’s Syndrome” would mean nothing to anyone in this time, let alone “Trisomy of Chromosome 21”. There was no telling how much cognitive impairment there might be; perhaps only a little, perhaps it wouldn’t be very noticeable. And in this time, when girls largely worked in house and field and took care of children, it mightn’t matter that much; maybe she could function well enough in the bosom of her family.

If she could nurse. If she couldn’t, she likely wouldn’t live long. Her mouth was slightly open, filled by a large, protrusive tongue. I laid her on my lap again and stroked her cheek lightly. Her ears were still pink and slightly crumpled from birth, but looked normal, though small. Her eyes looked somewhat slanted, but were still tight closed, lashes invisible, but she turned her head at once at my touch, snuffling.

Rooting reflex. Check.

“Good,” I whispered. “Can you suck, sweetheart?”

My hands weren’t clean enough for me to consider sticking a finger in her mouth to try. We’d have to wait and see. I glanced over at the bed, half-hidden in darkness. Mrs. MacDonald was still kneading, but her head was raised and she was looking at me as she worked, a deep crease between her brows. Her mouth was pressed tight, but it dawned on me that neither I nor the child was her immediate concern.

“What is the word for a placenta in Gaidhlig?” I asked, rising to my feet with the baby. Mrs. MacDonald blinked and knuckled away a bead of perspiration running down her cheek. The door and window were closed to keep out flies drawn to the scent of blood, so there was a fire to provide light and hot water, and all of us—except the baby—were sweating in the moving shadows.

She shrugged. “There’s some as says “birth-cake’. That’s breith-cèic.” She glanced down at her working hands. “Whatever ye choose to call it, this one’s no lettin’ go.” There was a note of strain in her voice, though her gnarled old hands kept up a steady kneading.

“I have something that might help,” I offered. I’d brought my birthing kit along in a cloth bag. The bag didn’t have everything, but it did have dried raspberry leaves. A strong tea aided labor; it might—I hoped—dislodge an uncooperative placenta. I would have put the child to Mhairi’s breast to suckle, but given my doubts… best start with the tea.

Mrs. MacDonald hesitated for a moment, hands stilled and brows knit. Old Mrs. MacDonald thinks you’re a witch, Fanny had told me. But it doesn’t matter, because Mr. MacDonald is afraid of Mr. Fraser. She stared at me, eyes narrowed, but then glanced down at her gasping daughter, and gave in.

“Gie’ me the wean and do what ye can,” she said abruptly.

Click to visit my Book Ten webpage for information on this book, and to read more excerpts from it.

This excerpt was posted on my official Facebook page on March 11, 2023.

Posted on March 11, 2023 11:51 PM 13 Comments