Diana Gabaldon is the New York Times best-selling author of the Outlander series, which tells the story of Jamie Fraser, a Scottish Highlander from the 18th century, and his time-traveling wife, Claire. The latest book in the series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, is on bookshelves now. ...More Biographical Information

Diana’s Blog

Diana’s Blog at Panalba

23 April 2009

Radio Interview - April 24th
As part of the promotion for the Alachua County Library Gala that I’ll be doing in Gainesville on May 17th, I’ll be doing a half-hour interview on Hank Conner’s “Conner Calling” radio show this Friday, April 24.

It’ll be a live interview, at 1 PM (EDT), on WUFT/WJUF FM. If you have an internet connection (and we certainly hope you do, if you’re reading this), you can listen at http://www.wuftfm.org. (I’m told that questions can be phone in or submitted by email, but I don’t have details on that. You might check the WUFT site.) Here also is the homepage for Conner’s show:

http://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/hconner/conner_calling_schedule.htm

This page apparently also has recordings of previous interviews, so you may be able to listen to mine ex post facto, [g] if you’re busy at 1 PM Friday.

Yes Thanks, the Final Frenzy is Proceeding as Expected
(With Notes on Appearances in Michigan and New York, and Book Tours Down Under)

“Final Frenzy” is how I describe the last few months of a book’s writing. I have immense amounts written, know Almost Everything—and am horrified at how many holes there still are to be filled (you were wondering why the books are long? Because they need to be. Why else? [g])-but everything does in fact get done, even though I personally am doing nothing much aside from writing. Minimal eating and sleeping, though the fact that I recently acquired a second young dachshund insures that I’m getting enough exercise. I got Homer on New Year’s Day, and have just acquired his brother JJ (who was destined for stardom as a show-dog, but unfortunately—or not, depending how you look at it—turned out to be slightly too small). There are Dachshund Races through the house six or seven times a day, interspersed by a sort of mobile Tae Kwon Do tournament, as The Boys tackle each other with earth-shaking thuds, throw each other through the air, and try out all their best badger-killing moves. It’s a wonder either one of them still has an ear attached to his head.

But I digress (yes, actually, that is why the books are so long; I like digressions). We do indeed have a pub date (September 22, in the US, Canada, and doubtless a few other places; November in Germany (no date yet)), which we are all looking forward to, and a bit more information on book-touring, to wit:

Orion Publishing, my UK publisher, has asked me to go to New Zealand and Australia, which I’m happy to do. I don’t yet have dates to match to cities, but I’m leaving Oct. 31st, arriving in Auckland Nov. 1, and will be doing appearances/signings in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, before zipping off to Australia on the 7th, for two weeks. In Australia, we have a much more ambitious schedule than on previous visits. I’ll be in (no particular order here): Perth, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. See y’all there!

Now, one of the things that aggravates the Final Frenzy stage a bit is that all of the expectant publishers naturally need to begin planning their promotions and schedules now, in spite of the fact that I am still writing the book. This means that I have to stop every other day or so in order to do an interview, answer emails asking if I can appear here or there, make arrangements for traveling to the various heres and theres I’ve already agreed to, say no to the several dozen kind invitations that I unfortunately can’t accept, and engage in the odd bit of Unusual Correspondence.

Under this last heading comes Sheffield-Hallam University. Not that they are particularly odd in themselves, I don’t think—but they did pop up last week with an unexpected invitation. Now, I’m Hispanic on my father’s side-hence the last name; it’s my name, btw, not my husband’s (I don’t really mind people calling me “Mrs. Gabaldon” as a sign of respect, but if you really insist on that degree of formality, it’s actually [cough] Dr. Gabaldon. Most folk just call me Diana, and you’re certainly welcome to, as well)—but mostly straight English (with one strange Swiss/German branch of mercenaries) on my mother’s side, and among my great-great-grandparents was one Godfrey Sykes. (You’d think one would be enough, but nooo….“Godfrey” is an old family name, and there’s been one in almost every generation for some seven hundred years, so far as I can tell.)

Anyway, this particular Godfrey Sykes was a Royal Artist during Queen Victoria’s time, and particularly well-known for his architectural friezes and elements. He had a long-standing association with Sheffield-Hallam University, and they’ve decided to hold an exhibition of some of his work this year, with an affiliated lecture program, featuring various person of differing degrees of celebrity. Well, they’d cleverly ferreted me out of the woodwork, and asked if I’d come do one such lecture. I said I’d love to, but explained that I couldn’t engage to do anything between early September and the end of November, what with the usual sort of bedlam that happens when a new book comes out.

They kindly said that actually, December would suit them very well, and so we’re going to talk about it when I meet them in Edinburgh at the Gathering at the end of July (see Tours page). Meanwhile, a nice playwright/composer also popped up to invite meto his current musical—in Edinburgh—with an eye to discussions regarding the feasibility of doing a musical stage production of Outlander (the mind boggles, and NO, there aren’t any “plans” to do such a thing. He just wants to talk to me about it.). But whatImeantosay is, this is the sort of thing that happens All the Time around here, and fascinating as it is, it does cut into the available frenzying time. Still, can’t complain. [g]

Anyway, a final Note regarding my appearance at the Word Wise library event in Jackson, Michigan next month. This will be May 8th and 9th, at the Carnegie Library—and while there are details on the “Tours” page, the organizers have also kindly sent me along their official brochure and New Improved website for the event. Here is the brochure, and here isthe website is here: www.myjdl.com

Oh, not quite final, after all, I was forgetting BEA. This is Book Expo America (I think that’s what it stands for) and it’s the giant trade show in the US for booksellers and publishers. It’s being held in New York this year, and seeing as I have a book coming out in the fall, the US publisher asked me to a) select excerpts for an exclusive giveaway booklet (“exclusive” means the excerpts haven’t been posted here), and b) come for a day to address a lot of librarians as a special breakfast and then c) sign said booklets in their booth at the BEA. It isn’t that the BEA isn’t open to the public—here’s their website-- http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/ - but it is a trade show for the book world, and admission is probably rather expensive. If you happen to be connected with the book world, though, and will be at the Expo—come by the Random House booth between 10 and 11 AM on May 29th and say hi! (No, I’m sorry, I’m not doing a public signing in New York. The new book won’t be out yet, and I do have to keep writing it here…)

22 March 2009

YES, we do have a pub date!!

An Echo in the Bone will be published (always assuming that I finish writing the dang thing one of these days Right Soon Now) on September 22, 2009! Or at least that’s what Random House says in their catalog copy (see below).

“The eagerly anticipated seventh novel in Diana Gabaldon’s worldwide bestselling Outlander saga (seventeen million copies in print!) is a masterpiece of historical fiction from one of the most popular authors of our time! [modest cough. Look, I didn’t write the headline, OK?]

Jamie Fraser, erstwhile Jacobite and reluctant rebel, knows three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, unlikely as that seems in 1777; being on the winning side is no guarantee of survival; and he’d rather die than face his illegitimate son—a young lieutenant in the British army—across the barrel of a gun.

His time-traveling wife, Claire, knows that the Americans will win, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won’t include Jamie’s life or happiness, though—not if she has anything to say about it.

And in the relative safety of the 20th century, their daughter Brianna and her husband, Roger, watch the unfolding of her parents story in the past—a past that may be sneaking up behind their own family.”

[yes, yes, yes, Young Ian is in the book. So is Rollo, the White Sow, and all kinds of other interesting people, but they only gave me 120 words to write a synopsis with.]

All Things Scottish – read Panalba!

Well, I was just sitting here quietly tapping away, a few months back, when one Lord Jamie Sempill popped up to say that he was setting up a “Scottish social-networking website” called Panalba—and would I like to write a regular blog for it?

“Why not?” I said (this being my usual response to people asking me to do unusual things, which I must say leads to a very interesting life), and did.

Panalba has just gone public—it’s free, and open to everyone—and so I would like to invite you to drop by. In addition to my own deathless prose on the subject of Men in Kilts, Scottish accents, and Why You Do Not Want to Order “Fudge” in Scotland, there are a number of other fascinating blogs and features on whisky, food, the Edinburgh “Gathering” (taking place this July), and other subjects of great interest to Albaphiles.

Go to Panalba and see!

12 February 2009

New Excerpt from An Echo in the Bone

Phoenix Scottish Festival and Highland Games - Update!

OK, we’re all arranged with the Poisoned Pen; they’ll have a booth with books at the Phoenix Highland Games (Saturday, February 20th, Margaret Hance Park, Phoenix), and I’ll be there to sign said books from 11 AM to 4 PM. We’ll try to have a banner on the booth, as well as one by the entrance, but as I haven’t been to these Games since they moved them to the new venue, I’m not sure what the physical setup may be like.

I will be there Saturday Only (I do need to finish writing An Echo in the Bone).

Since the Poisoned Pen is supplying books, btw--if you want a particular book or format (a hardcover Dragonfly, for instance, or a trade paper of Brotherhood of the Blade), you can email Patrick at the Poisoned Pen and ask him to reserve a copy for you--I can then sign and personalize it when you pick it up at the Games.

See you there!

Well, yes, I do know….

But many thanks to the many helpful souls who’ve lately written to inform me that yes, I do have a publication date for An Echo in the Bone—Amazon.com lists it as September 29th!

Mm. Yeah. They do. The thing is…Amazon.com does not actually have the faintest idea when the pub date is, until the publisher tells them (at which time, the publisher presumably would also tell me, and I would tell you). This does not stop them from listing a date; they seem to think it encourages people to place pre-orders if the listing looks more official. They are, however, pulling these dates out of their collective rear end, for the most part.

(BTW, the fact that you can pre-order a book on Amazon.com also does not indicate that they have a pub date. For years, they were happily taking pre-orders for several books (under my name) that didn’t actually exist. You can, btw, usually order or pre-order any book from a major publishing house through any bookstore. (For instance, Barnes and Noble rarely shelves hardcover editions of my books, thinking that nobody’s likely to want a hardcover of a 17-year-old book [g]--but the B&N Customer Service counter can in fact order any of the hardcovers for you, if you want one; they’re all still in print, and the publisher assures me that they’ll continue to be.*)

* NB: Amazon also goes around blithely stating that various books are “out of print or unavailable,” when what they mean is merely that they don’t have one available for shipping right this minute. They’ve been listing a paperback edition of The Outlandish Companion, for instance, with the “out of print or unavailable” notation. In fact, there is no paperback edition of this book; it’s never been printed in anything other than the hardcover edition. And the hardcover edition—which they were likewise claiming to be OP/UN—is certainly in print and available—just not from them, right this minute.

Book-touring Season
So far as I know at present, I’ll be going to Canada and Australia (possibly New Zealand? They haven’t told me yet) as well as zipping around the US to some unspecified degree (no idea what effect the current economic climate will have on publishers’ willingness to finance book-tours). (Visit the Tours section to see the details of what Diana has right now.)

Now, we don’t yet have a publication date for An Echo in the Bone, so I don’t know at what point this all breaks loose. However, I have been invited to take part in the Atlanta-Decatur Book Festival, which takes place over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 4-6). It’s not a firm date, yet, but I’d like to do this, and assuming it doesn’t interfere with any other plans the publisher might have, I’ll be there.

Beyond that…no telling. But I’ll post any details, as soon as we get them. (Mind, we don’t usually have anything resembling an itinerary until really close to the pub date, so don’t hold your breath there.)

N.B. I know from experience that the mere mention of book-touring causes a flood of kind invitations from bookstores and hospitable persons wanting to invite me to stay with them and spend several days sight-seeing.

Alas, sight-seeing is not allowed for in the average book-tour, which involves changing cities Every Single Day, and moving pretty dang rapidly from Point A to Points B, C, D…etc. from about 4 AM to 11 PM or so. That sort of schedule is not conducive to house-guesting either, I’m afraid-but I do appreciate the kind thought!

Likewise, publishers don’t really send authors anywhere (nice though that would be [g]). They usually have a short list of large cities, because these contain Large Bookstores (both independent and chain) and reasonable access to media for interviews and other coverage. In other words, much as I’d like to come visit a small used bookstore in Oyster Bay, that’s probably not happening.

On the other hand, if you’re affiliated with a bookstore near a reasonably-sized city, and are interested in having me for an event, you actually don’t ask me; you ask the publicity department at Random House (US), Random House (Canada), or Orion (UK, Australia, New Zealand). I’ll ask the various publicity persons if they mind my posting their contact info [g]; if they don’t, I’ll put it up here.

from Diana newsletter 2008

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