Site Announcements 2008
This page archives the announcements that Diana sent in 2008, which were originally posted on the home page.
24 December 2008
Happy Holidays!
A Very Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Delightful Kwanzaa, Blessed Islamic New Year, and Light-Filled Solstice to you all!
It's been One Strange Year for everyone (I'm reminded of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times"), but time now to turn inward, seek family, reach out to friends, and listen…
To the voices of love,
To the silence of the night,
To the singing of the stars and the slow pulse of the world, peaceful in its dreaming.
A Small Treat
As a small Christmas/New Year's/festive treat from me, Hoang Nguyen, and Betsy Mitchell (the Ballantine editor in charge of the new graphic novel), we thought we'd post another page of text and artwork.
In response to popular demand [g], here is page four, which has several good views of Jamie. Hope you'll enjoy it!
(The text is copyright 2008 Diana Gabaldon, the artwork is copyright 2008 Hoang Nguyen. You're more than welcome to link to this from your blogs or other sites, but please don't repost the pages.)
| 1-14
Jamie scowls at Murtagh.
Jamie: I dinna want to hear her name! Murtagh:
But…Lallybroch… |
1-15
Jamie stands up, fists clenched at his side.
|
| 1-16
Murtagh drags a hand down his face, obviously trying to keep his patience.
|
1-17
Jamie, clearly uneasy, looks away, unfastening his plaid.
|
| 1-18
Jamie sitting on ground, plaid loose over his shoulders. Murtagh stands over him,
hands on hips.
Murtagh:
Well, if ye dinna mean to be laird or soldier, if ye dinna mean to go to Lallybroch
or Leoch-what do ye mean to do? |
1-19 CU of Jamie lying on ground, a fold of plaid drawn up over his face.
|
| 1-20
LS. A rising moon illuminates a bleak, mountainous Scottish landscape. Small figures
in the FG, Jamie asleep on one side of a tiny fire, Murtagh sitting upright on
the other, his sword visible on the ground beside him.
Murtagh: Ye're stubborn as a rock, lad! But so am I-and I've had more practice at it, forbye. copyright 2008 Diana Gabaldon |
|
7 December 2008
My apologies for taking so long to get my Thanksgiving wishes and a new excerpt up for you. Thanksgiving was delightful, but busy-the Most-Eaten dishes (the ones everyone gobbles and raves over-it's different every time) this time were a new one, mushroom pate' surrounded by sliced pears sprinkled with gorgonzola crumbles and walnuts and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette (served with fresh French bread)-and the always popular standby, deviled eggs. [g]
I did the usual fruit-stuffed turkey (a couple of nice people had seen me mention this and asked for the recipe-I don't think you could actually dignify it by calling it a "recipe"; I literally stuff the turkey with fruit (and onions and garlic and baby carrots-but mostly whatever's in the fruit bowl; this year it was apples, oranges, and grapes, and I forgot to buy baby carrots). I don't like bready stuffing or dressing, and since I'm cooking, I get to eat what I like (the main reason for cooking, if you ask me)), but since I was lacking carrots and used oranges (which I usually don't), the bird was even juicier than usual-the benefit of this particular stuffing method is that you never have a dry turkey, and the subsequent gravy is wonderful; light and very flavorful (now I do sort of have a gravy recipe, which I'll put at the end)-and consequently arrived on the platter in several pieces [cough].
Well, you're just going to carve it up anyway…though I must here recount an anecdote my husband told me: his mother-a famously good cook, and justly proud of it-had guests one Thanksgiving, and Something Happened to the turkey, causing it to literally collapse. One of the guests viewed the wreckage on the platter, laughed, and said, "Kay, that bird looks like somebody shot it out of the sky with a howitzer!" My mother-in-law-also famously red-headed, and with a famous temper to match-replied, "If you think you can do it better, you son-of-a-b!tch, fix it yourself! Get out of my house!" (My husband says the guest didn't leave, but apologized, and a nice meal was eventually had by all.)
So a lovely time was had by all here, too, followed by a pleasantly languourous evening. Friday I arose refreshed, and-not being reckless enough to go anywhere near a shopping mall on Black Friday-spent the whole day working on manuscripts: writing another 2000 words of An Echo in the Bone, and copy-editing for my son, who's just finishing up the final stages of his first novel (yes, if and when it gets published, I'll tell you all about it). Followed by a late-night turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread with sliced pears, walnuts and gorgonzola (and a little mayonnaise to keep the walnuts from falling out), with a glass of white wine-the best part of a Thanksgiving weekend.
Fine. So yesterday, I had it in mind to answer email, finish writing an update for the website, choose an excerpt to post, and possibly begin the Christmas cards (no, don't write to tell me to skip the Christmas cards so I can finish the book; I only send cards to distant relatives, close friends, editors, and agents, and I can manage twenty Christmas cards without slowing my progress appreciably). The universe had other plans.
Yesterday has to have been one of the more surreal days in a life that's contained quite a few. As I was brushing my teeth, my husband came in and suggested that as the weather was nice (it had rained for the preceding three days), we might drive down to Tucson, and visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, since we hadn't been there for ages. (This is a wonderful outdoor live "museum," featuring the animals, ethnography, geology, and botany of the Sonoran and Anza-Borrego Desert. We've been members for years, and usually get down there every three or four months. If any of you who live in the area or pass through are interested, here is their website Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.)
I thought this was a terrific idea. The email and Christmas cards could certainly wait, and if I took a wodge of Sam's manuscript to proof-read in the car, I'd still end up with my evening work hours free and clear to work on Echo, so why not? (Besides, when you're a writer, you have to prioritize, in order to get the important things done. My personal priorities are 1) family, 2) book, 3) exercise, and 4) garden. You'll notice that "housework," "TV watching," and "taking part in casting discussions" aren't on that list. Going to the ASDM with Doug definitely falls under #1 there, and also neatly takes care of #3, as circumnavigating the whole place is easily a three or four-mile walk.)
So away we went, and had a wonderful time. The weather was ideal-about 68 degrees, clear and bright-and all the animals were out. The animal residents of the Museum are mostly in natural-habitat (very large) enclosures, which means that it's just about as easy to spot them in there as it would be in their natural habitats. We normally manage to see about 2/3 of them, but seldom spot the wild turkeys, the deer, or the coyotes.
We'd been batting a thousand, though, approaching the coyote habitat (which is a huge enclosure liberally studded with rocks, mesquite, cactus and….well, they essentially just put up invisible mesh around a quarter-acre of desert); we'd seen mountain lion, bobcats (gato montes; all the legends and signs are bilingual, and it's very entertaining to back-translate the Spanish names, on occasion. "Cat of the mountains," it means), porcupine, gray fox, wolves (curled up asleep, but still, we saw them), and the turkey (very gorgeous in the sunlight, with his red head and blue and green iridescent feathers-a far cry from the overbred white creatures who end up on Thanksgiving platters-and remind me sometime to tell you the story of my husband, my father-in-law, the cattle round-up, and the ten thousand white turkeys…), and the deer.
So we were making bets on our chances of seeing a coyote-remarking as we did so that in fact, our chances of seeing a coyote were a lot better at home than they were at the ASDM. We live right in the middle of Scottsdale, but coyotes routinely roam our neighborhood; one day we were driving down our street and saw an enormous coyote sitting at the bus stop on the corner, completely nonchalant. I often see them crossing streets in broad daylight, and last New Year's Day, found myself following one up the street-this is a completely urban part of town, mind-while out for a walk, and often hear them carrying on at night. (Coyotes do not actually "howl," btw. Wolves howl. Coyotes gibber, wail, and laugh like maniacs. That's not a figure of speech, either; they laugh like maniacs, and it's one eerie thing to listen to in the dead of night, which is when I usually hear them.)
Well, it was a day in a thousand-we saw not one, but two coyotes, trotting up and down about their business. We also saw the beaver (who was awake, for once), the river otter, prairie dogs, chipmunks, a herd of javelina, and more snakes than you could shake a stick at. (To say nothing of all the cool geology and mineral exhibits, but you can pretty much count on the spectacular chunks of wulfenite, azurite, and malachite still being where you saw them last, waiting patiently to be admired again.)
Rolled home, accompanied by Doug, a Dove ice-cream bar, and a large chunk of son's manuscript (good book, I'm pleased to report). It's nearly winter, and the days are drawing in; it's getting dark by 5:30, which is when we arrived home, and the Great Horned owls were At It already. (Late November/early December is their courting season, and they're hooting to and fro in ecstasy all night long. One of them was sitting in a tall palm tree right next to our house-and if you don't think seeing a Great Horned owl in a palm tree is a slightly surreal experience…)
My first act on returning home, when Sam is visiting, is to greet his dogs (the Little Bad Dogs, aka Charlie the corgi and Otis the pug) and march them directly out back to go potty, as they're very unreliable about this duty if not sternly supervised, dog-door notwithstanding.
We stepped out through the back door of the garage-and they immediately shot for the Back Forty (as we refer to the wild half-acre that forms the back half of our property; there are a couple of horse corrals with a ramada back there, and a tackroom (no, no horses at present; there have been and likely will be again at some point, but none now), but otherwise nothing but eucalyptus trees (the owls adore these), mesquite, palo verde and vast expanses of tumble-weed), barking. I looked to see what they were barking at, didn't spot anything (no surprise), and paused to have a quick look at the garden and draw up a mental chore list for Sunday afternoon (prime gardening time): prune back grapevines, finish harvesting pomegranates (we had a plague of woodpeckers this year, so the crop is much reduced), rip out wads of mint, trim and fertilize the roses…emerging from the garden, I saw that Otis and Charlie were still out back; I could see them under the big eucalyptus, sniffing around.
OK, slight digression here. We had to put down our oldest dog (Really Old. I estimated that in dog years, she was 112. We'd been checking her every morning for the last year, to see if she was still breathing. She was, but having an increasingly hard time of it, poor old thing), Molly, about ten days ago. We bury all the dogs under the big eucalyptus out back, and had planted Molly with due ceremony next to her old pal, Ajax.
It's not unusual for dogs to go smell and scratch at the grave of a recently deceased acquaintance-this behavior usually followed by ceremonially peeing on the gravesite-so I thought that's what Otis and Charlie were about, and strolled out to join them, thinking to pay my respects and put a rose on the grave (the roses do very well this time of year, since it's finally cool enough that the fresh blossoms don't fry on emergence).
Now, it was getting dark, and a good thing, too. For a minute or two, I had no idea what I was looking at. Then I knew what I was looking at, but no idea why I was looking at it. Somebody had shoveled most of the dirt out of Molly's grave, revealing the neat rectangle Doug had made for her-and there was something blobbish, dark, wet and nasty-looking in it. A second later, I realized that the wet-and-nasty was what was left of Molly-this realization aided by the presence of wads of wiry gray hair all over the place (Molly went to the vet's once, and the vet's assistant, passing the door of the exam room, paused and said sympathetically, "Oh-a bad hair day every day, huh?"). The dogs and I were nonplused.
Went and summoned Doug and Sam, with shovels, and we held a hasty reprise of the funeral, this one much less ceremonious, ending in the placement of a chunk of old swimming pool fence over the site to prevent further desecration. Our best guess was that coyotes had dug up and half-devoured the remains-which was rather a sobering thought, as the entire yard is surrounded by a six-foot concrete block and stucco wall. I knew coyotes could jump, but…
Well, no one in the family is what you'd call squeamish, so we repaired inside for a post-Thanksgiving supper of pancakes and turkey with butter and maple syrup (pancakes being Doug's piece de resistance, and very tasty they are, too). Tidied up, read a bit while Doug watched football, tucked him in, and prepared to go lie down for a quick evening nap before starting work. Took Otis and Charlie out for a potty-break.
Once again, they shot for the Back Forty, barking their heads off. Followed them at a dead run (in my red flannel pajamas and Uggs, mini-flashlight in hand). Luckily, there was nothing in the yard-but there was what sounded like a sizable pack of coyotes directly on the other side of the back wall (there's a narrow service alley back there, between us and the neighbors on that side), yipping, gibbering and laughing their heads off. Not what you want to hear at 10 o'clock of a dark night, with sex-drunk owls hooting to and fro overhead, a desecrated grave full of ghastly remains at your feet, a pug Who Knows No Fear (Otis being certifiably insane; he's the sort who loves to hop up and down, frothing at the mouth and calling big dogs bad names in public, secure in the knowledge that he's on a leash and Sam will save him) shrieking abuse at them from close range, a corgi also shaped like a coyote snack also barking, but from a slightly more prudent distance (Charlie's bred for a cow-dog and thus possessed of common sense)-and the certain knowledge that those gibbering maniacs can indeed get over that wall if they want to.
After a certain amount of yelling and flashlight brandishing-and running down Otis the Fathead and snaffling him by the collar-we repaired inside, locked the panel over the dog-door (hey, if they're going to come pillage the family cemetery, what's to stop them coming right on in after the dog food?), lay down, and passed out. Temporarily.
The phone rings, waking me out of a sound sleep, so I'm more than slightly confused to hear my younger daughter telling me that her friend (visiting from New York) is in terrible pain, and they think she needs to go to the hospital, but she (the friend) won't go without me. (Longtime childhood friend of Jenny's, deplorably estranged from her parents for years. I'm sort of a surrogate mother.)
Shaking my head in hopes of clearing my wits enough to drive, I go wake Doug to tell him where I'm going and assure him that he doesn't need to come with me, get dressed, stuff a cold-pak from the freezer and a bottle of ibuprofen into my purse, and go-pausing on my way out to grab the folder containing Sam's manuscript (I've been in emergency rooms before. No matter what the situation, you're probably going to want something to read).
Arrive to find the poor girl writhing in pain, unable to find a comfortable position that will ease it, terrible pain from the middle of her back down her right arm, pins-and-needles…Jenny and another friend had taken her to an urgent care facility earlier in the day, where they diagnosed the problem as muscle spasm/possible pinched nerve, and prescribed her a painkiller. Painkiller is obviously not working, and now it's 11 PM. Tried a little trigger-point massage, just in case-it helped slightly, but pain resumed full-force as soon as I stopped, and when we asked if she thought she needed to go to the emergency room, she said she did.
So the four of us-C. (the injured friend) lying on a seat, writhing and emitting small, pitiful cries, Jenny, self, and other friend taking it in turns to rub her neck or her arm or chafe her hands for distraction-spent an hour in the lobby (luckily, it wasn't a busy night), chatting and making remarks under our breaths about the other people in the waiting room, who were the usual motley crew one sees in an emergency room on a Saturday night, including a young man who looked as though he'd been living in a dumpster with an ice-bag on his head (that is, he had the ice-bag on his head in the waiting room, not in the dumpster), accompanied by his much spiffier girl-friend, a buxom specimen with drug-googly eyes and a large coat on which was painted in big red and green letters, "Kill the Brain and the Whole Ghoul Dies". Not that we looked that great, all things considered, but still.
Four hours later, staggered (literally; C. had been given Valium, a shot of muscle relaxant and some Very Potent painkiller-sufficiently potent that she couldn't keep it down, and barfed twice getting from the emergency room to the car-a distance of about a hundred feet) out of the hospital, drove the girls to Jenny's place, and made my way home-just in time to take Otis and Charlie out again. This time, I took them into the inner yard, and they accomplished their business at 4 AM by the peaceful glow of Christmas lights, the night now silent save for the soft Hoo! Hoo-hoo! (male owls hoot once, females twice) of love in the trees.
And I hope all y'all had a lovely weekend, too! [g]
Gravy Made from a Fruit-stuffed Turkey
OK, the thing about stuffing a turkey with fruit is that cooking releases all the juices from said fruits. This is why the turkey is tender; it's half-stewed in fruit juice (to keep the breast portion tender, too, you steep minced garlic, onion and herbs in olive oil the night before, and when you prepare the turkey for the oven, you use a sharp knife to separate the skin from the muscle at the neck, and then stick your fingers down inside, rubbing the oil all over the breast inside the skin. Use the residue to rub over the outside of the skin, before scattering thickly with herbs, sliced garlic and shreds of onion. It'll brown beautifully and smell wonderful). This also means you'll end up-after removing the turkey from the pan-with quite a bit of pan-juice and a lot of stewed fruit.
Strain the juices into a large bowl. Keep back about a third of the stewed fruit; discard the rest. Either let the juices sit in the bowl and skim the fat with a large spoon, or use a gravy separator to remove most of the fat. Pour the juices back into the roasting pan (don't wash it before doing this; fine for bits of skin and meat to be clinging to it), and set it on your stovetop over the lowest possible heat.
OK. Now you take the giblets (which, with luck, you removed before cooking the turkey) and saute them quickly in a pan with about half a stick of butter, fresh-ground pepper and a little garlic or garlic powder. Put aside the gizzard and heart for dogs or husband (depending who shows up first). Put the soft giblets-i.e., the liver--into your food processor with the reserved stewed fruit and zazz it up into glop. Stir the glop into the pan-juices.
Now stir flour into the butter left over from the giblet-sauteing, to make a thick, paste-like roux (if you use a roux, you don't get lumps). Stir this into the developing gravy (remember to stir the gravy frequently, to prevent it sticking at the bottom and scorching). Look at it and taste it. If it seems too watery, repeat the melt-butter/add flour/stir in roux step to thicken. If it seems to need salt, add a sprinkle or two of chicken-bouillon crystals, to taste (do this sparingly; those things go a long way).
Voila! Gravy. (Making gravy, btw, is what you do while your turkey is sitting; it needs to sit for about fifteen minutes after coming out of the oven, before you slice it. You should also be keeping an eye on the mashed potatoes, which you will have started to simmer about half an hour previously. Mashing the potatoes is the last thing you do (with luck, while someone else is carving the turkey), because they go cold in nothing flat, so you want to take them straight out of the food-processor (hastily rinsed after the glop-making step, above) to the table. Pour gravy into gravy boat. Serve.
Bon appetit!
And in celebration of Thanksgiving-and token of gratitude to all the lovely readers [smile]--here's a new excerpt from An Echo in the Bone.
17 November 2008
New Podcast - The Voice of the Past
In this episode Diana Gabaldon puts on her teacher's
cap and gives a lesson in 18th century slang. Learn what the terms "jingle
brains," "fart catcher" and "crawthumpers" mean as Diana
explains how she recreates the voice of the past for today's world. Bonus:
Diana reads a scene from An Echo in the Bone.
Reproduction of Brianna's Bracelet
With permission from Diana, Michelle Moore was able to have the bracelet made that Roger gives to Brianna in "Drums of Autumn". Brianna's bracelet was inspired by one of Diana's very own bracelets, it is now available at The Author's Attic.
Movie News Update
I've been getting a number of enquiries, since press releases have started appearing about the movie production of Outlander—excited folk asking "Is it true?" "When?" and (I hope you'll pardon a brief roll of the eyes here), "Who would you cast?" (I couldn't begin to guess how many thousands of times I've been asked that over the last twenty years.)
It's very early days as yet, but I'll answer what I can.
Yes, Essential Productions —is developing Outlander as a "major motion picture." (What that means is that they want to make a two-to-two-and-a-half hour feature film.)
And yes, Randall Wallace (the talented gentleman who wrote both Braveheart and Pearl Harbor—hey, ancient Scots and—WWII, how about that?) is writing the script.
No, I have absolutely nothing to say about the casting of the movie. The production people do occasionally ask me what I think of this or that person, but this is simple politeness on their part.
No, I have no control whatever regarding the script.
No, I really don't want to have anything personal to do with the development of the movie.
Why not? Well, two major reasons (putting aside the fact that producers seldom want the original writer sticking his or her oar in and causing trouble):
1) I have books to write and a family to be with. I can't be hopping planes every other week or dropping everything else at a moment's notice to do script adjustments. (I do know that all movie scripts go through many (many, many) iterations, rewrites, etc. in the process of development and filming.) That kind of thing eats your time and sucks your soul, and to no good end.
2) For nearly twenty years now, people have been saying to me, "Oh! I'm dying to see the movie of your books! But I want it to be just like it is in the book!" To which the only possible reply is, "Yeah? Which forty pages do you want to see?"
Obviously, a book of the size and complexity of Oulander won't fit into a two-hour movie. But it might be possible for a good movie based on the book to exist. Adaptations can be either good or bad—they're seldom indifferent—but a skilful adaptation is just as much a feat of skill as is writing an original book or script.
Yes, I could adapt the book myself. With the net result that even if
a) no one then messed with the script (and they would; that's how film works), and
b) the end result was wonderful (odds of about 900:1)—ten million people would still email me about, "But how could you leave out that scene?" Or "But why did you change this character?" Or "But you left out my favorite line in the whole book!"
I'd really rather write a new novel.
Now, do bear in mind a couple of things here:
1) Essential Productions have an option on the book. This means that they paid us a modest amount of money and we gave them a span of time, in which they can do anything they want to, in order to put together the necessary financing and logistics to make a movie (that includes hiring a scriptwriter).
We (my agents and I) get a lot of option requests. We decided to grant Essential Productions an option because we like them, we think they understand the book and its central characters, and insofar as such a thing is possible, we trust them to do their best to make it a great movie.
But it is an option.
2) Not all movies that are optioned actually get made. Even movies that have excellent scripts, A-list directors and recognizable stars don't always get made. Naturally, we hope this one will, because we do like the EP people and think that of all the producers who've approached us about the film rights, they have the best chance of succeeding in making a great movie.
But we'll all have to wait and see what happens next.
And that's all I can tell you.
Le meas,
Diana
P.S.
Well, I can also tell you that a) yes, Gerard Butler is a fine-looking specimen
of Scottish manhood, even if he is a Lowlander, but b) I think he might have difficulty
playing a 22-year-old virgin; c) Keira Knightley would probably make an excellent
Claire (she has the accent and the capacity for sarcasm), if she gained forty
pounds, but d) James McAvoy is probably a wonderful actor, but he's only
5'7", for heaven's sake.
3 November 2008
Thin
Air - Appearance/book-signing in Flagstaff - November
14th!
Interviewers always ask, "How has your life changed, now that you're a best-selling author instead of a scientist?" My impulse is usually to answer, "Well…now I write books instead of doing research or teaching classes. You know…duh." Being a naturally polite person (no, really. I mean, usually…well, if I'm not worn to a frazz on a book tour, at least…) and understanding that thinking up good interview questions is not the easiest thing in the world to do, so far I haven't done this.
In fact, my life has changed a lot (well, look, I've lived more than half a century; naturally it's going to change; everybody's does), but the details are by and large either too complicated or too boring to make a good answer.
One of the ways in which it's changed, though, is that I now have the opportunity to consort with all kinds of Really Interesting People, and to be involved in all kinds of entertaining projects, beyond the limits of just the stuff I personally write.
One of these entertaining projects (staffed by Really Interesting People [g]) is Thin Air. This is the literary magazine produced, edited, and published by an enterprising (and most creative) group of students at Northern Arizona University. (NAU is my old alma mater, in Flagstaff-which is 7000 feet above sea level. "Thin air," geddit?)
I have the honor to be "consulting editor" for this excellent magazine-which basically means that I help support their printing costs and drop by now and then to talk with the staff and hear all about the neat things they're doing.
On one recent visit to NAU, I was invited to visit an advanced Creative Writing seminar to talk about graphic novels: what they are (this being a college class, they already knew that), how they're put together, what a script looks like, how collaboration with the artist works, what the business side (contracts, etc.) is like, and so on. Well, the editor-in-chief of Thin Air was part of this class, and asked whether I'd be willing to do an interview for the magazine, covering some of the high points of this presentation. Sure, I said.
Well, you know how one thing sort of leads to another? (Or at least it certainly does around here…) We ended up with what I think is probably an interesting interview, illustrated not only with a page of my working script, but with the "pencil page" (the preliminary sketch) of the artwork for that page, and the finished (not necessarily final; there's always tweaking) full-color art of the same page (page 48, I think. It's part of the scene where Claire tends Jamie's shoulder on the road and he tells Dougal to find him a clean shirt and take the lassie off his chest). Many thanks to Hoang Nguyen, the artist, and Betsy Mitchell, the Ballantine editor, for letting us use these!
In addition to the interview, I'll also be doing a fund-raising appearance for the magazine at Northern Arizona University on November 14th. This will be in the afternoon-3:00 PM-and I'll be talking (about graphic novels, to start with, though I imagine other things will be talked about, and I'll certainly be reading a few bits of this and that-excerpts from An Echo in the Bone, that sort of thing…) for a couple of hours and signing books. (Books will be available for sale there, but you're certainly welcome to bring your own for signing, if you'd like.)
For more details-or to order tickets for the talk-or to order a copy of the magazine itself-go to thinairmagazine. And I'll see you in Flagstaff in two weeks!
New
Podcast - Where Scenes
Come From
Find out how a friend's adventure with a snake translated into a secret mission in a swamp for William Ransome a character in An Echo in the Bone, Diana Gabaldon's seventh novel in the Outlander series coming in Fall 2009. Bonus: Diana reads a piece of the passage she's discussing from An Echo in the Bone.
20 October 2008
New Podcast - Places To Which I Am Invited
Diana Gabaldon travels frequently to highland games, various science fiction and fantasy conventions, librarian associations and even prisons. In this episode, Diana shares a snapshot of her experiences speaking to these various organizations and what it's like to attend these events.
6 October 2008
New Podcast - Battlefields
Have
you ever wondered how Diana Gabaldon researches, prepares and constructs a battlefield
scene? In this episode Diana provides an in-depth description of the battle-field
writing process discussing the importance of the surrounding action, big picture
focus, and how she "listens for the echoes" when visiting battlefields.
28 September 2008
New Podcast! New Excerpts
I've recorded several new podcasts for Random House, to be released over the next few weeks.
The State of the Wicket
Well, first off—welcome back to Rosana, who's been off for a bit to take care of her family in the wake of her father's illness and death—our deepest sympathies to her and her family.
Now, we've been getting a lot of mail, asking about the status of An Echo in the Bone, the graphic novel, the Lord John books, etc. So I thought I'd give you a quick run-down of what-all I've been doing, where it all is at the moment, a short peek at everything, and—most importantly [g]—when things will be published.
1) For starters, I'm very pleased to announce that Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade was released in trade paperback on September 7th, 2008. This release also includes a "teaser" chunk from An Echo in the Bone.
2) A Breath of Snow and Ashes will be released in mass-market paperback (that's the small size) in October.
3) Lord John and the Hand of the Devils will be released in late November in trade paperback.
OK, -- on to An Echo in the Bone, which is probably what most people want to know about.
1) An Echo in the Bone is the seventh volume in the main Outlander series.
2) An Echo in the Bone is not the last book in this series!!
3) I am still writing An Echo in the Bone!!!
A) I get a certain amount of idiotic email accusing me of having already finished the book, but "hiding" it from the readers, or keeping it off the market "just to be mean" or (of all insane notions) "to drive the price up." (It ain't pork bellies, people; the cover price is the same whenever it comes out, and I don't set it.) I don't mean to be impolite here, but…geez, guys.
i) Look. Books are
a) written in order to be read, and
b) published in order to make money.ii) Publishers do not make money from books that are not in bookstores. Ergo….
iii) Publishers want to sell books as soon as the books are ready.
iv) So do authors. What do you think I live on, while I'm supposedly keeping a book off the market to be mean? And why do you think I'd want to be mean to the people who read my books? Sheesh.4) Right. Now, I hope to finish writing An Echo in the Bone around the end of this year.
OK, pay close attention now….
5) The book will not—repeat not—REPEAT NOT!!!—be published on December 31st, even if I finish writing it on December 30th. Why not? Well, because…
A) Books don't go directly from the author to the bookstore.
B) Books go from the author to the Editor, who
i) reads the manuscript
ii) discusses the manuscript with the author, and
iii) suggests minor revisions that may improve the bookC) The book goes back to the author, who
i) re-reads the manuscript
ii) considers the editor's comments, and
iii) makes whatever revisions, emendments, or clarifications seem right.D) The book goes back to the editor, who
i) reads it again
ii) asks any questions that seem necessary, and
iii) sends it toE) The copy-editor. This is a person whose thankless job is to
i) read the manuscript one…word…at…a…time
ii) find typos or errors in grammar, punctuation, or continuity (one heck of a job, considering the size not only of the individual books, but of the overall series), and
iii) write queries to the author regarding anything questionable, whereuponF) The book comes back to the author—yes, again—who
i) re-reads the manuscript
ii) answers the copy-editor's queries, and
iii) alters anything that the copy-editor has changed that the author disagrees with. After which, the author sends it back toG) The editor—yes, again!—who
i) re-re-reads it
ii) checks that all the copy-editor's queries have been answered, and sends it toH) The Typesetter, who sets the manuscript in type, according to the format laid out by
I) The Book-Designer, who
i) decides on the layout of the pages (margins, gutters, headers or footers, page number placement)
ii) chooses a suitable and attractive typeface
iii) decides on the size of the font
iv) chooses or commissions any incidental artwork (endpapers, maps, dingbats—these are the little gizmos that divide chunks of text, but that aren't chapter or section headings)
v) Designs chapter and Section headings, with artwork, and consults with theJ) Cover Artist, who (reasonably enough) designs or draws or paints the cover art, which is then sent to
K) The Printer, who prints the dust-jackets--which include not only the cover art and the author's photograph and bio, but also "flap copy," which may be written by either the editor or the author, but is then usually messed about with by
L) The Marketing Department, whose thankless task is to try to figure out how best to sell a book that can't reasonably be described in terms of any known genre [g], to which end, they
i) try to provide seductive and appealing cover copy to the book
ii) compose advertisements for the book
iii) decide where such advertisements might be most effective (periodicals, newspapers, book-review sections, radio, TV)
iv) try to think up novel and entertaining means of promotion, such as having the author appear on Second Life to do a virtual reading, or sending copies of the book to the armed troops in Iraq, or booking the author to appear on Martha Stewart or Emiril Lagasse's cooking show to demonstrate recipes for unusual foods mentioned in the book.
vi) kill a pigeon in Times Square and examine the entrails in order to determine the most advantageous publishing date for the book.M) OK. The manuscript itself comes back from the typesetter, is looked at (again) by the editor, and sent back to the author (again! As my husband says, "to a writer, ‘finished' is a relative concept."), who anxiously proof-reads the galleys (these are the typeset sheets of the book; they look just like the printed book's pages, but are not bound), because this is the very last chance to change anything. Meanwhile
N) A number of copies of the galley-proofs are bound—in very cheap plain covers—and sent to
O) The Reviewers. i.e., the bound galleys are sent (by the marketing people, the editor, and/or the author) to the book editors of all major newspapers and periodicals, and to any specialty publication to whom this book might possibly appeal, in hopes of getting preliminary reviews, from which cover quotes can be culled, and/or drumming up name recognition and excitement prior to publication. Frankly, they don't always bother with this step with my books, because they are in a rush to get them into the bookstores, and it takes several months' lead-time to get reviews sufficiently prior to publication that they can be quoted on the cover.
P) With luck, the author finds 99.99% of all errors in the galleys (you're never going to find all of them; the process is asymptotic), and returns the corrected manuscript (for the last time, [pant, puff, gasp, wheeze]) to the editor, who sends it to
Q) The Printer, who prints lots of copies ("the print-run" means how many copies) of the "guts" of the book—the actual inside text. These are then shipped to
R) The Bindery, where the guts are bound into their covers, equipped with dust-jackets, and shipped to
S) The Distributors. There are a number of companies—Ingram, and Baker and Taylor, are the largest, but there are a number of smaller ones—whose business is shipping, distributing, and warehousing books. The publisher also ships directly to
T) The Bookstores, but bookstores can only house a limited number of books. Therefore, they draw on distributors' warehouses to resupply a title that's selling briskly, because it takes much longer to order directly from the publisher. And at this point, [sigh]…the book finally reaches
U) You, the reader.
And we do hope you like it when you get it—because we sure-God went to a lot of trouble to make it for you. [g]
6) As it happens, Random House (who publishes my books in the US and Canada) prefers to publish my titles in the Fall quarter (between September 1 and December 31). That's because this is traditionally the biggest sales period in the year, what with the run-up to Christmas, and therefore all the publishers normally release their "big" titles in the Fall. I'm flattered to be among them.
If I do finish the manuscript around the end of this year, Random House (and the UK publisher, Orion, and the German publisher, Blanvalet) will have just about the right amount of time to do all the production steps described above, in order to release the book in Fall of 2009.
(The other foreign editions—I think we're now up to 24 countries, including Israel, Croatia, Russia, and Greece, which is pretty cool—will be out whenever their respective editors and translators finish their production processes, but I'm afraid I can't predict that at all.)
So—that's why the English and German-speaking readers will almost certainly get An Echo in the Bone in Fall of 2009.
When I have a specific publication date, rest assured—I'll tell you.
That's probably enough information to be dealing with in one go, so I'll come back a little later and tell you about graphic novels, anthologies, and Other Weird Stuff. Meanwhile, though—
Since some of the anxious questions I get regarding An Echo in the Bone include
A) "Is it mostly about Jamie and Claire?"
B) "Will we see
more of William?"
C) "Will we see more of Young Ian?"
and
D) "Are Roger and Brianna and the kids gone for good?"—
Here are two brief excerpts from An Echo in the Bone that might help answer those questions. Enjoy!
[excerpt]
[excerpt]
25 September 2008
Three new excerpts. One from the Dragons anthology, which is a collaboration with Sam Watkins (Diana's son). One from Phoenix Noir titled Dirty Scottsdale, which features Tom Kolodzi, and one from The Lord John series, The Custom of the Army, which will be published in the Warriors anthology.
24 September 2008
New excerpt from Outlander Graphic Novel
23 September 2008
New excerpt from An Echo in the Bone
22 September 2008
Podcast "The State of the Wicket"
Excitement is brewing in the world of Diana Gabaldon.
In this episode Diana gives her "general state of affairs" address sharing
an overview of all publications to come including where her stories are heading
and when you can get your hands on her next book. Bonus: Diana reads an excerpt
from an upcoming Lord John story, "The Custom of the Army."
"Storyteller's Award" Writing Contest
I stumbled into the Surrey (BC) International Writers Conference while on a booktour back in…goodness, 1994-and was so charmed by the organization and personality of the conference that I've gone back every year since. (And I'll be back this year, too-October 24-26-doing (among other things) a workshop with the ever-hilarious Chris Humphreys about how to write sex scenes.)
Well, another of the Old Regulars at this conference is the delightful Jack Whyte, author of the excellent Arthurian Brood of Eagles saga, and more recently, several novels about the Knights Templar. Jack's a long-time friend, and at one of these conferences, we got talking about what we like to read, as well as what we like to write, and concluded that Story is Everything.
The upshot of this discussion is that Jack and I ended up funding the "Storyteller's Award"-a cash prize awarded for the best short story submitted to a contest sponsored by the SiWC each year. Jack and I are the judges of this contest, and first prize is $1000. (We also have in progress a project in collaboration with Chapters bookstores to compile and publish a book containing the winning entries.)
There are also contests for non-fiction and poetry-and no, you needn't attend the conference to enter, though of course I think the conference is well worth it. [g] (Here are further details about the conference.)
For those of you who work in short forms…give the contest a look!
Work(s) in Progress
I've been getting the occasional email lately expressing interest in what-all I'm writing these days, since there seems to be a lot of it. [g] Well, there is a lot of it. I do normally work on multiple things at once (it keeps me from having writer's block, for one thing), but I will say there's more variety in the old to-do pile than usual, thanks to several invitations from interesting anthologies. In (rough) order of priority at the moment, though, I'm working on:
An Echo in the Bone - this is the 7th (but not the last!) book in the main Outlander series, in which we continue the adventures of Jamie, Claire, Roger, Brianna, Young Ian, Willie, Lord John-and Quite a Lot of Interesting People You Haven't Met Yet. [excerpt]
I'm hoping to have the manuscript finished by December of this year-and to this end, am trying Really Hard not to go anywhere. Mind, this does not mean the book will be out in December of this year; it means I'll be through writing it. It will be published (God willing and the creek don't rise) probably in early Fall of 2009.
Graphic Novel (so far untitled) - a graphic novel, for them as don't know, is a sophisticated comic book for adults. (And I do, of course, delight in my Very Sophisticated Readers.) [g] Ballantine, the publisher for this, asked me for a "new" Jamie and Claire story, set in the Outlander universe-but not necessarily just a straightforward adaptation of Outlander. So that's what they (and you) are getting: a story that sort of cuts at an angle through Outlander. This story is told from Murtagh's point of view, and begins somewhat before the events described in Outlander (the non-graphic novel). [excerpt]
[I know people are Just Dying to see 'what Jamie looks like'-and I will post one of the pages showing him before too long, I promise. His face is still flexing as the (very talented) artist works on the story, though; from page to page, he appears as elf-lord, thug, GQ model, or Alfred E. Newman's older brother, but we're definitely getting closer. [g]]
Warriors anthology - The Custom of the Army. Warriors is a cool, multi-genre, multi-author anthology with stories on the theme of…well, warriors. I haven't yet really started work on Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner (the third Lord John novel), but I am using Lord John for my contribution to this anthology, which I'm titling The Custom of the Army:
"On balance, it was probably the fault of the electric eel. John Grey could--and for a time, did--blame the Honorable Caroline Woodford as well. In all justice to the lady, though, she certainly hadn't meant him to fight a duel, and had been appalled at the outcome. The fact remained that if it had not been for the Honorable Caroline, he wouldn't be in Canada, hip-deep in Indians and Highlanders, and facing one of the most disagreeable prospects he had encountered in a long career of soldiering. Still...no, it was the eel's fault." [excerpt]
Phoenix Noir - Dirty Scottsdale. And for Something Completely Different…I know I've been talking about this contemporary crime novel I have in progress for a long time-and I really do have it in progress, too [g]-but the opportunity offered to do a short story (no, really) for a new anthology titled Phoenix Noir. This is part of a large series of "noir" crime anthologies, each centered on a different city. (See a listing of all the anthologies in the series.) The story, Dirty Scottsdale, will be the print debut of Thomas Kolodzi, who's the protagonist for the (eventual [cough]) contemporary novel. Here's a brief glimpse of him in action:
"The time/temperature display outside the McDonald's where I got coffee in the mornings said it was 100 degrees at 8 AM. Now it was high noon, and the half-cup of coffee I'd left in the car would sear the panties off any granny unwary enough to drive down the street with it tucked between her legs. The cops were in shirt-sleeves, the home-owner was wearing plaid bermuda shorts and a wtf? expression. The body floating face-down in the swimming-pool was wearing a navy blue wool suit, which was even more remarkable than the veil of blood hanging like shark-bait in the water." [excerpt]
Dragons. This is a fantasy anthology about…well…you know. I'm co-authoring a piece for this one with my son, Sam (meaning he's doing the writing; I'm brainstorming and editing). It's just begun, but here's a brief snip: [excerpt]
9 June 2008
A Gaelic Treat
Every so often-well, actually, all the time-people come up to me at signings and ask respectfully how long it took me to "learn Gaelic." Well, the truth is, of course, that I didn't. Not that I wouldn't like to, but as of the moment, I know three bits of Gaelic to write in people's books:
"Le meas," ("with respect," or-roughly-"best wishes")
"Slainte!" ("To your good health"-often used when drinking whisky)
and
"Alba gu brath!" ("Scotland forever!")
(I can also say (or at least write) "Merry Christmas!" ("Nollaig Chridheil"), but can only put that in people's books when it's December, and even then, I always have to ask whether they're Christians, as there really is no way—that I know of—to say "Happy Hannukah!" or "Have a Terrific Kwanzaa!" in Gaelic.)
Anyway, as for the Gaelic used here and there in my books, I get by with a little (or a lot of) help from my friends. [g] For some time, the kindly Iain MacKinnon Taylor (and his brother Hamish)* assisted me with the Gaelic. More recently, I've had the good fortune to become acquainted with Catherine-Ann McPhee, one of the world's best-known Gaelic singers, and a great teacher and
Catherine-Ann McPhee and Diana.
proponent of the language, who's provided not only translations of Gaelic bits, but also explained the nuances of social relationship involved in said translation ("You want to say, 'cousin'? Well, now, is the person speaking to an older person whom he respects, or to someone his own age, or to someone older, but who…" or, "Now, if you really want to say "Son of a pig," that's mac an muice, but it's more usual just to call him a son of a bitch, though it's more meaning monster than bitch, really…"), as well as making sure the Gaelic is historically correct—something I couldn't do myself on a bet.
This is of course wonderful—and my profound thanks not only to Cathy-Ann, but to Catherine MacGregor, who introduced me to Cathy-Ann and helpfully facilitates our conversations.
Cathy MacGregor and Diana.
Well, a couple of months ago, I got an email from the person who records my books for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Betty Tyrrell. Betty told me that she was about to record Drums of Autumn, and wishing to do the best job possible, asked whether I might be able to provide her with correct pronunciation for the Gaelic bits of that book.
"Not me," I said. "But I might just be able to get you some expert help with the Gaelic." Whereupon I wrote hastily to Cathy MacGregor, who rushed off to recruit Cathy-Ann—and the upshot of all this helpfulness is that Cathy-Ann not only made Gaelic recordings for Betty, but kindly agreed to let me post the sound recording of her reading of one of the longer Gaelic bits from that book—Duncan Innes's notable caithris, the formal Gaelic lament for his friend Gavin Hayes (who, as you may recall, was hanged around page 3).
So, in case you have found yourself wondering what spoken Gaelic really sounds like…
[NB Rosana: This file has an m4a extension, so I believe that Windows Media Player 10 is required. Alternatively, I can listen to the file using QuickTime and iTunes.]
And if you'd like a real treat, here's a link to Cathy-Ann's music, as well.
*Iain very kindly drove to New York from his home in New Hampshire, in order to provide on-the-spot Gaelic pronunciations for Davina Porter, for her reading of Drums of Autumn. So if you have the Recorded Books unabridged audio edition of that book-you have the Right Stuff there, too.
NB:
Cathy-Ann's introductory remark regarding champagne glasses [g] is a reference
to our first meeting, where she and Catherine hosted me at a delightful tea (featuring
chocolate-dipped strawberries and champagne glasses without stems—you rested
the glass in a little spiral holder when not sipping out of it) in Ottawa (I think
it was Ottawa. Things blur when you're traveling a lot). We had a great time,
anyway. Photos attached: I am the one in blue/green, Cathy-Ann is the one in black
and white, and Cathy Mac is the one with the red hair and the other champagne
glass. (Photos courtesy of the nice waiter at the hotel who figured out how to
use the camera when none of us could.)
27 May 2008
Rob's Website
When I was telling you about my brother-in-law's new book last week, I forgot to include his website address. My sister says she's been getting lots of requests for the enchilada recipe [g]-hope you enjoy that, btw!—but that several people have been asking how they can get in touch with Rob himself, presumably to tell him how much they liked the book, or ask when the next will be available.
Anyway!—should
you want to talk to Rob or ask about his other books or whatever, his website
is www.robpalmerbooks.com.
I think he has a German section on the site, too, as his books are also published
in Germany.
19 May 2008
New Excerpt from An Echo in the Bone
CLARIFICATION
of May 23rd appearance at Burton Barr Library
When
I first posted this, I wasn't sure whether it was a "Friends of the
Library" only event, or open to the public, but intended to ask and post
the information. When, then all hell broke loose (a not unusual occurrence), and
while I did receive a clarification from Janet Sanford of the FoL, I'd completely
forgotten to post it until someone reminded me by asking this week. So, this is
what Janet says:
"It
is a members only event (there is no charge for members). However, if someone
wants to attend, they can become a member two ways: Go to our web site: www.plfriends.org and sign up there, or pay at the door. However, both ways, they must make a reservation
so we know how many people are attending. Lowest membership fees are $20 a year
for seniors and students, $25 for others, or a family membership for a couple
with children, $35. Reservations: 602-534-5208."
Homonyms
That Drive Me Crazy
Palate
Palette
I saw this one misused in an Anne Perry novel just last week, and it drove me particularly crazy, because I know Anne Perry, and there's no conceivable way she'd do that. Ergo, we lay the crime at the feet of either BWOYC (Bad Word of Your Choice) Microsoft Word and its intrusive, error-ridden, nannying, BWOYC grammar-and-spelling checker, or some hapless and doubtless overworked copyeditor.
Righto. A "palette" is that bit of board or lucite that an artist uses to hold blobs of color while working with pigments—oils or acrylics—that come in tubes. The word can also be used to describe a specific assortment of colors—"The window designer had used an autumn palette: legless mannequins clad in browns and rusty reds hung against a background colored like ripe wheat. Blown by a wind-machine, artifical leaves in golds and reds and yellows swirled below the floating hems, stirred as though by the mannequins' invisible feet."
Your "palate," on the other hand, is the roof of your mouth. You have a "bony palate," and a "soft palate," both of which you can easily feel and/or see in a mirror. The word is also used metaphorically, to mean an ability to distinguish or appreciate specific tastes. "He had a well-developed palate for fine wines and the sorts of cheeses that would make a normal person's eyes water."
Rein
Reign
(Rain)
In all justice, I don't usually see people using "rain" when they mean one of the others, but I see "reign" and "rein" confused all the time. This one is particularly annoying, because "reign" and "rein" can both be used as either nouns or verbs, and do share one particular meaning, even though they're separate words.
"Reign" means to have dominion over, to rule over—or used as a noun, means the span of time during which a particular ruler was in power ("the reign of Charles II was referred to as the Restoration").
"Rein" is either a noun meaning the leather strap attached to an animal's bridle, by which said animal is directed, or a verb meaning to control an animal's (usually a horse's) movements by means of its reins.
Where the confusion usually comes in is in the common expression, "to give free reign/rein". Even though the words don't mean the same thing at all, this expression does mean pretty much the same thing, used with either word. "To give free rein" means to give a horse its head—to allow it to go where it pleases. And thus, as a metaphor, to give someone free rein is to let them do what they like. OK. "To give free reign" essentially means the same thing—to allow a person to govern his or her own actions.
And worst of all…
Peek
Peak
Pique
I can't tell you how many times nice people have written to thank me for giving them a "sneak peak" at work in progress. Argh!
"Peek" means a brief glimpse.
"Peak" is the top of a mountain (or the height of some experience, like the "peak of ecstasy," though I sincerely trust we do not read books that use that sort of language).
"Pique" is a word derived from the French, and used as a verb, it means to stimulate something ("His interest was piqued by the glimpse of the snake tattoo that writhed down her spine and disappeared head-first into her low-slung jeans."). Used as a noun, it means a state of indignation. ("In a pique, she threw the flowers on the floor at his feet and stamped on them.")
2 May 2008
New and Recommended!
For all of you who read and enjoyed my nice brother-in-law's excellent first book (No Time to Hide), I'm thrilled to announce that his even better second book came out today!
Rob (Rob Palmer is his name) writes marvelous, twisty thrillers, with 3-D characters and breath-holding suspense. And very appropriately to this election season--
Eyes of the World is a story of lies and betrayal, the tragedies that bind us together, and the blinding trust of love. America has its first woman president, Lynnie Connor, whom Mike Stanbridge has known since childhood. Their friendship is common knowledge; their love affair is the most carefully guarded secret of their lives. It's campaign season, and as Lynnie runs hard for reelection, Mike is framed for murder. His only way out is to dig into Lynnie's past, learning something that seemingly turns her whole life into a lie. Pursued by the FBI and a squad of assassins, Mike runs for Lynnie's political life-and his own survival.
Praise for Eyes of the World:
"Suspenseful
and affecting. A top-notch thriller with a tender heart."
Diana Gabaldon,
bestselling author [cough] of the Outlander and Lord John series
"5
Stars! A perfect read for the election year! . . . Rob Palmer's book [is]
superlative. . . . I was kept on the edge of my seat the entire time. I cannot
recommend this one highly enough. Magnificent!"
Huntress Reviews
"You're
gonna want to read this one! Hold on for an intricately plotted, wickedly smart
trip through presidential politics. Just when you think you've got it figured
out, you'll realize the games have just begun. An excellent book."
Fresh Fiction
I'm sure you'll enjoy this terrific book as much as I did-though should you need any extra inducement [g], my sister, Theresa Gabaldon, is offering the famous family enchilada recipe to anyone who buys the book before the 4th of July.
Here's the link to the book's page on amazon.com:
And here's my sister's email address, if you'd like the enchilada recipe: tgabaldon@gmail.com
6 Mar 2008
Tour Update
March 8 - Fountain Hills, Arizona - 12:00PM
The Fountain Hills Book Festival
sponsored by the Fountain Hills Library Association.
I'll be doing a presentation, speaking (perhaps reading) at the Fountain Hills main library, at noon, and will be signing books between 11 AM and 2 PM (when not speaking, of course).
A map and directions to the Book Festival is available at website. See you there!
21 Feb 2008
Graphic Novel Progress - Layout Pages
The script is the beginning of a graphic novel—but only the beginning. The artist—the estimable Hoang Nguyen, in this case—then sets about the difficult task of translating the script into artwork.
It works like this: I (the writer) lay out a script page in panels—anywhere from one to six of them on a page—and at the top of each panel, describe what the scene is, which characters are present, what they're doing, how they look (in terms both of clothing and expression), and add any specific details that need to be present (for instance, a full moon, or brooding cliffs, or a white owl), as well as indicating the position of characters and objects (by specifying, for instance, that So-and-so is in the foreground of a panel, while Mr. X and Ms. Y are having a conversation in the background). Down below is a sample script page, so you can see what one looks like (the number in the upper left corner of the panel identifies each panel individually, for ease of reference among the editor, the artist, and the writer). A script includes standard abbreviations like FG = foreground, BG=background, CAP = caption, and so on.
1-59
Murtagh sitting up, watching Jamie sleep.
|
1-60
Murtagh's hands, turning over a dirk with a moonstone in the hilt.
|
1-61
Jamie's sleeping face, his hands folded on his chest.
|
1-62
Murtagh turns, startled.
OS: Whoo-whooooo! |
1-63
Murtagh starts back, seeing huge yellow eyes in a tree near him.
|
1-64
Murtagh seizes the wooden cross that hangs around his neck. A huge white owl is
sitting on a pine branch, looking at him.
|
| *boy | |
The artist looks at all this, and then produces layout pages—quick pencil sketches, done without any great reference to character details, but laying out the composition of the scene, catching the major angles, perspectives, and elements. I can then look at these, to be sure we're on the same page (literally [g]), before the artist invests a lot of time and energy in the actual painting of a panel, and let the artist know if I see anything that ought to be changed (see "Pictish cross" below).
Below is one of the layout pages from an early point in the story (the editor suggested that I not tell you what's happening here [g], so this layout page does NOT match the sample script page, as you can see). This is great stuff-Hoang's done a terrific job of translating the script, and catching the sense of movement and excitement going on here. Only one small correction to be made: the script says that Dougal and Jamie are riding downhill, past "a weathered Pictish cross." But I hadn't sent Hoang either a picture or a description of what a Pictish cross is, so he's very reasonably rendered it here as a weathered wooden cross, rather than a stone one. Frankly, I think it looks good as is—but I have to consider whether leaving it as a wooden cross might raise questions—i.e., it looks like a grave marker, but there's nothing about a grave in the story—and confuse people. So I'll send photocopies from my reference library of several Pictish crosses, and Hoang can choose and adapt from those.
(Now, please don't get all excited and start peppering my blog with complaints about Jamie looking too young, not slant-eyed enough, having elf-ears, or whatever. This is a S-K-E-T-C-H, not a finished panel. Ergo, the characters shown are just rough approximations and will look quite different when painted in the final version. Oh—and speaking of rough, the gent in the fourth panel is not Dougal MacKenzie, it's one of his clansmen (and not one you know, either, so don't start panicking about it not looking like you think Rupert looks).)
If you'd like to see more of Hoang's artwork, there are lots of beautiful examples of his previous work on his website.
And thanks to Hoang, and to Betsy Mitchell, the Ballantine editor, for permission to post these!
Appearance Updates
Phoenix Highland Games
I'm sorry I won't be able to attend the Phoenix Highland Games this year-I have a family thing in New Mexico that weekend-but I will be at the Arizona Highland Festival in Flagstaff in July.
March 3 - CAMEX convention, San Antonio, TX
OK, I forget (if I ever knew) what exactly CAMEX stands for, but it's the trade association of college and university bookstores, and they're having their annual convention in San Antonio (which is a lovely city), and for reasons best known to themselves, have invited me (and several other authors) to come and speak to them and sign books. I don't know whether I will be doing an outside signing in San Antonio while I'm there, but if so, I'll add those details later.
March 15 - Renaissance Faire, Apache Junction, AZ
I'm figuring most of you know what a Renaissance Faire is-for those who don't…the website will have details.
I'll be doing two things at this year's Festival: judging the Bonny Knees competition (it's their special Celtic Weekend), and signing books at Ann Chamberlin's bookshop (it's the only one on the grounds, I think), both in the afternoon. And yes, I will go in costume. See you there!
May 23 - Friends of the Public Library, 11:30 AM
I think this is at the Burton Barr main library, but I'll check to be sure. I'll be speaking and signing books, and I'd be kind of surprised if it wasn't open to the public, but I'll check that, too.
July
19 - Arizona
Highland Festival
Foxglenn Park, 4200 East Butler Avenue, Flagstaff,
AZ 86004
I imagine I'll be doing a talk and readings, and will certainly be signing books. No specific times as yet, but I'm usually there between about 10 AM and 4 PM.
July 25-27 - CONestoga
I'll be Guest of Honor at this sf con in Tulsa, OK, and very honored indeed to be asked! No times or details of offsite signings yet, but I'll add those as available. For details, see the website.
28 Jan 2008
Violent Wee Buggers
I don't know what it is about Celtic writers, but they seem to have the simultaneous gifts of poetry and majorly gruesome imagination—which is, of course, a combination I personally find irresistible. [g] Here are some of my favorite crime writers—mostly Scots, with an Irishman thrown in, and one American who, whatever his ethnic heritage, has the gift of poetic grue, in spades.
Ian Rankin
Ian's gotten to be very well-known in Scottish literary circles (and is a cover-boy for the National Trust of Scotland's publications—yay, Ian!) for his series of crime novels starring Inspector John Rebus. These are police procedurals, set in Edinburgh (and invariably described as "gritty"). Like any good crime book, they deal not only with the solution of the crime, but with the detective's personal life and how it's affected by his/her pursuit of evil. Rebus is a fascinatingly flawed character, whose personal life outside his career is largely nonexistent—lonely, cranky, obsessed, alcoholic—but redeemed by his obstinacy, and by the friends who stick by him despite his flaws.For best effect, the novels should be read in (rough) order, so you can follow the evolution (and convolutions) of Rebus's private life. They can be read as stand-alones, though, since each novel is a well-structured and self-contained investigation.
Here's the link to Ian Rankin's novels on Amazon.com; you can get the reading order from the dates of publication—so far as I know, all the Rebus titles are in print and available.
Adrian McKinty
McKinty is the Irishman, with a stunning trilogy (the "Dead" trilogy—very accurate): Dead I Well May Be, The Dead Yard, and The Bloomsday Dead. All three books deal with the (grisly, hyperviolent, blood-soaked) adventures of a young Irish gangster who comes to New York, promptly runs into trouble—and stays in it. Not for the weak of stomach, but both characters and language are exquisite.Val McDermid
Val does books which could best be described as thrillers (though they do have the structure of murder mysteries, for the most part), because they move a mile a minute. Most are standalones, though two or three have recurrent main characters. The outstanding feature of all of them is the absolutely horrible psychopathic villains she writes, and the ghastly things they do. She's also written a series of much milder mysteries (the Kate Brannigan series), though I prefer (naturally) the grisly ones.Stuart MacBride
A new find! Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae series is set in Aberdeen, and besides having a wonderful sense of place, is grossly violent, blood-soaked-—and hilarious. He has the best characters, from the massive, candy-munching DI Inch to the cadaverous, chain-smoking lesbian DI who is the bane of McRae's professional life. To say nothing of criminals given to snipping off people's fingers joint by joint and forcing them to swallow the pieces… I really wasn't kidding about the heading of this list. You Have Been Warned. Great stuff, though!Don Winslow (honorary wee bugger)
Don Winslow is, I think, an American, and I strongly recommend all his books, from earlier titles like The Death and Life of Bobby Z, and the Neal Carey series (A Cool Breeze on the Underground, etc.) which are great but not unduly violent, up to the amazing California Fire and Life and The Power of the Dog—which are. Wonderful characters, plots, and writing—but not, repeat not, for the weak of stomach.
11 Jan 2008
Now, I'm trying Very Hard not to go anywhere this year, so that I can work on all the interesting things I have going on. Top of the list, as I said, is An Echo in the Bone. I do, though, usually work on more than one thing at a time, and among all the interesting projects on my desk is Something Completely Different—a graphic novel. (I told one of my friends about this; her reply was, "I thought your novels were already pretty graphic!" [cough]). For those of you who haven't yet encountered graphic novels—they're essentially sophisticated (and often beautiful) comic books for adults (well, they do do graphic novels for younger people too, but that's not what I'm doing here).
Del Rey To Publish an original"outlander" Graphic Novel by diana gabaldon
NEW YORK, NY - December 10, 2007
Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group,
announced today that it will publish an original story set in the world of Diana
Gabaldon's bestselling Outlander series, written by Gabaldon herself
and illustrated in full color by award-winning artist Hoang Nguyen. The project
was acquired by Betsy Mitchell, editor in chief of Del Rey, in negotiations with
Gabaldon's literary agent Russell Galen.
The new story, starring Gabaldon's beloved characters Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, opens with Murtagh, Jamie's godfather, awaiting the return of his godson to Scotland, and the fulfillment of a vow made years before. The graphic novel will be approximately 192 pages and will publish sometime in 2009. Gabaldon's upcoming new Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone, is expected to publish that year as well.
The #1 New York Times bestselling series—Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes—tells the story of Jamie Fraser, a Scottish Highlander from the 18th century, and his time-traveling wife, Claire. The series has 15 million copies in print, has been published in 19 languages, and has spawned huge worldwide online fan communities, as well as numerous online discussion groups. A major motion picture is in development.
The Outlander graphic novel will not be the first project Gabaldon has scripted.
Early in her career she wrote numerous comic-book scripts for Walt Disney, among
them the Scrooge McDuck series, and the award-winning "Nutrition
Adventures with Orange Bird."
"I'm thrilled to see
the launch of such an exciting new project," Gabaldon says. "I've
been wanting to do a graphic novel story for years, and couldn't ask for
a better opportunity or more wonderful people to work with. I'm especially
delighted to be working with such a magical artist as Hoang Nguyen. My agent and
my husband have both fallen in love with his version of Claire—and I'm
looking forward with great anticipation to seeing Jamie in ink."
About
the Creators
Diana Gabaldon is also the author of the nonfiction title The Outlandish
Companion and two novels starring a character first introduced in Outlander: Lord John and the Private Matter and Lord John and the Brotherhood of
the Blade. She holds a bachelor's degree in zoology, a master's
degree in marine biology, and a Ph.D. in ecology and was a university professor
before turning to writing full-time. Gabaldon lives with her family in Scottsdale,
Arizona.
Hoang Nguyen's previous work includes the Robocop movie adaptation for Dark Horse, Alien Legion graphic novels for Marvel Epic, Punisher: War Zone for Marvel and Warstrike for Malibu Comics. His original project Metal Militia was optioned by Dino De Laurentiis for feature film development. More recently he has worked in the video game industry, having contributed to such well-known titles as the Elder Scrolls series for Bethesda Softworks and Xena for Universal Studios. He was the lead artist and character designer on Dead to Rights for Namco and is currently a consultant for Namco Bandai Games. Nguyen lives in Santa Clara, California.
About
Del Rey
Del Rey Books was founded in 1977 as an imprint of Ballantine Books, a division of the Random
House Publishing Group, under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and
her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science
fiction, and alternate history. In 2004 it expanded by launching Del Rey Manga,
which has grown to be a major force in the U.S. graphic-novel field.
_____________________
David
Moench
Publicity Manager, Del Rey
Random House Publishing Group
1745
Broadway
New York, NY 10019
phone: (212) 782-8282
So
this is Very Cool Beans, as my younger daughter is inclined to say. And yes, I
can hear you all saying, "So what do Jamie and 
Claire look like!?!" Well, we're in the early stages of the artwork
(I've delivered approximately a third of the script so far), and still fiddling
a bit with Jamie--but Hoang's take on Claire (mind, this is an early, preliminary
portrait, but it's great) is close enough for me to show you.
Neat, huh? I'm very excited about the project--more and more, as I see Hoang's emerging artwork. As we get further into the project, and refine the characters (Hoang paints them, and I say, "Too much jaw, and could the nose be a little longer?" and he very patiently repaints them), I'll look forward to showing you more (I love his take on Murtagh!).
Comments?
I'd
be very interested to hear what y'all think--about the graphic novel, the
artwork, etc., but also about anything else. Click here to leave comments, ask questions, etc. I'll try to keep up!
7 Jan 2008
Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, featuring lots of excellent food and good company, plus the presence of your loved ones. All our kids came home for Christmas, Elder Daughter with Boyfriend in tow, Son with The Little Bad Dogs (they actually are quite nice dogs, Otis the Pug and Charlie the Corgi, but are young and rambunctious—to the disgruntlement of Gus the Fat Dachshund, whom you've met—and given to surreptitious peeing in corners, if not escorted firmly outside at regular intervals). Boyfriend is an estimable fellow, and does not pee in corners, I'm happy to report, even if left alone unsupervised for long periods. Younger Daughter arrived without an entourage, but is sufficiently vivacious as to give the impression that there are more of her than there really are.
But
now they've all gone home again (well, Sam and the LBD's haven't
yet. See Otis the Christmas Pug, 
sporting a hoodie given to him by my sister), and it's time to settle back
to work (with occasional excursions round the block or on the treadmill, to counteract
the effects of enchiladas, tamales, and the Family Christmas Fudge, which you've
also heard about before (btw, my brother-in-law's second thriller, Eyes
of the World, is due out this spring, for those of you who've asked.
A cover blurb by A Well-Known Author [cough] says: "A terrific read!
The cold steel of high-stakes politics meets the fiery secret of a president's
past, in a blast of searing steam." Excellent book, and I'm sure that
my sister would be happy to oblige with the family recipe for enchiladas this
time—or perhaps chocolate chocolate-chip cookies, if you prefer).
Book
Seven — aka An Echo in the Bone
First thing
up on the stack of waiting projects this year is, of course, An Echo in the
Bone—the seventh (but NOT the last!) book in the story
of Jamie and Claire. This book will, as I said, be done around the end of this
year—and published reasonably soon thereafter (i.e., sometime in 2009), at
the pleasure of Random House and assorted foreign publishers.
I'm getting all kinds of questions about what will be in this book:
Will we see Roger and Bree and Jemmy and Amanda again? (Yes.)
Will they go back to the past? (I don't know yet, but if I did, I probably wouldn't tell you.)
Will Jamie and Claire go back to Scotland? (Yes.)
Why do they go back to Scotland? (Wait and see. It's complicated.)
Will Young Ian find love? (Well, he found it once before, and little good it did him. He's still got Issues with the ex-wife, you know. Still, he's a young man and he's not dead (well we assume he's not going to be dead....), so who knows?)
Speaking of ex-wives, what about Laoghaire? (Oh, you'll see her again. But it's probably not going to be what you expect. [g])
Will Roger get his voice back? (Mm...don't know, but I kind of don't think that will be his main concern. He has much bigger things to worry about.)
Will there be more sex? (Ahh...more sex than what?)
Will Ronnie Sinclair finally get a woman? (I hadn't thought about it, but I don't see why he shouldn't.)
Will Jamie and Willie meet? (Oh, come on. How can you think they won't?)
What happens if/when they do meet? (Oh, well, now, that's another matter entirely...i.e., I'm not about to tell you. Bet it'll be interesting, though.)
Is Lord John in this book? (Sure. He's Jamie's friend and Willie's father--where else would he be?)
Will we find out what happens with Phaedre, Jocasta, and Duncan? (Mm, don't know that one. We'll find out about a lot of other people you haven't mentioned, though!)
Will either Jamie or Claire....[gulp]... die? (Well, can't say for sure, of course, but given that this is, in fact, NOT the last book, I kind of doubt it. On the other hand, I'm invariably shocked and surprised when people do die. You don't think I plan this sort of thing, do you? And I believe I did once say—in an interview—that a son who suddenly discovers the truth of his paternity might do anything to deny it...including murder. But I guess you'll have to wait and see.)
Will we find out what happened to Alex and Mary Randall's child? (Oh, good; at last, something I know. Yes.)
Will we find out more about Hamish and the other MacKenzies of Leoch? (Oh, good, another one I can answer; yes. Possibly not in this book, but yes.)
Will we hear more about Adso, Clarence the mule, Rollo, and the White Sow? (Well, some of 'em, sure.)
Does Jem get to go to Disneyland and say hello to the giant mouse named Michael? (Don't know. I'd like him to, but I haven't seen that, yet.)
Will Lord John stay a Loyalist? (I can't think he wouldn't. Why on earth would he become a rebel?)
You aren't going to kill Lord John, are you?!? (Well, I wouldn't, no. I imagine there are a few other people who feel differently about him, though. Cf "...including murder," above. You think Willie's going to be thrilled to find out his stepfather's been lying to him all these years? If he does find that out, of course. Lord John hopes he doesn't.)
Are you going to explain where that box full of letters came from? (Probably. Assuming I figure that out...)
(I'm tempted to pull a JK Rowling here and tell you that two important characters will die in this book—except that I'm only sure about one of them, so far. I can, however—and before you even read the book!--assure you with complete certainty that Lord John is gay.)
Anyway, here are a couple of brief excerpts from An Echo in the Bone, to celebrate the New Year with—hope you enjoy them