• “The smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting 'Scrooge McDuck' comics.”—Salon.com
  • A time-hopping, continent-spanning salmagundi of genres.”
    —ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
  • “These books have to be word-of-mouth books because they're too weird to describe to anybody.”
    —Jackie Cantor, Diana's first editor

A Trail of Fire (Four Outlander Tales)

A-Trail-of-Fire

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The German Edition Is Released

September 13, 2013:

ZEIT DER STÜRME kommt früh!

To my pleased surprise, I hear that ZEIT DER STÜRME (the German edition of A TRAIL OF FIRE) has shipped four days early, and is already in bookstores!

For further details—and German Gabaldon news —let me draw your attention to the German version of the Official Diana Gabaldon website: www.dgabaldon.de.

For those who don’t know what A TRAIL OF FIRE is: this is a collection of four “Outlander”-related novellas:

  • “The Custom of the Army,” in which Lord John goes to an electric eel party and ends up at the Battle of Quebec. This story was originally published in the anthology WARRIORS, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, and is available as a standalone ebook.
  • “A Plague of Zombies,” in which Lord John deals with a slave insurrection, an infestation of zombies, and a few other minor matters, as military governor of Jamaica. This novella appeared as “Lord John and the Plague of Zombies” in DOWN THESE STRANGE STREETS, an anthology of urban fantasy stories edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Then it was released as a standalone ebook in the U.S. and Canada in April, 2013.
  • “A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows,” the story of What Happened to Roger MacKenzie’s Parents during World War II. This short story was first published in November, 2010, in the anthology SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH: ALL-ORIGINAL TALES OF STAR-CROSSED LOVE (edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois).
  • “The Space Between,” which is impossible to describe, but has to do with Michael Murray (Young Ian’s elder brother), Joan MacKimmie (Marsali’s younger sister), Mother Hildegarde, Master Raymond, and the Comte St. Germain (no, of course he’s not dead, don’t be silly…). This novella was published in an anthology titled THE MAD SCIENTIST’S GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION, edited by John Joseph Adams, which was first released in February, 2013.

-Diana


U.S. and Canadian Versions

This book has been published in English, but is only available in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand markets until February, 2014, when I get back the U.S.A. and Canadian rights to “The Space Between.” However, the other three novellas from the collection are available in the U.S.A. and Canada as standalone ebooks. Click on each story’s link in the list above for more information.

The English (U.K.) Edition

The English (U.K.) hardcover edition of A TRAIL OF FIRE was released on October 11, 2012. The U.K. Kindle edition was released on November 8, 2012.

Note: You can order A TRAIL OF FIRE from Amazon.co.uk even if you live in the U.S.A. or Canada before February, 2014; but you cannot order the Kindle version of it unless you live in the U.K. or Commonwealth territory.

Autographed Copies

To order an autographed copy of the English edition of A TRAIL OF FIRE from the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, click here. You may specify custom inscriptions, such as “To Laura” in your book, as well as my autograph.


Publisher’s Description

Trails of tracer bullets, and the fiery trail of a wounded Spitfire falling out of the sky.

The burning of plantations in a Jamaican night, in a trail leading down from the mountains, straight toward Kingstown.

The trail blazed by night by the handful of heroic Highlanders who fought their way straight up a vertical cliff to stand on the Plains of Abraham in a fiery dawn.

And the trail of a torch burning green, through the eerie surrounds of a Parisian cemetery, down into the mysteries of the earth.

Four tales from Diana Gabaldon are included in A TRAIL OF FIRE, each set in a different time and place— from Paris before the Revolution to London during the Blitz, from the West Indies in the grip of slavery to Quebec at the height of the French and Indian War — and yet each one a fiery thread in the warp and weft of the epic story that began in Scotland in 1945, when Claire Randall first touched a boulder in an ancient stone circle and was hurled back in time…

In “Lord John and the Plague of Zombies,” Lord John Grey is posted to Jamaica to assist the Governor as he faces a most unusual kind of uprising among the colony’s slave population.

In “The Space Between,” Jamie Fraser’s step-daughter, Joan, is on her way to an abbey in Paris to become a nun — but when she meets the Comte St. Germain, a wealthy French aristocrat rumoured to deal in the occult — she discovers her destiny lies on quite a different path.

In “The Custom of the Army,” Lord John Grey is summoned as a witness in a court martial in the wilds of Acadia, only to find himself playing a crucial role in the Battle of Quebec.

In “A Leaf On the Wind of All Hallows,” a WW2 Spitfire pilot called Jerry MacKenzie crashes near a stone circle and wakes up in the eighteenth century. Can the strange man he meets—who impossibly seems to know him—help him return to his wife and baby son before a terrible fate overtakes them?


This page was last updated on Friday, September 27, 2013 at 3:51 a.m. (PDT).