Friday, October 15, 2010

Traveling with 'Outlander' author Diana Gabaldon

Great article from the Charleston Gazette. I am so conflicted. On the one hand, I'm like "Yes, Diana, go home and WRITE!!!" and on the other, I'm thinking "I can listen as long as you can talk!"

Talk about a great college professor. She must have been so much fun in class.


  1. Great article, but I do have one question:

    "The book's subsequent sequels, spin-offs and companion books, now numbering over 20 volumes"

    Over 20 volumes?! What am I missing? I count 15 (7 books, 6 LJ novellas, 1 companion book, Exile). Am I missing something, or am I just a really bad fan?

  2. That had me scratching my head, too (tho the article was pretty good). Maybe they're counting the upcoming stuff? Or maybe it was just written by the NY Times guy who called Claire a "Scottish heroine."

    Sigh. Remember the days when fact-checking happened in newsrooms and editorial offices across the country????

  3. She sure doesn't look 58 to me!

  4. Deda: Understatement of the year. In person, her skin is flawless--she looks nowhere near 58. Seriously, I need the number of her dermatologist and a bottle of whatever skin cream and sun block she uses.

    LOL--She needs to write a book with tips for staying so young looking. Right after Book 8, "Claire's Natural Herbal Remedies," and "Dr. Gabaldon's Book of Time Management."

  5. I wish she would just go to a deserted island and write!!!!! (since she's not touring anywhere near me!)

  6. Hey Tracey and Carol!

    I'm picking Diana up at her hotel tomorrow afternoon and we're running around in my hometown of Charleston, WV--dinner and whatever else we can find to get into.

    I don't know how you gals feel about updates and stuff like this. Barbara Schnell, Diana's German translator and long-time friend, used to post updates from when Diana was on tour in Germany. They were always in the vein of, "Aren't you jealous, I have Diana at my house and you don't!" I would never post anything that sounded even remotely like that 'cause her posts generally pissed me off. But, if you guys would like me to keep you updated over the course of the weekend, like you gals did for Comic Con, I'd be happy to do that via Twitter.

    Of course I will be uploading videos early next week as well.

    Let me know what to do...


  7. Nikki--I would looooooooove updates thruout the weekend! I'll be around so I can respond/retweet at will. Carol, you're home this weekend too, right?

    And have TONS of fun with DG this weekend!!

  8. Okay, I'll let you know when I pick her up tomorrow.

  9. Nikki -

    I emailed you about this but a) YOU ROCK and b) we'd love any little crumb you want to throw our way!! :)

    Have an amazing time with "Herself" and we canna wait to hear all about it!


  10. Aunt Helen called with her report on Voyager. She is only 85 years old – sorry I misrepresented her age

    1. (first thing out of her mouth) I have misplaced Furgus’ wife? I haven’t been able to figure out where she is. (I assured her that she would find out)

    2. I started this book and wondered where was the story was going if Claire didn’t go back. I wanted that Jamie back in the book.

    3. Poor Jamie, being in prison was worse than anything. (Then she went on about the bad conditions in prisons from that era, she knows a lot about history)

    4. Then she talked about what happened after Culloden – what the British did to the people and about a mini ice age that hurt the crops.

    5. It is hard to know how to judge Frank; sometimes I think they (he and Claire) had a decent married life.

    6. Why didn’t Claire take more back with her? I would have made a coat with pockets all inside it and filled them up. I would have taken more pictures of things back too.

    7. I thought it would take forever for Claire to find Jamie after she went back but no; he was just standing right there in the shop.

    8. I question the time-line and the ages of Leghair. It doesn’t seem like she is the right age in this book.

    9. I was surprised Jenny fixed Jamie up with Leghair. If I had been Clair I would have told Jamie about Leghair.

    10. Campbell was a real slime ball. He sounded like Jack the Ripper.

    11. I was surprised John was gay.

    12. ( At the governor’s ball) I really wanted to see Jamie all dressed up in his high heels. I liked that picture in my mind. No wonder all the women have a thing for him (pause) and the men too.

    13. Geillis really turned out to be a really bad person; she is like a black widow spider.

    14. It is a good thing Jamie let Ian go with that prostitute because it saved him from whatever rights Geillis was going to put him through.

    15. Geillis must have been really crazy with syphilis. (Then she told me about when she was in college taking a psyc class. She went on a field trip to a VD ward and they let the college students roam around with the patients. And that some of the other patients were in for epilepsy or hyperactivity.)

    16. She (DG) is really getting rid of the villains in this story; she must need room for some new ones.

    17. She (DG) is a good story teller.

    18. When Jamie locked the British Solders in the hold of the ship, what happened to them? I don’t remember them getting out.

    19. (Laughing) After the hurricane, and all the other things they went thru they happen to wash up next to a nice house with people in it.

  11. L:
    1. Seriously, you have to post that on CompuServe so HERSELF will see it. It. Is. Awesome.

    2. I want to do a Skype video with L and Aunt Helen.

    3. Carol, we are totally making PattzR (aka our mom) read Outlander. I am now officially dying to see what she'd say about it.

  12. Oh My God. Tracey and I were so created and cooked in the same womb. My first thought about Aunt Helen's Voyager commentary? "I would do anything... ANYTHING... to get a video of this awesome woman on the blog". She's like a stately, more refined version of that woman they show on Letterman or Leno who answers questions about sex. Oh my GOD I LOVE HER!

    Now - as for PattzR reading Outlander. Hmmm. Double hmmm. She'd like it. I know she would. And she'd have some really amusing commentary, I'm sure. But getting her to read it... that's the rough part. Tracey, you'd almost do better printing out the first chapter and giving it to her so as not to scare her with the size of it. Then - once she's hooked - you give her the book.

    What say you?

  13. PS - I don't think "Herself" is 58. I think it's a big, fat lie. She's just been time traveling but she canna tell that to the world, lest they think she's a nutjob. I'm placing her somewhere around 42.

    And doesn't it give you such a warm feeling in your wame that there is actually a real, live person who is 58 years old and looks so young and seems to have such vitality? And who does that make you think of??


  14. My husband always asks why I take notes when I talk to Aunt Helen :)

    I will ask if her son, my cousin, has skipe - he might. He is an airline pilot and when we went to Scotland she was up in first class and I was crammed into coach.

    Carol, you say you stayed at Invergarry castle? We did, it was the best food I have ever had.

  15. Carol--I don't know re: PattzR. It's a long shot--what was the last thing she read? (Other than the latest issue of Cooking With Paula Deen,) And don't forget that the first chapter of Outlander is less than compelling. I almost want to skip directly to Claire in the 18th century and just fill her in on the Frank stuff. But maybe we'll work on her...

  16. We went to Inveraray Castle in Argyle.

    It was awesome. But we didn't stay; we were staying with family in Paisley. WHAT a trip. Dunoon... Loch Fyne... Loch Lomond...

    MUST. GET. BACK!!!

  17. Different castle, we stayed here

    Do you have any relatives who would want to drive some Americans around for a week? My neighbors plan to go next summer and would like a driver.


    This tour (July 30) says it includes dinner with DG at Culloden house. MOP ROAD TRIP!

  19. Tracey - I think it's the opposite. Dinna forget; PattzR is from that time period. I think she'd find the 1940s stuff enchanting (totes stole that tremendous-yet-underused word from Herself). It's the 18th century stuff she might get a little antsy about.

  20. L - all my husband's cousins work. I bet you could find someone online though. He went to Ireland a couple years ago on a golfing trip... and he and his friends arranged a driver for the week.

  21. Love Aunt Helen! I have two cousins and a friend that have read the series but none are lunatic about it like I am. I need an outlander compadre here in Scottsdale. Have to find out where Diana gets her facials so I can go...and what face products she uses too. It's probably genetic though. The MacIntyre's are from Argyle. I neeeeed to go there.

  22. Oh, I guess I am sanderson11 here. I am mymacintyre on chat night. Are you having beautiful fall weather out there? It's still in the 90's here. I dream about fall in the mountains of NC. I would love to go to the Highland Games on Grandfather Mountain.

  23. I am reading a suggestion from DG's Methadone List - the Liam Campbell mysteries. Yesterday, I came upon a reference to the Fiery Cross in Better to Rest (the 4th in the LC series). All you Outlander nuts probably already knew this, but just in case, I thought I would share. And they are well worth the read, too. Liam is pretty studly in a Jamie-esque way and I think I might actually like the female "lead" more than Claire.

  24. hey all!

    As someone also born in the early 1952, 58 isn't exactly dead yet, but DG does have nice skin (find out how, PLEASE!).

    DG is included in some anthologies, thereby the 20 books, etc.

    Watched a few minutes of "Goldfinger" last night, and OMG but the young (1962?) Sean Connery would certainly be a good JF! Maybe Sean has a grandson? -Julie

  25. Enjoy your blog! I didn't realize that you were sisters - how nice.

    I discovered the books just after ABOSAA came out. They were recommended to me a few times, but the time travel aspect didn't interest me so I put off reading them. Glad I did because I can't imagine waiting for every book. With all the touring she does now because she's such a popular author, we'll be lucky to get one every 5 years!

    I read the Liam Campbell series also and enjoyed it. Another nice fix while waiting is the BBC show "Monarch Glen". You can get it on Netflix. The scenery is gorgeous - the accents, the castles, references to "himself" reminded me of the books. Campy, but fun.

  26. oh LOVE the return of Aunt Helen! I love her studied pauses. She's such a wise woman! There should be an iPhone app - What would Aunt Helen say? - or something like that!

    And, I am with you guys on wishing we could spirit DG away so she could just write herself silly. But, I will definitely be following Nikki on twitter this weekend to get DG updates since I wilna be able to go to Charleston in person! I LOVE it.

    When you guys find out DG's skin care secrets, please do share. I would read Books 1-8 in that series as well.

  27. Thanks Deb C! I keep forgetting to rent that BBC show!!! Thanks for reminding me!


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