• “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

CLANLANDS Sale, A Gift & Jeff Woodman Interview


CLANLANDS IN NEW ZEALAND Sale! (Signed!)

Clanlands-NZ-Pen-SaleWell, here’s a nice offer from The Poisoned Pen…

Why not fall in love with New Zealand, home to Graham McTavish? There is many a Scot living there. He and Sam Heughan take you on a tour of this beautiful country. Kilts and Kiwis!

For Valentine’s Day, The Poisoned Pen offers a special: a first edition of CLANLANDS IN NEW ZEALAND: Kiwis, Kilts, and an Adventure Down Under. Signed by Sam, Graham, and (me, Diana ….) at a special price: $15 (USD). A sweetheart deal.

Here’s the description/order page from the store’s website:

Click here to buy CLANLANDS IN NEW ZEALAND from the Poisoned Pen.

You pay the special sale price of the book ($15) plus shipping.

The Pen ships anywhere in the world!

There is no charge for the signatures of Sam, Graham, and myself.


“Sex Toy For An Elephant?”

2024-01-14-Starz-mystery-bottle-cropSTARZ (and the nice people of whom it is composed) is a generous and imaginative patron of the Arts (that would be me, I suppose, in some small way), and they’re inclined to show their appreciation by sending a nice gift at Christmas.

For years, they sent me single-malt Scotch for Christmas, which was very welcome. Then a couple of years ago, the Christmas gifts started varying—last year, they sent me a purple silk Grandma-scarf from Saks Fifth Avenue. A lovely object, though I haven’t worn scarves as such for at least fifty years…

Anyway, this year they have returned to form (if one can apply such a term to corporate gifts), and a Very Large columnar box appeared on my kitchen island. My husband opened the door to the box, and said, “It looks like a sex-toy for an elephant.”

Which, to be honest, it kind of -did-…

So I wrote to the head of STARZ (whom I know), thanking him for the lovely present—and in passing, told him what my husband had said about it.

To which he replied, “Well, hello there…. A Happy New Year to you, too! ….so, you didn’t get the baby elephant that goes with…? Hmmm….”


2024-01-18-QueenBee-Jeff-Woodman

Jeff Woodman Interview By Angela Hinkley

Haha! This is long, but fabulous! (And it’s recorded, so you can pause when you need to go to the bathroom…) Angela Hinkley has done a wonderful interview/montage with Jeff Woodman, the spectacularly good voice actor who does the Lord John books and novellas [for the audio editions]. It begins with a great montage of clips from said books, showing off all (well, most of them…) Jeff’s Most Excellent voices.

Enjoy! (I certainly did!)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/in-conversation-96652735

Description from Queen Bee’s Hive Podcast :

“In Conversation” With Jeff Woodman, Voice of the Lord John Series

What a true joy to welcome narrator, Jeff Woodman, to the Hive to immerse in all of the things we love about the Lord John Series by Diana Gabaldon and to celebrate Jeff’s incredible range of vocal and performing talent. Retired and virtually “off the grid”, Jeff gave us an immense and rare gift of his time and presence on a Sunday afternoon in a first ever live broadcast interview. IT WAS FABULOUS and everyone (including Jeff) had a fantastic time! To celebrate, we packed in several unique surprises.


These posts and news items were also released on my official Facebook page from January 13-17, 2024.

If you like, please share your thoughts about this blog post by submitting a public web comment in the “Leave a Response” form below. Note that due to ever-present robotic web spam clogging up the works, my Webmistress or I have to go through and approve each comment individually to make sure it’s written by a human being. Spam filters don’t catch everything. So it will take time, sometimes a few few minutes, sometimes a few days, for your comment to appear, unlike the immediacy of social media.

Outlander Cocktails, Arby’s Ears, & Excerpt


Outlander-Cocktails-CoverHAPPY 11th of January!

Aside from the (no doubt) universal rejoicing at the fact that it’s my birthday <cough>—Penguin Random House would like to announce a couple of Really Entertaining new items. To wit:

THE OUTLANDER COCKTAILS BOOK – I wasn’t sure what this would be like, but it’s really gorgeous; the photography is fabulous! (The editor emailed me in great excitement, saying, “The cover looks so great I want a drink, and it’s only 9 AM!!”)

I agree, and I really only drink wine…. well, and the occasional wee snort of whisky, for medicinal purposes…

Whether you enjoy cocktails yourself, entertain a lot, or just know people who might enjoy a drink called “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash” before dinner—this is the perfect followup to a Dry January.*

https://bit.ly/outlandercocktails

outlander-trivia-gameAnd what is the perfect thing to accompany a great cocktail? <think, think, think…> Why, OUTLANDER TRIVIA, of course! (I’m not saying you can’t play this game sober, but it might be even more entertaining after a round of inventive drinks, whether alcoholic or not (I believe OUTLANDER COCKTAILS does include some non-alcoholic treats, as well).)

https://bit.ly/outlandertriviagame

 * This is not (repeat NOT) messing with or insulting people who choose not to imbibe alcoholic beverages, for whatever reason. (I personally didn’t drink At All until I was forty. As it was, I started drinking because of Outlander, but that’s another story (which you’ll find in the Foreword to OUTLANDER COCKTAILS).)

Bliadhna mhath ùr! (“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” in Gaelic)


Arby’s Ears

2024-01-11-Arbys-ears-VLAA number of people have commented on Arby’s ears (as well they might…). My husband refers to them as the Very Large Array—this being a U.S. government installation of a quantity of linked radio telescopes (gigantic radio telescopes) that we pass whenever we go to New Mexico by the northern route, through Socorro.

If you don’t live in that neck of the woods, I figured y’all might not ever have heard of the VLA, and might be interested. It’s Deeply Surreal to come across on that deserted desert plain….

https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/vla/


“My shield and buckler…”

Today I also released a new excerpt for Book Ten, “My shield and buckler…”


These posts also appeared on my official Facebook page on Thursday, January 11, 2024.

If you like, please share your thoughts about this blog post by submitting a public web comment in the “Leave a Response” form below. Note that due to ever-present robotic web spam clogging up the works, my Webmistress or I have to go through and approve each comment individually to make sure it’s written by a human being. Spam filters don’t catch everything. So it will take time, sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a few days, for your comment to appear, unlike social media.

“Frog-legs … and a lot of beer.”


2024-01-04-Leon-by-Sam-SykesHappy New Year! Good wishes in abundance toward everyone, all the time, everywhere. <g>

And here is a small New Year’s treat:

EXCERPT FROM BOOK TEN (UNTITLED), Copyright © 2024 Diana Gabaldon

[NB to readers unfamiliar with copyright notices; your material is copyrighted by you the moment you put it into a concrete form (i.e., words on page or screen), and unless you’re quoting from an already-published book (in which case, it has a fixed copyright; the year of publication), the copyright notice bears the current year. Some people in the past have leapt to the conclusion that the year date in the copyright notice is the year of publication, and then get very bent when they see the year change when I post a new excerpt and go around Chicken-Littling about “OMG the book’s been DELAYED!!”. I assure y’all, it hasn’t.]

[YES, THERE ARE SPOILERS IN HERE!! If you wish to proceed anyway, scroll down to read…]
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They reached Savannah mid-morning, having ridden through swales of greening rice paddies and patches of sprouting farmland, dotted with men and women working, now and then with the assistance of a mule. The horses were eager, sensing the imminence of food, and Jamie felt much the same. There was urgent work to be done, of course, but they’d finished what food they had the day before yesterday.

“What d’you want to eat first?” William asked. The boy was almost standing in his stirrups with anticipation. “Shrimp and grits? Redfish fried in cornmeal?”

“Frog-legs,” Jamie said, smiling. “And fried oysters. Though I wouldna mind a good thick Brunswick stew to go along. And beer. A lot of beer.”

Conversation devolved into a desultory argument over the merits of alligator as an ingredient of stew, but the boom of a nearby cannon both interrupted the talk and made the horses curvet and dance.

“[steh – Gaelic]!” Jamie said, jerking his horse’s head right round until it was almost in his lap. “Settle, ye gomerel. Surely ye’ve heard guns before?”

“Possibly not cannon,” William observed, having brought Trajan—who had heard cannon before—to a proper sense of his duty with little difficulty. “That’s the noon gun, though,” he said, leaning forward to speak into the horse’s pricked ears. “It won’t happen again. Until tonight, at least,” he added, straightening in the saddle. “Commander Archibald decided to use a single gun at sunset, rather than have drummers marching through the streets to sound the evening retreat; perhaps they may still be doing it.”

William spoke casually, but Jamie saw the lad’s shoulders tighten under his coat.

“D’ye ken whether Archibald is still here?” he asked, keeping his voice as neutral as he could. The day was warm, but a sudden chill raised the hairs on his neck, with the memory of a lovely girl dead by her own hand in the middle of the night, in a dark room reeking of her blood and spilt beer—because of Commander Archibald.

William shot him a quick glance.

“No,” he said. “But I hope he is.”

The lad’s color was high, and his hands clenched on the reins. Jamie leaned over and took hold of Trajan’s bridle, drawing them both to a momentary halt.

“I ken what ye mean,” he said evenly, “and I’ll help ye do it. But we canna risk drawing that kind o’ notice until we’ve done what we came to do. We were too late for Frances’s sister; we willna be too late for Lord John.”

William gave him back a level look, but he saw the lad’s pulse, hammering at the side of his throat.

“We will not,” William said, and drawing up his reins, nudged Trajan into motion.

[end section]

[Many thanks to my younger grandson, León (he has an accent mark over the “o”, but Facebook doesn’t do such things), for the use of the art for his first album cover—and to my son, Sam Sykes, León’s uncle, who took the photo as a symbol of New Year cheer.]


Visit my Book Ten webpage for more excerpts from—and information about—this new book.


This excerpt (“Daily Lines”) was also released on my official Facebook page on January 4, 2024.

If you like, please share your thoughts about this excerpt and Book Ten by submitting a public web comment in the “Leave a Response” form below. Note that due to ever-present robotic web spam clogging up the works, my Webmistress or I have to go through and approve each comment individually to make sure it’s written by a human being. Spam filters don’t catch everything. So it will take time, sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a few days, for your comment to appear, unlike social media.

Happy New Year – 2024!


2024-01-01-Happy-New-YearHappy New Year to one and all!

‘Tis the season for new resolutions and perhaps the odd spot of bibulousness….

So it’s New Year’s Eve— a time to sit down and breathe, sip something to aid contemplation (be that hot tea or cold gin…) and let the peaceful night surround you. (Unless you’re a party animal, in which case I don’t need to suggest anything to you…) Do you look to the past and see what the last year has held—and what you did or thought about it? Or to the future, with hopes and dreams—and possibly a few more concrete plans?

My own list for the New Year is fairly short:

Take care of husband, family, dogs, friends, etc.

Prune deadwood from the four citrus trees that didn’t get done last winter. Fertilize ALL the citrus, as well as the ancient pomegranate tree out back (I did manage to saw all the dead limbs off that one over the last two or three months. Vide previous replies to questions about why we have an Enormous Dumpster (from a conversation on my official Facebook page)… we can’t burn outdoors inside the city limits, and only rarely indoors).

Pull out the big California laurel tree and VERY thorny ex-rose-bush that perished during the Hotspell from Hell last summer. (It stayed over 115 degrees EVERY DAY for nearly two months.) Contemplate what the heck to do with the ex-grapevines, which have grown through and pulled over the chunk of iron fence they’d been using to climb on before they became ex (died of old age, aided by heat-stroke). (I need either an ax or a small, maneuverable chain-saw… I’d just dig up the stumps, but I can’t get near enough to do so, as the collapsed/entangled fence is in the way.)

Work on Book Ten. (NO, it’s not going to be finished this coming year (let us not be ridiculous…), but I think we’ll get a good deal further. It’s in a good place.)

Finish writing first Prequel Novel. (These will be about the size of one of the Lord John novels; those, I can finish within 9-10 months, so we hope for the best.)

Consult on Prequel show.

Consult on Season Eight.

(Consulting basically means reading all the iterations (average 6-8) of each script, plus—when filming starts—watching the dailies.)

Write script for Prequel show.

Write script for Season Eight.

(FYI – writing a script takes me roughly three weeks (not counting revisions, which tend to be quick). Writing one of the Big Books takes a minimum of three years.)

Do public appearances (VERY limited this year!).

Make curtain (FINALLY) for kitchen in old family house (I’ve had the fabric for the last fifteen years… a print of tiny Highlanders and Redcoats on a white background).

So that’s me in 2024. <g> How about you?

(If you like, please share your plans and thoughts in a web comment below. Note that due to ever-present robotic web spam clogging up the works, my Webmistress or I have to go through and approve each comment to make sure it’s written by a human being. Spam filters don’t catch everything. So it takes time, sometimes a few few minutes, sometimes a few days, for your comment to appear, unlike Social Media.)

Merry Christmas!


2023-12-25-Christmas-4th-Advent-cropIt’s just after midnight, which means that it’s Christmas! Merry Christmas to everyone, whether for you it’s a religious celebration, a time of seasonal contemplation and renewal, or just a few days off work!

It’s a slightly anomalous Christmas, in that an hour ago, it was both the Fourth Sunday of Advent… and Christmas Eve! (Well, this is the sort of thing that will happen now and then when you go setting dates according to a lunar calendar…)

However, this holy trinity of dates does in fact have a common root: Love.

The fourth candle in an Advent calendar is often called the “Love” candle (following Hope, Peace and Joy), and for those of us who celebrate Christ;s Mass (i.e., Christians), what we’re celebrating is the advent of Love into a world of darkness.

My family has always gone to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, which means that (since it’s at midnight), it is in fact CHRISTMAS! I’ve always loved the dark and cold and mystery, snow falling through the street lights on the walk to church—and then the blaze of lights and candles in the church, with the smell and drifting smoke of frankincense, a memory of the distant land where the story began. (Loved going home at 1:30 AM to eat brownies with milk, and open ONE present before going to bed, too.)

Whether this story is your story, or only a story, we all share the deep need of Love, and I hope you will all join me in that moment where the peace of the night flowers into the joyful light of Love, and hope fulfilled.

Merry Christmas!

[Excerpt from OUTLANDER, Copyright © 1991 Diana Gabaldon]

And if there was eternity, or even the idea of it, then perhaps Anselm was right; all things were possible. And all love? I wondered. I had loved Frank; I still did. And I loved Jamie, more than my own life. But bound in the limits of time and flesh, I could not keep them both. Beyond, perhaps? Was there a place where time no longer existed, or where it stopped? Anselm thought so. A place where all things were possible. And none were necessary.

And was there love there? Beyond the limits of flesh and time, was all love possible? Was it necessary?

The voice of my thoughts seemed to be Uncle Lamb’s. My family, and all I knew of love as a child. A man who had never spoken love to me, who had never needed to, for I knew he loved me, as surely as I knew I lived. For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary. It is all. It is undying. And it is enough.

2023-12-Christmas-window-DG-crop


Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander: A Novel (OUTLANDER, Book 1) (p. 580). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

First Sunday of Advent – A Journey


2023-12-03-DGabaldon-First-Sunday-AdventToday is the First Sunday of Advent. Like Lent, which comes before Easter, Advent is a time of preparation. But while Lent is a time for penance and reconciliation, Advent is a time of contemplation and growth. By prayer and good works, we make ready—ourselves and others—for the birth of Jesus and the renewal of the world. Like most religions, our feast of birth and new growth coincides with the physical turning of the world and the coming of light into the dark of winter. Happy Advent!

Like Lent, Advent is a journey—and when you set out on an important journey… you make preparations.

[Excerpt from Book Ten (Untitled); Copyright © 2023 Diana Gabaldon]

Rather to William’s surprise, Fraser appeared for departure clad in a faded plaid with a ragged edge, this worn with a hunting shirt shadowed with ancient bloodstains, and a belt from which depended an assortment of weaponry and a small goatskin bag whose purpose was a mystery. Homespun stockings and a cartridge box hung from a strap over his shoulder completed the ensemble.

“Camouflage,” Fraser said with a shrug, answering William’s look.

“What?”

“Oh.” Fraser was evidently taken aback for a moment, and his face reflected an extraordinarily rapid series of uninterpretable thoughts. “It’s, ah… from the French, I think. Camouflet, ye ken that one?”

“I don’t, no. What does it mean?”

“Aye, well—camouflet is a whiff of smoke that ye blow in someone’s face. Camouflage just means ye want folk not to notice what ye are or ask what ye’re up to.”

“And…that is camouflage, is it?” William asked skeptically, gesturing at Fraser’s kilt. “You look like a bandit.”

Fraser smiled.

“Aye. And what would ye do, if ye met a bandit on the road? Stop and ask him his business?”

“I take your point.”

As he spoke the words, he had a sudden odd qualm and a coldness down his jaw.

Fraser’s smile changed to a look of mild concern.

“What is it, lad, are ye taken queer?”

“I—no,” William said abruptly. “I”m fine. And what, may I ask, am I meant to be, if you’re taken for a bandit? Your accomplice?”

“If necessary,” Fraser said, “but I suppose ye could be my prisoner, in case of need. There’s a bit o’ rope in my saddlebags.”

“Jesus,” William muttered, and Fraser laughed. The man was in bloody high spirits, for someone snatched away from hearth and home to go off on what anyone might legitimately call a crackbrained venture.

On the other hand, he reflected, maybe he’s glad to get away from his tenants…

Mother Claire appeared at this point, with several packages in her arms, and Frances behind her, similarly burdened.

“Food for the day,” Mother Claire said, handing her husband a cloth bag that smelled pleasantly of cheese, cold meat and dried fruit. “Food for tomorrow,” and she handed William a similar bag. “And after that, you’re on your own for nourishment.”

“What’s this?” William asked, as she handed him a cloth-wrapped bundle that didn’t smell of food.

“Bandages,” she replied succinctly, and handed him a small wooden box. “And medicines for diarrhea and constipation.”

“Ah. I’m sure those will be helpful,” he said, gingerly stuffing the medical items in his haversack.

“I really hope not,” she said, giving him a bleak look. “But I’ve known your father far too long to have illusions.”

“What about drink?” Fraser interrupted, with what even William could see was mock innocence.

“Just here,” Frances said, with modest triumph, and handed over two similar bags, these clinking and sloshing as they moved. She met William’s eye with a tranquil face—no trace of what had happened in the stable half an hour before.

The qualm fluttered through him once again, but this time he knew what it was. Jane. Standing just behind his shoulder.

“I take your point,” he’d said to her, once.

“Well, that’s a novelty,” she’d replied. “It’s usually the other way round.”

“Goodbye, Frances,” he said abruptly, and turned to mount his horse, consciously not looking as Fraser took farewell of his wife.

[end section]


Click to visit my Book Ten webpage for information on this book, and to read more excerpts from it.


Photo is by me, Diana.

This excerpt and introduction was also posted on Sunday, December 3, 2023 on my official Facebook page.

This excerpt was also posted with the temporary title “Camouflage” on Monday, September 20, 2023. And also on my official Facebook page.

New! Outlander Coloring Book, Vol. 2!


outlander-coloring-vol2-tartanWell…

A brand-new Outlander coloring book is available now. The Outlander Coloring Book, Volume 2 features forty-five all-new illustrations. The thrilling world of Outlander awaits! (Publisher’s hyperbole, you know…?)

ANYway…The Outlander Coloring Book, Volume 2 is indeed out today, and available pretty much everywhere. ALL the buy-links from various retailers are available on the publisher’s page for this book:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725652/the-official-outlander-coloring-book-volume-2-by-diana-gabaldon/

Publisher’s Description (Volume 2):

outlander-coloring-book-vol-2Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed series is brought to life in this spectacular coloring book featuring forty-five all-new illustrations. The thrilling world of Outlander awaits!

From the bustling market streets of Paris to the resplendent court of Versailles, through secret passageways into forbidden apothecaries and onto battlefields to fight for freedom, the colorful world of Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser is now yours to explore. Featuring gorgeous natural landscapes of Scotland and France, detailed drawings of royal court fashion, and heartwarming scenes from Jamie and Claire’s epic love story from renowned illustrators Ana Jaren, Ben Perini, Cat Willett, Matthew Land, Mélanie Delon, and Monika Roe, this official Outlander coloring book will welcome you back into the beloved series with open arms and plenty to drink.

The Official Outlander Coloring Book, Volume 1

The beautiful first volume of the Official Outlander Coloring Book was first published on October 27, 2015, and features forty-five illustrations to color. It is still available for purchase.

ALL the buy-links from various retailers are available on the publisher’s page for the original coloring book, also:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535337/the-official-outlander-coloring-book-by-diana-gabaldon/

Publisher’s description (Volume 1):

outlander-coloring-book-vol-1The world of Outlander awaits!

From the lush green of the Scottish Highlands to the military red of a British soldier’s coat or the vibrant hues of a tartan kilt, the colorful world of Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser is now yours to explore. Featuring gorgeous natural landscapes, detailed drawings of Claire’s medicinal herbs, depictions of the books’ most beloved scenes and characters, and intricately rendered clothing, weapons, and armor straight out of eighteenth-century Scotland, these exquisite black-and-white images—from renowned illustrators Juan Alarc&oacute:n, Yvonne Gilbert, Craig Phillips, Jon Proctor, Tomislav Tominć, and Rebecca Zomchek—are designed to dazzle and inspire. Fans of the series, as well as lovers of history and art, can party like it’s 1743.

Pull out your colored pencils, markers or watercolor paints! My webmistress, Loretta, loves these. She was introduced to coloring books for adults over a decade ago. Both creative and good stress reliever, she says, plus “you get to choose your own colors for everything in the Outlander universe.” <g>

Enjoy! And drop me a line in the web comments below. Remember that web comments are public and are moderated.

-Diana

P.S. Should you happen to want a signed copy, either of #1 or #2, I was just by the Poisoned Pen a couple of days ago, and signed at least a hundred copies of Volume 2, plus a few of Volume 1 they had on hand.

https://store.poisonedpen.com/browse/diana-gabaldon

coloring-bks-vol-1-2-tartan

Yorktown Talk Video and Upcoming Surrey Conference


2023-09-Diana-at-Yorktown-MuseumJust to pass the time—for those interested, here’s the video of my talk at American Revolution Museum at Yorktown last month:

https://vimeo.com/868319035

(as you can no doubt tell from my appearance, it was a Very Warm evening and there were 400 people in a smallish space…)

More about the American Revolution Museum…


Surrey Conference and Local Signing

SiWC-typewriter-smallWell, it’s October…which means that the Surrey International Writers Conference is coming Right Up…

This is the only conference that I do every year—this will be my 32nd, I think… (This is Surrey, British Columbia (i.e., Canada) we’re talking about, btw—not the one in England.) See my appearances page for more information.

And while it may be a bit late to come to the conference this year, there will be a special Reading and Signing event that’s connected to the conference, but open to the public. Here’s the announcement from the conference coordinator:

Hello!

This email is for everyone, whether or not you’re attending this year’s conference. Please feel free to forward it to anyone who might be interested.

It’s October, and the most wonderful time of the year for all of us here at SiWC Central. We’re less than 3 short weeks from this year’s conference, the leaves are turning glorious colours, and right now I can hear rain falling on my roof. What more could anyone want? How about contests and education and signing events with awesome people? We’ve got you! Read on.

Signing Event

If you’re not attending an SiWC Thursday evening master class on October 19, we have something wonderful for your calendar: a reading and signing event hosted by our independent bookstore, Western Sky Books, in partnership with The Royal City Literary Arts Society. Come hear and get your books signed by Diana Gabaldon, Sonali Dev, and Renee Sarojini Saklikar from 7-9 p.m. on October 19 at the Community Art Space at Unit 103-78 10th Street, Columbia Plaza Square, New Westminster.

Season 7 Premieres Today!


Season-7-Tribeca-fest

Phew… is what’s on my mind…

VERY quick trip to a smoky New York five days ago for the Season 7 Premiere of Outlander! (Though we did fit in a quick visit to the Met…)

Wonderful to see everyone, and a Real Thrill to watch Episode 1 with a theater of Hugely Enthusiastic fans!

I’m sure y’all will be equally delighted to see it, too! Do let me know what you think!

Yes, I am short.

-Diana


Outlander, Season 7

season7-jamie-claire“In order to protect what they’ve built, the Frasers have to navigate the Revolutionary War. They learn that sometimes to defend what you love, you have to leave it behind.”

The first episode of Season 7 of Outlander is available from Starz in the U.S.A. through streaming online, the Starz app, or the Starz cable network.

The new season is also available on cable networks and streaming services around the world. (See below.)

Season 7 begins with episode 701, ‘A Life Well Lost,’, in which “Jamie races towards Wilmington to rescue Claire from the gallows, only to discover that the American Revolution has well and truly reached North Carolina.”

Click to watch the Season 7 trailer on Youtube, released a few months ago.

In the U.S.A. – Starz Network and Streaming:

Season 7 consists of sixteen episodes, with the the premiere released today on the Starz website and streaming app at midnight (Eastern time) in the U.S.A. The next seven episodes of the first half of Season 7 will be released each Friday in the weeks after on the Starz website or app for streaming at the same time.

On the Starz cable channel, the first episode will premiere today at 5 p.m. Pacific Time (8 p.m. Eastern Time).  The next seven episodes of the first half of Season 7 will be shown each Friday in the weeks after on the Starz cable channel at the same time.

The second half of Season 7, another eight episodes, will be shown in 2024 in the U.S.A., with a release date to be determined.

For those who are new to the Outlander tv series, Seasons 1 through 6 are available for streaming on the Starz website and app.

Seasons 1-5 of Outlander are apparently available to stream on Netflix, also. A new season of Outlander is usually released on Netflix two years after the finale episode airs on Starz in the U.S.A.. So Season 7 may be available to stream on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Global Release of Outlander, Season 7

For viewers outside the U.S.A., please check with your local cable network and streaming services for all options, which differ from country to country (much like book publishing!). Below is information that has been announced for some countries for Outlander Season 7 by a CNET article:

Canada – W Network. Season 7 will premiere on Sunday, June 18, at 9 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific times).

United Kingdom – Lionsgate Plus. Streaming service Lionsgate Plus has the rights to show Outlander Season 7 exclusively in the U.K.. Like the U.S.A., the new season premiere will be released on Friday, June 16, with new episodes being added once per week. Lionsgate Plus is also available as a channel add-on for Amazon Prime Video in the U.K.

Australia – Foxtel and Binge. Outlander season 7 debuts Fox One on Saturday, June 17, at 7:30 p.m. (AEST). If you don’t have a cable package that carries Fox One, an alternative option is the streaming service Binge, which will have the new season on demand.

Countries including Belgium, France, India, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, Poland, South Korea, and Singapore will have access to weekly episodes of Outlander Season 7 on Netflix alongside its release on Starz in the U.S.A. (above), as was done with Season 6.

Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, and Sweden will have access to Season 7 on Netflix one year after its premiere on Starz, likely a June, 2024 release.

CNET’s article also mentions the use of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) for streaming the new season, but that’s only for the very tech savvy to attempt, IMHO. <g>

The Outlander television series is produced by Starz, Sony, and Tall Ship Productions.


Information on the premiere and release dates outside the U.S.A. are thanks to CNET and Collider articles.

Endings (From My Writer’s Corner)


2023-03-19-weird-balls

Just for fun—rooted this brief excerpt out to illustrate a discussion amongst writers about endings, and I thought y’all might enjoy it.

(The subject was Endings that make the reader want to go on to the next chapter. Basically (I think), that kind of temporary ending is usually either a cliff-hanger type (even a tiny cliff-hanger will do), or a “resting” ending—where Things have been Happening, and you want everyone to be able to stop for a moment and breathe. But there is another kind, that I call “jacks”—in which you scatter a number of small, shiny objects around and cause the reader to want to pick them up. So I was looking for a “jacks” ending to a brief scene, and found this one. Hope you enjoy it!)


RAYMOND—The Chieftains’ Tent

I passed quietly behind the Chieftains’ Tent and paused to look round the edge, down the hill. Was the blue tent moving, or was it only the fire playing on the smooth hide? A long, slender arm suddenly shot out and pulled the hide fully across the entrance.

I sighed, but stood there, watching even though there was nothing to see. It got darker, though, and the blue tent faded into the night. No point in standing here listening to the noises in the tent—but before I could leave, someone called me.

This had happened all my life. Echoes in my ear, sounds coming out of the air. Sometimes words. Now and then, my name. I didn’t realize that not everyone heard this kind of thing, but I found out quickly when I mentioned it to Ergon, who punched me in the stomach, cuffed my ear and told me to shut up.

I shrugged and slipped into the Chieftains’ Tent. If anyone there wanted me, it would most likely be my father.

Toyo was sitting on a auroch’s hide, supposedly tending the firepot but actually dozing, sitting up. He felt the draft when I came in, though, and his head jerked up, turning round.

“Oh, it’s you.” He yawned hugely and stretched, then scrambled to his feet. “I’m going for a piss, then. Mind the fire,” he added automatically, though I had already bent to take some twigs from the pile by the hearth.

The hide dropped heavily behind him, and the tiny flame of the firepot took alarm and struggled wildly.

“It’s all right,” I said to it, and soothed it with a fragrant pine twig. “Here, see? I’m here. It’s all right.”

The fire heard me and brightened, licking delicately at the twig, then taking hold all at once, flaring and gnawing at the bark.

The glow made a tiny shine on the chieftains’ sollens. There were five, standing shoulder to shoulder, set on a big flat hearth-stone to keep them from the damp, even though the baskets were woven tight and smeared with pitch.

There were five: [names]. Teo was my father and I bowed and touched my forehead gently to his sollen. There was a sense of his warmth, quite separate from the warm patch the fire made, but I waited for some time and nothing more happened. He hadn’t called me.

I straightened up, and looked at the other sollens. They all looked the same, bar the slight variations in the weaving, but they didn’t feel the same. I reached out and passed my palm slowly over the tops of the row.

[So, what do you think? Would you go on reading? <g>]


To read more about how I do my work, plus advice for new writers, please visit:

My Writer’s Corner webpage.


And thank you to the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow for the photo of some of their petrospheres! (From Wikimedia— Attribution :By Johnbod. Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37283607)


This excerpt was also posted on my official facebook page on March 18, 2023.

Copyright © by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.