• “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

The Outlandish Companion – Vol. One

COMPANION-I-Revised

Purchase the Book


Volume One of THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION (aka "OC") is a non-fiction book, supplying information, background, entertaining trivia and the answers to the many questions that readers asked me about the first four novels in my OUTLANDER series of books. It was first published in the U.S.A. in March, 2015.

Volume One of the OC is an updated and revised version of the original, single-volume OUTLANDISH COMPANION, first published in 1999. By 2015, there were four more novels in the main OUTLANDER series (and quite a few other related books, to boot), so a second volume of the OC was added, a project which took several years.


What Does The Revised OC Contain?

How is the new OUTLANDISH COMPANION different from the original edition? To start with, there were two whole chapters (and a number of smaller items scattered here and there) of the original COMPANION that had become completely obsolete: the chapter about On-Line Communities and Resources (the internet has changed a lot since 1998 and most of the sites described no longer exist), and the chapter about "Work in Progress," which included several long excerpts from THE FIERY CROSS. Since that book’s been out for quite a long time, obviously those are no longer relevant. Scattered items through the book are outdated, such as a question in the FAQ section about whether OUTLANDER might ever become a movie and what I thought of the possibility.

So I pulled all that stuff out, and replaced-rewrote the smaller items, mostly with fresh questions from various interviews done over the last few years.

I put four new essays in the revised edition, and a new Section dealing with the TV show. The essays are:

  1. "Jamie and the Rule of Three," about the hows and whys of Wentworth Prison
  2. "Book-Touring for Beginners," for those who think this is a glamorous thing to do <g>
  3. "A Brief Disquisition on the Existence of Butt-Cooties," and
  4. "The Shape of Things," an essay on How I Write, and what the internal geometry of each book looks like to me.

Now, these essays have all appeared in one place or another on the internet, though the first three were originally done as blog-posts, and thus have been formalized and tidied up a bit for their appearance in the OC I. ("The Shape of Things" appears as a back-matter add-in to the 20th Anniversary edition of OUTLANDER.)

The new TV section has several pieces, describing the book-to-screen process (how we got from an option to the Starz Outlander TV show), the adaptation process in theory and in practice, the actors and what they do, and an account of "My Brief Career as a TV Actor." Also added is a section (including photos) from the show, kindly supplied by Sony.

The revised and updated version of THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, VOLUME ONE, still serves as a reader’s guide to the first four major OUTLANDER novels:

  1. OUTLANDER
  2. DRAGONFLY IN AMBER
  3. VOYAGER, and
  4. DRUMS OF AUTUMN

And much more! A publisher’s description of Volume One of the revised OC is also included below.


OUTLANDISH COMPANION, VOL. TWO

2015-02-25-CompanionII-coverTHE OUTLANDISH COMPANION (VOLUME TWO), contains background and lots of information about my books from THE FIERY CROSS (fifth book in my OUTLANDER series of novels) to WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD (the eighth book in my OUTLANDER series), plus a number of other Interesting Items. It was released on October 27, 2015 in the U.S.A.

Click here for more information on Volume Two.


Publisher’s Description – Volume One

Number-one New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon has captivated millions of readers with her critically acclaimed OUTLANDER novels, the inspiration for the STARZ original cable series. From the moment Claire Randall stepped through a standing stone circle and was thrown back in time to the year 1743—and into a world that threatens life, limb, loyalty, heart, soul, and everything else Claire has—readers have been hungry to know everything about this world and its inhabitants, particularly a Scottish soldier named Jamie Fraser.

In this beautifully illustrated compendium of all things Outlandish, Gabaldon covers the first four novels of the main series, including:

  • Full synopses of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn
  • A complete listing of the characters (fictional and historical) in the first four novels in the series, as well as family trees and genealogical notes
  • A comprehensive glossary and pronunciation guide to Gaelic terms and usage
  • The Gabaldon Theory of Time Travel, explained
  • Frequently asked questions to the author and her (sometimes surprising) answers
  • An annotated bibliography
  • Essays about medicine and magic in the eighteenth century, researching historical fiction, creating characters, and more
  • Professionally cast horoscopes for Jamie and Claire
  • The making of the TV series: how we got there from here, and what happened next (including "My Brief Career as a TV Actor" by Diana, about her cameo in the series)
  • Behind-the-scenes photos from the Outlander TV series set

For anyone who wants to spend more time with the Outlander characters and the world they inhabit, Diana Gabaldon here opens a door through the standing stones and offers a guided tour of what lies within.


THROUGH THE STONES

Note that the 1999 edition of THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION in the United Kingdom was titled THROUGH THE STONES.


Publication Information

Below are the ISBN numbers and other information for the English-language (U.S.) version of THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, VOLUME ONE, in hardback format:

Hardcover: 608 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: March 31, 2015
ISBN-10: 1101887271
ISBN-13: 978-1101887271

If you don’t live in the U.S., please click here for general information about publication of my books in other countries and languages.


This page was last updated on Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 12:40 a.m. (PT) by Diana’s Webmistress.