Outlandish Observations

Father's Day quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:43:00 +0000

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! In honor of the day, I thought I'd post a selection of my favorite quotes about fathers and fatherhood from Diana Gabaldon's books. Hope you enjoy them!

OUTLANDER

"I hadna realized until I saw him just how alone I’d felt there--or how scairt. The soldiers would not give us any time alone together, but at least they let me greet him.” He swallowed and went on.

“I told him I was sorry--about Jenny, I meant, and the whole sorry mess. He told me to hush, though, and hugged me tight to him. He asked me was I hurt badly--he knew about the flogging--and I said I’d be all right. The soldiers said I must go then, so he squeezed my arms tight, and told me to remember to pray. He said he would stand by me, no matter what happened, and I must just keep my head up and try not to worrit myself. He kissed my cheek and the soldiers took me away. That was the last time I ever saw him."

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 22, "Reckonings". Copyright© 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

DRAGONFLY IN AMBER

“I wondered a bit,” he said thoughtfully, “whether my father was the sort of father he was because of the way old Simon treated him. I didna realize it at the time, of course, but it’s no so common for a man to show his feelings for his sons.”

“You’ve thought about it a lot.” I offered him another flask of ale, and he took it with a smile that lingered on me, more warming than the feeble autumn sun.

“Aye, I did. I was wondering, ye see, what sort of father I’d be to my own bairns, and looking back a bit to see, my own father being the best example I had. Yet I knew, from the bits that he said, or that Murtagh told me, that his own father was nothing like him, so I thought as how he must have made up his mind to do it all differently, once he had the chance."

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 40, "The Fox's Lair". Copyright© 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

VOYAGER

Willie knew how an earl should behave; he was making a masterful effort to subdue his tears, sniffing ferociously and swiping at his face with a sleeve.

“Allow me, my lord.” Jamie did kneel then, and wiped the little boy’s face gently with his own coarse handkerchief. Willie’s eyes looked at him over the cotton folds, red-rimmed and woeful.

“Have you really got to go, Mac?” he asked, in a very small voice.

“Aye, I have.” He looked into the dark blue eyes, so heartbreakingly like his own, and suddenly didn’t give a damn what was right or who saw. He pulled the boy roughly to him, hugging him tight against his heart, holding the boy’s face close to his shoulder, that Willie might not see the quick tears that fell into his thick, soft hair.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 16, "Willie". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

DRUMS OF AUTUMN

“You can...call me Da,” he said. His voice was husky; he stopped and cleared his throat. “If--if ye want to, I mean,” he added diffidently.

“Da,” she said, and felt the smile bloom easily this time, unmarred by tears.

“Da. Is that Gaelic?”

He smiled back, the corners of his mouth trembling slightly. “No. It’s only...simple.”

And suddenly it was all simple. He held out his arms to her. She stepped into them and found that she had been wrong; he was as big as she’d imagined--and his arms were as strong about her as she had ever dared to hope.

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 41, "Journey's End". Copyright© 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

THE FIERY CROSS

Roger had sworn an oath to take Jemmy as his own, no matter what the little boy’s true paternity might be; he was an honorable man, Roger, and he meant it. But the speech of the heart is louder than the words of any oath spoken by lips alone.

When I had gone back, pregnant, through the stones, Frank had sworn to me that he would keep me as his wife, would treat the coming child as his own--would love me as he had before. All three of those vows his lips and mind had done his best to keep, but his heart, in the end, had sworn only one. From the moment that he took Brianna in his arms, she was his daughter.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 13, "Beans and Barbecue". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES

Jem was heavy in his arms, and groggy. He stirred, lifted his head, and blinked, blue eyes glassy with sleep.

“It’s okay,” Roger whispered, patting his back. “Daddy’s here.”

Jem sighed like a punctured tire and dropped his head on Roger’s shoulder with the force of a spent cannonball. He seemed to inflate again for a moment, but then put his thumb in his mouth and subsided into that peculiarly boneless state common to sleeping children. His flesh seemed to melt comfortably into Roger’s own, his trust so complete that it was not necessary even to maintain the boundaries of his body--Daddy would do that.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 29, "Perfectly Fine". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

AN ECHO IN THE BONE

"For a long time,” he said at last, “when I was small, I pretended to myself that I was the bastard of some great man. All orphans do this, I think,” he added dispassionately. “It makes life easier to bear, to pretend that it will not always be as it is, that someone will come and restore you to your rightful place in the world.”

He shrugged.

“Then I grew older, and knew this was not true. No one would come to rescue me. But then--” He turned his head and gave Jamie a smile of surpassing sweetness.

“Then I grew older still, and discovered that, after all, it was true. I am the son of a great man.”

The hook touched Jamie’s hand, hard and capable.

“I wish for nothing more."

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 18, "Pulling Teeth". Copyright© 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Friday Fun Facts - 6/14/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:01:00 +0000

Here are this week's Friday Fun Facts about Diana Gabaldon's books.

1) This is an example of a polonaise gown, or "robe à la polonaise", made in France in 1775. Look here for close-up views. I think it looks very much like the one Claire described in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES:

“I s’posed to hep you dress, ma’am.”

“But I don’t need any . . .” I began, and then saw the garments laid out on the bed: one of Mrs. Martin’s day gowns, a pretty printed floral cotton, done in the newly popular “polonaise” fashion, complete with voluminous petticoats, silk stockings, and a large straw hat to shade the face.

Evidently, I was meant to impersonate the Governor’s wife. There was no real point in protesting; I could hear the Governor and the butler talking in the hall, and after all--if it got me out of the palace, so much the better.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 93, "In Which I Impersonate a Lady". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's another example of a polonaise gown, from England circa 1770-1780. Both of these gowns come from the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

According to this site,

The polonaise gown first came into fashion in the 1770s. It was a style of gown with a close-fitting bodice and the back of the skirt gathered up into three separate puffed sections to reveal the petticoat below. The method of suspending the fabric varied. Most often the dress had rows of little rings sewn inside the skirt through which a cord ran from hem to waist. Alternatively, ribbon ties would be used, with the ribbons forming decorative bows. However, in some instances the skirt was held in place by simple cords sewn to the inner waist of the dress and looped over buttons attached to the outside waistline.

I think they're just gorgeous!

2) Claire performed a cricothyrotomy to save Roger's life after the hanging in THE FIERY CROSS. The diagram above shows where the incision would be made. (Click on the picture for a bigger view.)

A cricothyrotomy? Fast, and requiring no great skill, but difficult to keep open--and it might not be sufficient to relieve the obstruction. I had one hand on Roger’s sternum, the soft bump of his heart secure under my fingers. Strong enough...maybe.

“Right,” I said to Brianna, hoping I sounded quite calm. “I’ll need a bit of help.”

“Yes,” she said--and thank God, she sounded calm. “What shall I do?”

In essence, nothing all that difficult; simply hold Roger’s head pulled well back, and keep it steady while I slit his throat.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 69, "Hideous Emergency". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's a video animation of how a cricothyrotomy is performed using modern equipment. Claire, of course, had nothing but a scalpel, and a broken pipe stem to use as a breathing tube. From Wikipedia:

Cricothyrotomy is easier and quicker to perform than tracheotomy, does not require manipulation of the cervical spine, and is associated with fewer complications. However, while cricothyrotomy may be life-saving in extreme circumstances, this technique is only intended to be a temporizing measure until a definitive airway can be established.

Look here for step-by-step instructions on how to perform an emergency cricothyrotomy.

3) This is a British one-shilling coin from 1763, showing King George III. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Ian swore, picking up the coin.

“How d’ye do that? Every night ye’ve said ‘tails,’ and every night, tails it is!”

“Well, it’s your shilling, Ian. Dinna blame me.” He sat down on the bed platform and stretched himself pleasurably, then relented. “Look at Geordie’s nose.”

Ian flipped the shilling over in his fingers and held it to the light of the fire, squinting, then swore again. A tiny splotch of beeswax, so thin as to be invisible unless you were looking, ornamented the aristocratically prominent nose of George III, Rex Britannia.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 14, "People of the Snowbird". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This coin would have been about ten years old by the time Ian acquired it, which would explain its somewhat battered appearance. <g>

4) This is what a buffalo robe looks like. Photo credits: Erin and Lance Willett (top) and paintedpony7 (bottom), on Flickr.

"I brought ye a present, Sassenach,” Jamie said, grinning and wiping sweat from his jaw.

“A...present,” I said faintly, looking at the enormous heap of...what?...he had dropped on the ground at my feet. Then the smell reached me.

“A buffalo robe!” I exclaimed. “Oh, Jamie! A real buffalo robe?”

Not much doubt of that. It was not--thank God--a fresh one, but the scent of its original owner was still perceptible, even in the cold. I fell to my knees, running my hands over it. It was well-cured, flexible, and relatively clean, the wool of it rough under my hands but free of mud, burrs, clumps of dung, and the other impedimenta that normally attended live buffalo. It was enormous. And warm. Wonderfully warm.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 68, "Despoiler". Copyright© 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I have always thought it was a shame that Jamie and Claire never got to try out the buffalo robe. <g> Given that they departed for Scotland only a short time later, I wonder what happened to it? Do you suppose they left it with Rachel?

5) This photo shows part of the underground network of tunnels below the city of Paris, known as the Catacombs. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

This video gives a fascinating glimpse into the Catacombs. These tunnels have been closed off to the public for decades. You can see why the Comte St. Germain would consider this an ideal hiding place for his cache of gemstones. Imagine him making his way through these tunnels with a torch that burned green fire.

His torch had begun to gutter already, and he pulled another from the bag and lit it from the remains of the first, which he dropped on the floor at the entrance to the side-tunnel, leaving it to flare and smolder behind him, the smoke catching at his throat. He knew his way, but even so, it was as well to leave landmarks, here in the realm of everlasting night. The mine had deep rooms, one far back that showed strange paintings on the wall, of animals that didn't exist, but had an astonishing vividness, as though they would leap from the wall and stampede down the passages. Sometimes--rarely--he went all the way down into the bowels of the earth, just to look at them.

(From "The Space Between", in A TRAIL OF FIRE by Diana Gabaldon. Copyright© 2012 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

If you haven't yet read "The Space Between", I highly recommend it! Look here for more information.

I hope you enjoyed these Friday Fun Facts! Look here to see all of my Friday Fun Facts blog posts, and please come back next week for more.

Let the countdown begin!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:24:00 +0000

By request, here is my countdown widget for WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD!

It's counting down to midnight Eastern Time on March 25, 2014, the date when MOHB will be published in the US and Canada. (If you missed Diana Gabaldon's announcement about the publication date, look here.)

Countdown Creator Progreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Please keep in mind this is a totally unofficial, homemade countdown. When ECHO came out in 2009, Random House created an official countdown widget a few weeks before its publication, and I'm hoping they will do the same thing for MOHB when the date gets closer.

Feel free to share this widget or put it up on your own site.

FAQs have been updated

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:50:00 +0000

In honor of all the Big News lately, about the upcoming STARZ TV series and the March 25, 2014, release date for WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD, I thought it was time to refresh all of my FAQ pages with current information.

So here they are. You can also access the FAQs from the links at the top of this page.

FAQ - for answers to commonly asked questions about the books and the series in general.

Book 8 FAQ - commonly asked questions about WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD.

Release Dates - everything we know right now about Diana Gabaldon's new and upcoming books and stories, including publication dates if they've been announced.

OUTLANDER TV Series FAQ - This is a new page that I created last week, specifically for answers to common questions about the TV series. I will be adding more to it in the coming weeks and months, as more information becomes available.

I hope you find these pages useful! Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see added.

WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD official release date!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:25:00 +0000

It's official!! WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD, the 8th book in Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER series, will be released in the US and Canada on Tuesday, March 25, 2014!

Diana Gabaldon has confirmed this date on her Facebook page, and it's also showing as March 25, 2014, on Amazon.com, and BN.com.

Here is Diana's Facebook post explaining the reasons why they chose the March 25 date. I would really encourage you to read through the whole thing.

Alrighty, then...pub date. I see Random House has posted the "Official North American Publication Date" <ahem>...so now we have one.

I sympathize with everyone who would like the book out sooner than March--so would I. But I thought I might explain just _why_ Random House decided on this date.

Now, my personal deadline (such as it is) hasn't changed; I still expect/hope to deliver the manuscript sometime this fall. RH's thoughts in re setting the pub date for March were:

1. With a delivery in the fall (perhaps late fall), they'd have to do a huge "crash" production in order to get the book into stores by December. We've done this kind of thing before, with THE FIERY CROSS, A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, _and_ AN ECHO IN THE BONE. Having experienced the horrors of dealing with a 1000-page book in a Big Hurry....they _really_ don't want to do it again, if they can help it. By itself, though, that wouldn't be enough reason to push the date back.

2. What's a better reason is that if the book came out in mid-December, we couldn't do a full-scale tour (last time I did a full-scale tour, it covered six countries and took two and a half months). And as you can see from the chorus of, "But why aren't you coming to Dallas/SanFrancisco/GopherSprings/Galveston/St.Paul/Wilmington/Bangor/etc./etc./etc...." _every_ dang time I post an appearance schedule--you'd have to assume that a whole lot of people would really _like_ it if I was able to come sign the new book somewhere close to them. And I couldn't do that with a December pub date, 'cuz much as I love y'all <g>, I love my family summat more, and am not leaving them at Christmas.

3. But the MAIN reason for moving the date is simple: the new TV series. Two parts to that:

3a. I don't have CONTROL over the series content/casting/etc.--but I am legally a co-producer and consultant, by the terms of the contract we signed with Sony/STARZ. They start filming in September; that means I need to be semi-available, at least to give the occasional opinion, as of July or August. Now, I don't _think_ that this responsibility will slow down the final phases of the book much (I'm accustomed to working on multiple projects, and to working just about anywhere)---but I've never done this before, so I can't say for sure. Much more important (to Random House <wry g>), though, is...

3b. They'd _really_ like MOBY to come out close to the air date of the TV series, for very obvious reasons. The instant I told them that the series had been picked up by Starz, they started plotting marketing, packaging, you name it...it was at a cocktail party, and you could see them all light up like a pinball machine as they got the news. <g>

I'm figuring from the general response to the announcement of the TV series that most of you are more or less in favor of that--but whether you individually are or not...it'll happen, barring some unforeseen catastrophe. Which means that it will have a fairly big impact on the books as a whole, and on MOBY as a unit. And you know...publishers _care_ about that sort of thing. Intensely.

So that's it. For my part--all I can do is give you the best book I can write, and I promise you that. <smile>

(Note to those of you in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand: I don't know if the March 25 date applies to you or not, but if I find out anything definite, I will post it here.)

Please pass the word to any other OUTLANDER fans you may know. Thanks!

I'm glad we finally have a confirmed date. Spring 2014 looks like it's going to be Highly Entertaining for OUTLANDER fans, on a number of levels. <g>

Article about the TV series in The Scotsman

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:14:00 +0000

Here's an article about the upcoming OUTLANDER TV series that appeared in the June 6 edition of The Scotsman, a major newspaper in Scotland.

Note this comment from the show's executive producer, Ron Moore:

"The idea would be to do a season a book."

Isn't that great news?!

By the way, don't be dismayed by the comments accompanying the article. Here's Diana Gabaldon's reaction on Compuserve:

The comments there actually have nothing at all to do with the story, my books, or the TV show. They're part of the ongoing (and increasingly acrimonious) argument between supporters of the SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party), who are heavily in favor of Scotland leaving the Union with England and becoming entirely independent, and those who think (with some reason) that this would be a disastrous idea and that the SNP are dangerous nuts. <g>

Evidently, they'll seize on anything--in this instance, the suggestion that the TV series might increase tourism (thus enhancing the Scottish economy)--to snipe at each other in a public forum.

For more information about the TV series, please check out my new OUTLANDER TV Series FAQ. I will update it as more information becomes available.

Friday Fun Facts - 6/7/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:16:00 +0000

Here are this week's Friday Fun Facts about Diana Gabaldon's books.

1) You may remember Duncan Innes telling Roger this story in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES:

"Margaret,” he said. “Her name was Margaret. Eighteen she was, at the time.....[They] dragged her doon to the shore, her and an auld Covenanter woman from the village, stripped them, and tied them both to stakes at the tide line. Waited there, the crowd o’ them, for the water to come in.”

He took another swallow, not waiting for the taste of it.

“The auld woman went under first; they’d tied her closer to the water--I suppose thinking Margaret would give in, if she saw the auld woman die.” He grunted, shaking his head. “But nay, not a bit of it. The tide rose, and the waves came up ower her. She choked, and she coughed, and her hair loose, hanging over her face, plastered doon like kelp, when the water went out.

“My mither saw it,” he explained, lifting his glass. “She was but seven at the time, but she never forgot."

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 15, "Stakit to Droon". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

What Duncan is describing is a real historical incident. The statue shown above, from Knox College in Toronto, Canada, depicts Margaret Wilson, the younger of the two women executed by drowning on the Solway Firth in 1685. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

From Wikipedia:

On 11th May 1685....Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan were chained to stakes on the Solway Firth. At the last moment, choking on the salt water, Margaret Wilson was allowed to offer a prayer for the King, which she did, but she continued to refuse to abjure the covenant. This was not good enough for her accusers, and she was forcibly thrust beneath the waves. It is said that, as the tide rose, she defiantly quoted from the psalms and the epistles and sang until she drowned.

These women became known as the Solway Martyrs. For more information, look here.

2) The photo above shows Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever.

That seaman didn’t have the characteristic belly rash, nor the next, but the third one did. The light red rosettes were plain on the clammy white skin. I pressed firmly on one, and it disappeared, blinking back into existence a moment later, as the blood returned to the skin. I squeezed my way between the hammocks, the heavy, sweating bodies pressing in on me from either side, and made my way back to the companionway where Captain Leonard and two more of his midshipmen waited for me.

“It’s typhoid,” I told the Captain. I was as sure as I could be, lacking a microscope and blood culture.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 46, "We Meet a Porpoise". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here is a list of symptoms of typhoid fever. What a horrifying disease! I think it's amazing that Claire was able to save as many lives as she did, working under such primitive conditions aboard the Porpoise.

Typhoid can only spread in environments where human feces or urine are able to come into contact with food or drinking water. Improved sanitation and the development of a typhoid vaccine have greatly reduced the spread of this disease in modern times, but it remains a serious worldwide threat, especially in the developing world, affecting an estimated 22 million people each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease is endemic in India, Southeast Asia, Africa, South America and many other areas.

3) This photo from Wikipedia shows what a girdled tree looks like. You can see why Roger didn't like doing this job.

"Sorry,” he murmured under his breath to the tree he had selected. It was ridiculous to feel pity for a tree; the more so in this sprawling wilderness, where saplings sprang out of the thawing earth with such spring vigor as to crack solid rock and the mountains were so thickly blanketed with trees that the air itself was a smoky blue with their exhalations. For that matter, the emotion wouldn’t last longer than it took to begin the job; by the time he reached the third tree, he would be sweating freely and cursing the awkwardness of the work.

Still, he always approached the job with a faint reluctance, disliking the manner of it more than the result. Chopping down a tree for timber was straight-forward; girdling it seemed somehow mean-spirited, if practical, leaving the tree to die slowly, unable to bring water from its roots above the ring of bare, exposed wood.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 95, "The Summer Dim". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Girdling is used in the same manner today, to kill unwanted trees, but you may be surprised to learn that a similar technique is also used to encourage trees to produce more fruit. Here's an article about the benefits of girdling peach trees.

4) The photo above shows an orb weaver spider spinning its web. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

The orb weaver was advancing cautiously toward the center of her web again.

“See where she walks?” Jamie pointed to the web, anchored by a number of spokes, supporting the intricate netlike whorl. “The spokes there, those are spun of the dry silk, so the spider can walk over it herself wi’ no trouble. But the rest o’ the web is the sticky kind of silk--or mostly so--and if ye watch a spider careful for quite a long time, you’ll see that she goes only on the dry strands, for if she walked on the sticky stuff, she’d be stuck herself.”

“Is that so?” Ian breathed reverently on the web, watching intently as the spider moved away along her nonskid road to safety.

“I suppose there’s a moral there for web weavers,” Jamie observed to me, sotto voce. “Be sure ye know which of your strands are sticky.”

“I suppose it helps even more if you have the kind of luck that will conjure up a handy spider when you need one,” I said dryly.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 29, "Culloden's Last Victim". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's a video showing how the spider spins its web.

How do spiders avoid getting stuck in their own webs? Look here.

5) Here's an example of a pie safe from Colonial North Carolina. Click on the photo for a bigger view. I like to think it might have been similar to the one Jamie and Claire had in their house on Fraser's Ridge.

"No!” I said, my voice sounding rather louder than I intended. “I’m not...damaged.”

He said something in Gaelic under his breath, short and explosive, and shoved himself away from the table. His stool fell over with a loud crash, and he kicked it. Then he kicked it again, and again, and stamped on it with such violence that bits of wood flew across the kitchen and struck the pie safe with little pinging sounds.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 29, "Perfectly Fine". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

According to this site, the purpose of a pie safe is to keep mice and flies away from baked goods, while still providing enough ventilation (through the tiny holes in the pierced-tin panels) so that the food doesn't spoil.

The photo above shows a pie safe from the 1820s, made of walnut.

The panels on these pie safes were often beautifully decorated, as you can see from this example.

I hope you enjoyed these Friday Fun Facts! Look here to see all of my Friday Fun Facts blog posts, and please come back next week for more.

Diana Gabaldon's comments about the TV series

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 10:00:00 +0000

With all the excitement about the upcoming OUTLANDER TV series on STARZ (if you missed Diana Gabaldon's big announcement, look here for a video), there have been a lot of rumors flying around. Diana posted the following on her Facebook page, and I thought it was worth quoting in its entirety, for those of you who do not have access to Facebook.

OK, a slight correction: the production people tell me that the sixteen episodes are all for the _first_ season. (And if all goes well with that...they then might get a second season. This is kind of how television works, you know?)

Many thanks for your delight and enthusiasm! I'm sure with support from you, the show will do just fine. <smile>

As for the "oh, they'll RUIN it/oh,I can't stand to watch/oh, it'll be cheap and cheesy/oh, they're sure to mess up the characters/destroy the storyline, etc., etc., etc."...comments, you guys are of course welcome to your opinions, too--but feel free to curb your enthusiasm at any time. <cough>

I am NOT writing this show. I am not CASTING this show. I do not have CONTROL over this show. (I do have input, and the production people are very kind about asking my opinion on things. This does not mean they have a legal obligation to take it. <wry g>)

You know why not? Because I don't want to. I'm a novelist, not a screen-writer. I'm a naturally solitary writer--I don't even have research assistants; my books are mine alone. Screen-writing, by contrast, is an intensely collaborative business.

Scripts go through dozens (literally) of iterations, being worked on by any number of people--then reworked by other people, over and over. A new director (for a show or an episode) can insist on a new direction or changes; an influential actor can ask for changes. Multiple writers means constant--and I do mean constant--collaboration.

I'm not a team player. (Ask anybody. <g>) AND I have books to write. Were I to be involved in a TV series beyond simple consulting, it would suck my soul, waste my life, prevent me ever writing another book, and be generally a Bad Idea. I'm not doing it.

I would also probably not be good at it, whereas I have a good deal of faith in the very experienced and talented people who _are_ doing it. I saw the pilot script and thought it was an amazingly good adaptation (by marked contrast to various film scripts I've seen over the years <shudder>).

So, you know....chill. <g> Cross your fingers, hope for the best, and if you can't stand to watch, wait and read the reviews, and if it looks OK, you can get the DVD. <g>

I'm cautiously optimistic, at least for now. Sixteen episodes for one season is more than I thought we would be getting. And I personally would much rather have Diana focus her talent and energy on writing novels, rather than spending time on the TV series.

As for the rest of our many questions about how all this will work, all I can say is...

That's "wait and see" in Gaelic. (One of Diana Gabaldon's favorite phrases.)

Videos of Diana Gabaldon at BEA

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 11:21:00 +0000

Here are a couple of videos from Diana Gabaldon's June 1 appearance at Book Expo America in New York.

The first one comes from the Adult Book & Author Breakfast event. Diana's part starts around 51 minutes into the video, with an introduction by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Make sure you watch the very end (starting about 1:03:00 into the video), where Diana makes two big announcements that all OUTLANDER fans will want to know about!

Here's a very interesting one-on-one interview with Diana, also from BEA.

Big News from Diana!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 14:16:00 +0000

Thanks to Nicole S. on Compuserve for passing on some Big News from Diana Gabaldon's event at Book Expo America in New York earlier today:

She said she....signed the contract to the TV series last night, they'll probably start filming in September this year (no, she hasn't any idea who will be cast <g>) and the pilot will probably air in spring 2014.

WOW! Just...wow! If you want to let Diana know what you think about this news, there's a thread on Compuserve here. (For those of you who don't know, what Diana is referring to is an OUTLANDER TV series on the STARZ cable channel.)

According to this site, there will be a total of 16 episodes.

Nicole also shared Diana's brief update on WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD:

Diana said she'll finish writing MOBY this year (probably around September) and chances are good that it will hit the shelves in December.

That's excellent news! So the December 10 publication date showing on Amazon and elsewhere might be the real date after all! <vbg>

[UPDATE 6/2/2013 7:50 am: If you want to see the video of Diana Gabaldon's appearance at BEA where she made the big announcement, look here.]

[UPDATE 6/2/2013 9:06 am: Diana posted the following comment on her FB page this morning:

All I've been told is that they do plan 16 episodes (spread over two seasons), they _hope_ to start filming around September, and (_if_ everything goes well with the production), it _might_ air in the spring. Good luck to 'em!

I have no additional information, but if I hear anything more about the TV series, I will certainly post it here!

May poll results

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Here are the results of the May poll:

What's your favorite way to read or listen to Diana Gabaldon's books?

24.06% - Reading the books in hardcover.
16.69% - Reading the books in paperback.
12.15% - Reading on my Kindle, Nook, or other e-reader.
11.01% - Listening to the audiobooks on my iPod or other portable device.
6.81% - It depends on the situation, or what mood I'm in.
3.86% - Reading on my iPhone, iPad, or similar device.
2.61% - Listening to the CDs.
19.18% - All of the above.
3.63% - Other

Here are the results for Other. I was surprised by the number of people who said they read and listen at the same time!

paperback and Sony E-Reader
I've read both hardcover and paperback. I do like hardcover better,
now it is listening to audio after at least 15 readings of all of the books!
Reading hardcover and paperback and listening to my iPod.
Anytime I take a car trip over 2 hours, I'm listening to one of the stories.
#1-4, #7
Reading on my Nook, or listening to the audiobooks while I garden for hours!!
eading hardcover and listining on cd's
Reading on my iPhone, iPad, or similar device.Listening to the audiobooks on my
Any way I can.
I like the big paperbacks or hardcover
I started with paperback and moved to hardcover when new books came out.
reading the books in larger sized paperback format--trade book (lays open)
I listen and read at the same time.
I have HB, trade pb, and audio of ALL
Read the book (hardcover or paperback) then the CD. I love the accents!
I've read them in hard & softcover,time to begin again on audio
fot the third... no fourth time!!
Reading the books in paperbacks, my only book in hardcover is The Outlandish Companion
read mainly paperbacks but got a couple of hardbacks
Reading the books.... in any form available!!!
reading on Kindle or iPhone and listening on iPod
have both hard cover & soft cover books
I get books at book swaps... Have found her books on 4 continents. :)
I listen to audiobooks while following along with the books in hardcover.
Just read 2+ of them siting on the deck of a cruise ship. That was pretty good.
Just books, any form.
I read on my Kindle and iPhone, and listen on my Kindle and iPhone
just reading, I don't care if it's paperback, hardcover, or e-reader, all good
Hard cover, Paper or Kindle
Reading in hardcover or on my kindle.
Listening to Davina Porter whle I read along in the books!

There were 881 votes in this poll. Thanks very much to everyone who participated! I didn't vote in the poll myself, but I usually listen to the audiobooks on my iPod. I think Davina Porter is a wonderful narrator! <g>

Please take a moment to vote in the June poll, which is all about whether you read excerpts or not. Thanks! (If you don't see the poll at the top right side of the page, go here.)

Friday Fun Facts - 5/31/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:15:00 +0000

Here are this week's Friday Fun Facts about Diana Gabaldon's books.

1) This is an example of a pottery dish from the 18th-century Moravian settlement at Salem, North Carolina, dating from 1775-1785, during Gottfried Aust's tenure as master potter. (Click on the photo for a bigger view.) I like to think that it might be the very one that Roger and Bree saw in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES:

"Aye, but what about clay?” [Roger] interrupted. “Did ye see that plate at Hilda’s wedding? The big brown and red one, with the beautiful patterns?”

“Yes,” she said. “Why?”

"Ute McGillivray said someone from Salem brought it. I dinna recall the name, but she said he was quite the big noise in potting--or whatever ye call making dishes.”

“I’ll bet you any amount of money she didn’t say that!”

“Well, words to that effect.” He went on, undeterred. “The point being that he made it here; it wasn’t something he’d brought from Germany. So there’s clay about that’s suitable for firing, eh?”

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 6, "Ambush". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

My mom and I recently went to see an exhibit at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh, NC, featuring many examples of 18th and early 19th century Moravian and Quaker pottery from the area around Salem and Bethabara (near what is now Winston-Salem, NC). Some of the pieces are really quite beautiful! Here's a PDF file with more information, including photos of many of the pieces we saw in that exhibit.

2) This is what yarrow (Achillea millefolium) looks like. Click on the photo for a bigger view. Claire frequently mentions yarrow among her medicinal herbs:

Willow bark, cherry bark, fleabane, yarrow. Penicillin was by far the most effective of the antibiotics available, but it wasn’t the only one. People had been waging war on germs for thousands of years, without any notion what they were fighting. I knew; that was some slight advantage.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 93, "Choices". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

According to this site,

Yarrow has a vast array of medicinal properties. The volatile oils work as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and diuretic agents. The tannins are aggressive astringents. The alkaloids are both hypotensive and hypoglycemic. Yarrow even has coumarin in its cells which works as an anti-thrombotic to reduce high blood pressure.

For more information about the medicinal uses of yarrow, look here and here.

3) This is the opening theme from "Perry Mason" that was used from 1959-61. Brianna would have been about 11-13 years old at the time.

She nodded, the memory of her own old room in the house on Furey Street rising around her, vivid as a vision in the smoke. The striped wool blanket, itchy under her chin, and the mattress with the indentation of her body in the middle, cupping her like a huge, warm hand. Angus, the stuffed Scottie with the ragged tam-o-shanter who shared her bed, and the comforting hum of her parents’ conversation from the living room below, punctuated by the baritone sax of the theme music from Perry Mason.

Most of all, the sense of absolute security.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 69, "A Stampede of Beavers". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"Perry Mason" was a few years before my time (I was born in 1964), so I don't think I've ever actually watched it, but I always like the pop culture references in the books. And I think it's interesting that Claire and Frank were evidently in the habit of watching this show together. Despite the strains in their marriage, they did have a few things in common.

4) This photo shows what a Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia) looks like.

"Lord help us, it’s the young Scottish wildcat! I thought I’d dealt with you once and for all! Back healed after all, did it? And this is your wife, you say? Quite a tasty little wench, she is, quite like your sister.”

Still shielded by his partly turned body, Randall’s knife-hand swiveled; the blade was now pointed at my throat. I could see Jamie over his shoulder, braced in the window like a cat about to spring. The pistol barrel didn’t waver, nor did he change expression. The only clue to his emotions was the dusky red creeping up his throat; his collar was unbuttoned and the small scar on his neck flamed crimson.

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 21, "Une Mauvais Quart D'Heure After Another". Copyright© 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's a brief video about Scottish wildcats. These beautiful animals are on the verge of extinction, due to interbreeding with feral domestic cats.

From Wikipedia:

The wildcat is considered an icon of the Scottish wilderness, and has been used in clan heraldry since the 13th century. The Picts venerated wildcats, having probably named Caithness (Land of the Cats) after them. According to the foundation myth of the Catti tribe, their ancestors were attacked by wildcats upon landing in Scotland. Their ferocity impressed the Catti so much, that the wildcat became their symbol. A thousand years later, the progenitors of Clan Sutherland, equally impressed, adopted the wildcat on their family crest.

Several different clans, including Sutherland, MacPherson, and Mackintosh, have wildcats in their emblems.

5) This famous 1822 painting by John Trumbull, which hangs in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, depicts the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, which took place on October 17, 1777.

October 17, like all the days that had gone before it, dawned dark and foggy. In his tent, General Burgoyne dressed with particular care, in a gorgeous scarlet coat with gold braid and a hat decorated with plumes. William saw him, when he went with the other officers to Burgoyne’s tent for their last, anguished meeting.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 69, "Terms of Surrender". Copyright© 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Click on the photo for a bigger view. In the painting, British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne (in red) attempts to hand his sword to American Major General Horatio Gates (in blue), while American Colonel Daniel Morgan (in white) looks on. If you look closely at General Burgoyne, you can see the plumed hat in his left hand.

Here is a key identifying each of the men in the painting. We can assume that William is standing somewhere nearby <g>, along with the rest of the British troops.

I hope you enjoyed these Friday Fun Facts! Look here to see all of my Friday Fun Facts blog posts, and please come back next week for more.

DANGEROUS WOMEN cover art

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 26 May 2013 12:12:00 +0000

This is the cover art for the upcoming DANGEROUS WOMEN anthology, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, which will include Diana Gabaldon's story, "Virgins", about Jamie and Ian as young mercenaries in France, before Jamie met Claire.

Click on the picture for a bigger view.

My immediate reaction: at first glance, this cover looks sort of bland. <shrug> I do like the "barbed" look of the lettering used in the title, but I doubt that would make me pick it up, if I didn't already know that Diana had a new story in this anthology. What do the rest of you think?

You can pre-order DANGEROUS WOMEN here (Amazon.com) or here (Barnes & Noble), but please keep in mind that the publication date is not yet set in stone.

Note to readers outside the US: I have no information yet about availability of this anthology in other countries, but we should learn more in the coming months.

In case you're wondering, Diana finished writing "Virgins" in March 2012. You can see excerpts from the story (and links to #DailyLines about it) here.

Memorial Day Weekend SALE on Zazzle.com!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:38:00 +0000

All products in my Outlandish Observations shop on Zazzle.com are 15% off through Monday, 5/27! Simply use the code 15OFFPRODUCT at checkout.

Here are a few of the products I have available. I also have T-shirts, mouse pads, and more! I will be adding more items in the coming days.

Thanks very much to those of you who have already ordered products from my Zazzle store. I'm very pleased by the response in this first month.

Friday Fun Facts - 5/24/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:22:00 +0000

Here are this week's Friday Fun Facts about Diana Gabaldon's books.

1) The snake that escaped during Roger's sermon in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES was, from the description, most likely a scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides), like the one shown above.

It was instinct, honed by innumerable lectures, that made him aware that something was amiss. There was some slight disturbance in the far corner, where several half-grown lads had congregated. A couple of the numerous McAfee boys, and Jacky Lachlan, widely known as a limb of Satan.

No more than a nudge, the glint of an eye, some sense of subterranean excitement. But he sensed it, and kept glancing back at that corner with a narrowed eye, in hopes of keeping them subdued. And so happened to be looking when the serpent slithered out between Mrs. Crombie’s shoes. It was a largish king snake, brightly striped with red, yellow, and black, and it seemed fairly calm, all things considered.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 58, "Love One Another". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

According to this site, the scarlet kingsnake is fairly small -- the adults range from 14 to 20 inches in length -- and not venomous.

2) This illustration shows what a baby with achondroplasia looks like. That's the same form of dwarfism that Henri-Christian has.

“He looks funny,” [Germain] said, and frowned a little. “What’s wrong with him?”

Fergus had been standing stock-still, as had we all. At this, he looked down at Germain, then glanced back at the baby, then again to his firstborn son.

“Il est un nain,” he said, almost casually. He squeezed Germain’s shoulder, hard enough to elicit a yelp of startlement from the boy, then turned suddenly on his heel and went out. I heard the opening of the front door, and a cold draft swept down the hall and through the room.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Laminaria". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's a photo of a newborn baby with achondroplasia. And I like this photo gallery, showing a family living with achondroplasia.

Where did Diana get the idea of having a character born with dwarfism? She explained it this way, in a post on Compuserve in 2008:

I'd had it vaguely in mind that we might have a child with dwarfism sometime, for quite awhile. Several years back, I did an interview with a CBC interviewer named Anne Dawson, who told me--when we were just talking, after the interview--that one thing she particularly liked about my books was that I _did_ have characters with handicaps (it was Iain Findlay she was talking about), and that this struck a personal chord with her, because her daughter had dwarfism, and she so much appreciated the attitude that people with "defects" were real people, too.

Anyway, it just occurred to me to wonder--knowing Fergus's insecurities as I do--what it would do to him if the new baby was different.

It's become much more common to see "little people" on television these days (the Roloffs from Little People, Big World on TLC, and Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion in HBO's Game of Thrones, being probably the best-known examples), but it's rare to encounter them in person. I had a friend in college who had this same type of dwarfism, but she's the only one I've ever met.

For more information about achondroplasia, look here.

3) These photos show Ashness Bridge, in the Lake District of England. (Photo credits: Maoli and knobby1000, on Flickr. Click on the photos to enlarge them.) Notice the mountains in the distance, just as they're described in VOYAGER:

It was late afternoon when they crossed the arch of Ashness Bridge and started down the slope toward Watendlath Tarn. The Lake District of England was nothing like Scotland, Grey reflected, but at least there were mountains here. Round-flanked, fat and dreamy mountains, not sternly forbidding like the Highland crags, but mountains nonetheless.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 14, "Geneva". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I've never been to the Lake District. Have any of you visited the area around Ashness, where Helwater is supposed to be located? It does look like a beautiful place.

4) Here are a couple of examples of condoms made from animal gut, secured with bits of colorful silk ribbon. The photo at the top shows a condom from Sweden, circa 1640. The bottom photo shows a late-18th-century specimen from England. I think these are similar to the ones Lord John saw in the apothecary's shop in PRIVATE MATTER:

“Those can be supplied with ribbons in regimental colors, sir,” Scanlon called, seeing him pause before a jaunty assortment of Condoms Design’d for Gentlemen, each sample displayed on a glass mold, the ribbons that secured the neck of each device coiled delicately around the foot of its mold. “Sheep’s gut or goat, per your preference, sir--scented, three farthings extra. That would be gratis to you gentlemen, of course,” he added urbanely, bowing as he tilted the neck of the bottle over Stubbs’s cup again.

"Thank you," Grey said politely. "Perhaps later."

(From LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 17, "Nemesis". Copyright© 2003 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's an article about the use of condoms in the 18th century. Note that these condoms were intended to be used more than once (!) No wonder they weren't very effective. <g>

5) The term "mast" refers to the fruit of forest trees, like acorns and other nuts. According to Wikipedia,

The term "mast" comes from the Old English word "mæst", meaning the nuts of forest trees that have accumulated on the ground, especially those used as food for fattening domestic pigs.

The piglets shown above are rooting in chestnut mast, just like they did on Fraser's Ridge. (Click on the photo for a bigger view.)

Within the month, it would be time to drive in the pigs that had been turned out to live wild in the forest, fattening themselves on the chestnut mast that lay thick on the ground. Some would have fallen prey to wild animals or accident, but there would likely be fifty or sixty left to slaughter or sell.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 86, "There's a Hole at the Bottom of the Sea". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

According to this site,

One of the dominant trees of the Eastern woodlands was the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata), which made up as many as one fourth of all trees in some regions of the Eastern United States. Whole industries revolved around the magnificent trees, which produced excellent timber in addition to delicious nuts. The trees were such prolific nut producers that after nuts had been gathered and shipped out for human consumption in towns and cities up and down the Eastern seaboard, there was usually plenty left over for the pigs, and chestnut-fed pork was considered to be the sweetest and best pork by early American colonists.

Unfortunately, those American chestnut trees were almost entirely wiped out by disease in the first half of the 20th century.

I hope you enjoyed these Friday Fun Facts! Look here to see all of my Friday Fun Facts blog posts, and please come back next week for more.

Book Review: THE GARDEN COTTAGE DIARIES

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:07:00 +0000

Are you fascinated by the details of 18th-century life that Diana Gabaldon describes in her books? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel back in time and live the way the people at Lallybroch or on Fraser's Ridge would have lived?

Scottish author Fiona Houston isn't a time-traveler <g>, but she's written a fascinating and very entertaining book called THE GARDEN COTTAGE DIARIES: My Year in the Eighteenth Century, that I think many OUTLANDER fans would enjoy. Here's the description from Amazon.com:

Challenged to prove her claim that an 18th-century diet was better than today's, for a full year Fiona J. Houston recreated the lifestyle of her 1790s rural Scottish ancestors in a basic one-roomed cottage, cooking from her garden and the wild, often entertaining family and friends, and surviving on her own resources. She learned lost crafts and skills, making nettle string, quill pens and ink as well as cheese and ale, lighting her fire from flints, and dressing in hand-sewn period clothing, with nothing but an old range stove and candles for warmth and light. This beautiful, quirky, illustrated title tells her extraordinary story and is packed with historical anecdotes, folklore, practical gardening info, seasonal menus, recipes, wildlife notes and more. Includes linocuts, photos and historic engravings.

If you've ever wondered how people coped with the mundane tasks of daily life in the 18th century, you'll find it in this book. Everything from doing the laundry, to making candles, to the best method for airing out a wool-stuffed mattress, to cooking bannocks on a girdle over the fire, and much, much more!

Houston handles the challenges of 18th-century life very well, for the most part, though she occasionally "cheats", taking advantage of modern forms of transportation to visit family or friends elsewhere in the UK, for example. At one point, overcome with frustration when her freshly washed sheets became soiled while hanging on a line to dry, she takes them back to her 21st century house to run through the washing machine. I can't really say I blame her for that -- the temptation must have been too much to resist -- but I admit I was a bit disappointed on the rare occasions when she confesses to using some item of modern technology.

But that's really a minor quibble. I think anyone who enjoys the details of daily life in the 18th century as described in Diana Gabaldon's books would find this book fascinating. I certainly did! <g>

Thanks very much to MC on Compuserve for telling me about the book!

Going to Grandfather Mountain in July!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:54:00 +0000

Are any of you going to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games this year (July 11-14)?

I will be there, with my mom and dad. This will be our second time at GFM. I really enjoyed my first visit, in 2010, and I'm very much looking forward to going back!

Our current plan is to drive out there on Thursday, July 11th, attend the Games on Friday, and drive back Saturday morning. If you're planning to be there, let me know. It would be fun to see other Diana Gabaldon fans there!

Friday Fun Facts - 5/17/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:01:00 +0000

Here are this week's Friday Fun Facts about Diana Gabaldon's books.

1) Have you ever wondered what it's like to write with a quill? Here are some tips.

I chose a quill from the cut-glass holder on the desk, found a silver penknife by it, trimmed the quill to my liking, uncorked the inkwell, and set about the business, deeply aware of the scrutiny of the two men.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "Amanuensis". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This video, by a re-enactor from Alamance Battleground in North Carolina, demonstrates how to write with a quill pen and ink.

2) This is the interior of a priest hole at Baddesley Clinton, a medieval manor in Warwickshire, England. (Photos by jedi58 and Brownie_Bear, on Flickr. Click on the photos to enlarge them.) You'll recall that Claire advised Ian to build a priest hole at Lallybroch.

[Jenny] followed him without comment, down to the stone-floored back hall that separated kitchen and pantry.

Set into the flags of the floor was a large wooden panel, perforated with drilled holes, apparently mortared into the floorstones. Theoretically, this gave air to the root cellar below, and in fact--should any suspicious person choose to investigate, the root cellar, reached by a sunken door outside the house, did have just such a panel set into its ceiling.

What was not apparent was that the panel also gave light and air to a small priest hole that had been built just behind the root cellar, which could be reached by pulling up the panel, mortared frame and all, to reveal a short ladder leading down into the tiny room. It was no more than five feet square, equipped with nothing in the way of furniture beyond a rude bench, a blanket, and a chamber pot. A large jug of water and a small box of hard biscuit completed the chamber’s accoutrements.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 6, "Being Now Justified By His Blood". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's an article by historical novelist Gillian Bagwell (Diana's friend and occasional collaborator in Late-Night Sex Scene Readings <g>) about the history of priest holes.

3) This photo shows a hand where the fourth finger has been amputated, just like Claire did for Jamie in ECHO. (Thanks to my friend Belinda on Facebook, who sent me the link.)

It was a clean, neat job, but I felt a brief sense of sadness as I set the mangled piece of flesh aside. I had a fleeting vision of him holding newly born Jemmy, counting the tiny fingers and toes, delight and wonder on his face. His father had counted his fingers, too. “It’s all right,” I whispered, as much to myself as to him. “It’s all right. It will heal."

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 62, "One Just Man". Copyright© 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie's hand would, of course, have more scars, including the one left by the nail that Black Jack Randall drove into his palm, but otherwise I think this is pretty close.

4) Shinty, known as camanachd in Gaelic, is an ancient Scottish sport resembling field hockey, played with curved wooden sticks. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

"What on earth makes ye mention Letitia?” Jamie asked curiously. “I lived at the Castle for a year, and had speech of her maybe once that I remember, when she called me to her chamber and gave me the raw side of her tongue for leading a game of shinty through her rose garden."

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 24, "By the Pricking of My Thumbs". Copyright© 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's a brief video showing how the game is played today.

For more information about shinty, look here and here.

5) Rose madder is a red pigment made from the roots of a plant called Rubia tinctorum. It has been used since ancient times to make red dyes, and in fact, rose madder was used to dye British soldiers' uniform coats from the late 17th century until about 1870.

I thought the use of it in DRAGONFLY was pretty clever:

And should any doubt remain, the madder-stained urine gave an absolutely perfect illusion of a man pissing blood as the smallpox attacked his kidneys.

“Christ!” Jamie had exclaimed, startled despite himself at the first demonstration of the herb’s efficacy.

“Oh, jolly good!” I said, peering over his shoulder at the white porcelain chamber pot and its crimson contents. “That’s better than I expected.”

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 23, "The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men...". Copyright© 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I was surprised to learn that it is traditional in the country of Georgia to dye Easter eggs a deep blood-red color using rose madder, as shown in the photo above.

I hope you enjoyed these Friday Fun Facts! Look here to see all of my Friday Fun Facts blog posts, and please come back next week for more.

Happy Birthday, Jem!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:33:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to Jeremiah Alexander Ian Fraser MacKenzie, otherwise known as Roger and Brianna's son Jem.

He was born on May 15, 1770, so depending on how you count his age, he's either 243 years old, or 41. Either way, it's pretty mind-boggling!

The exact date of Jem's birth is not mentioned in the books, but the Timeline on Diana Gabaldon's website gives the date as May 15, so that's what I'm going with. He's a Taurus, like his grandda. <g>

Poor Jem has had a hard time of it in recent years. Tormented by his teacher at school for speaking Gaelic, kidnapped, then stuck down in a dark tunnel all by himself...where he's remained since AN ECHO IN THE BONE was published more than 3 1/2 years ago.

That's a long, long time for an eight-year-old boy to wait. I sincerely hope that Jem gets out of that tunnel in plenty of time for his next birthday!

A special program for fans in Sacramento

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:34:00 +0000

Here's something that looks like fun, for those of you who live in the vicinity of Sacramento, CA.

I just got an email from Stephenee at the Sacramento Public Library, asking me to help spread the word about a special series of OUTLANDER-related programs they will be running from June 2 through November 3, called "How Outlandish! Step Through the Stones of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander".

See the library's website here for details. And here is a link to the flyer describing the various programs. They will be covering a wide variety of topics, and it sounds very interesting!

If you have questions about the program, please contact Stephenee Borelli at sborelli@saclibrary.org.

Please pass the word to any OUTLANDER fans you may know in the Sacramento area. Thanks!

Happy Mother's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:22:00 +0000

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Here are a few of my favorite quotes about motherhood from Diana Gabaldon's books. Hope you enjoy them!

1) Marsali, in an advanced state of pregnancy, and five-year-old Germain:

She leaned back a little and pushed a hand firmly into the side of her mound. Then she seized Germain's hand and put it on the spot. Even from where I stood, I could see the surge of flesh as the baby kicked vigorously in response to being poked.

Germain jerked his hand away, startled, then put it back, looking fascinated, and pushed.

"Hello!" he said loudly, putting his face close to his mother's belly. "Comment ça va in there, Monsieur L'Oeuf?"

"He's fine," his mother assured him. "Or she. But babies dinna talk right at first. Ye ken that much. Félicité doesna say anything but 'Mama' yet."

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 27, "The Malting Floor". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) I like the realistic depictions of breastfeeding in these books, even though I've never had kids of my own. Here's Claire with Brianna, age three months:

Brianna burrowed into the front of my red chenille dressing gown making small voracious grunting noises.

"You can't be hungry again," I said to the top of her head. "I fed you not two hours ago." My breasts were beginning to leak in response to her rooting, though, and I was already sitting down and loosening the front of my gown.

"Mrs. Hinchcliffe said that a baby shouldn't be fed every time it cries," Frank observed. "They get spoilt if they aren't kept to a schedule."

It wasn't the first time I had heard Mrs. Hinchcliffe's opinions on child-rearing.

"Then she'll be spoilt, won't she?" I said coldly, not looking at him. The small pink mouth clamped down fiercely, and Brianna began to suck with mindless appetite. I was aware that Mrs. Hinchcliffe also thought breast-feeding both vulgar and insanitary. I, who had seen any number of eighteenth-century babies nursing contentedly at their mothers' breasts, didn't.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 3, "Frank and Full Disclosure". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) Jamie lost his mother at a very young age, but he hasn't forgotten her:

I had heard what he said to the plover he released. Though I had only a few words of Gaelic, I had heard the old salutation often enough to be familiar with it. “God go with ye, Mother," he had said.

A young mother, dead in childbirth. And a child left behind. I touched his arm and he looked down at me.

“How old were you?” I asked.

He gave me a half-smile. “Eight,” he answered. “Weaned, at least."

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 17, "We Meet a Beggar". Copyright© 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) Bree's reaction on the night before Claire goes back through the stones, when she thinks she'll never see her mother again:

"It's like--there are all these things I don't even know!" she said, pacing with quick, angry steps. "Do you think I remember what I looked like, learning to walk, or what the first word I said was? No, but Mama does! And that's so stupid, because what difference does it make, it doesn't make any difference at all, but it's important, it matters because she thought it was, and...oh, Roger, if she's gone, there won't be a soul left in the world who cares what I'm like, or thinks I'm special not because of anything, but just because I'm me! She's the only person in the world who really, really cares I was born, and if she's gone..." She stood still on the hearthrug, hands clenched at her sides, and mouth twisted with the effort to control herself, tears wet on her cheeks. Then her shoulders slumped and the tension went out of her tall figure.

"And that's just really dumb and selfish," she said, in a quietly reasonable tone. "And you don't understand, and you think I'm awful."

"No," Roger said quietly. "I think maybe not." He stood and came behind her, putting his arms around her waist, urging her to lean back against him. She resisted at first, stiff in his arms, but then yielded to the need for physical comfort and relaxed, his chin propped on her shoulder, head tilted to touch her own.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 22, "All Hallows' Eve". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) Roger's mother saved his life in the moments before she died in the Bethnal Green tube station collapse in March, 1943.

"She let go my hand,” he said. The words came more easily now; the tightness in his throat and chest was gone. “She let go my hand...and then she picked me up. That small woman--she picked me up, and threw me over the wall. Down into the crowd of people on the platform below. I was knocked mostly out by the fall, I think--but I remember the roar as the roof went. No one on the stair survived."

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 98, "Clever Lad". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) And finally, here is my favorite Mother's Day quote from the whole series:

“Did I ever think to thank ye, Sassenach?" he said, his voice a little husky.

“For what?" I said, puzzled. He took my hand, and drew me gently toward him. He smelled of ale and damp wool, and very faintly of the brandied sweetness of fruitcake.

“For my bairns," he said softly. "For the children that ye bore me."

"Oh," I said. I leaned slowly forward, and rested my forehead against the solid warmth of his chest. I cupped my hands at the small of his back beneath his coat, and sighed. "It was...my pleasure."

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 13, “Beans and Barbecue". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday Fun Facts - 5/10/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:06:00 +0000

Here are this week's Friday Fun Facts about Diana Gabaldon's books.

1) The medical term for the inability to hear music is amusia. As Jamie explained to Claire in THE FIERY CROSS:

“I hear no music but the sound of drums,” he said simply. “I’ve the rhythm of it still, but the tune is gone."

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Hogmanay". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This phenomenon has been recognized since the early 19th century. According to Wikipedia:

In 1825, F. Gall mentioned a "musical organ" in a specific region of the human brain that could be spared or disrupted after a traumatic event resulting in brain damage. In 1865, Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud described the first series of cases that involved the loss of music abilities that were due to brain injury.

In this video, Dr. Oliver Sacks talks about what it feels like to live with amusia. And here's an article with more information.

2) A marlinspike (also known as a fid) is a device for tightening and loosening knots in the ropes on a sailing ship. Here are a couple of examples. The top photo shows a marlinspike made of whalebone, from New England circa 1840. The bottom photo is from Wikipedia.

It sounds like a very useful item, especially when you consider how difficult it would be to disentangle wet, tightly knotted ropes on a ship at sea! And in a pinch, it might be used as a weapon:

A piece of wood showed among the rubble on the desk, the blunt end of a marlinespike.

[Bonnet] frowned, attention fastened momentarily on a knot in the string. She took two long steps and seized the marlinespike, yanking it off the desk in a shower of rubbish and clanging oddments.

"Stand back." She held the thing like a baseball bat, gripped in both hands. Sweat streamed down the hollow of her back, but her hands felt cold and her face went hot and cold and hot again, ripples of heat and terror rolling down her skin.

Bonnet looked at her as though she had gone mad.

"Whatever will ye be after doing with that, woman?" He left off fiddling with his shirt and took a step toward her. She took one back, raising the club.

"Don’t fncking touch me!"

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 102, "Anemone". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

According to Wikipedia,

Most marlinspikes are 6 to 12 inches long, but may reach 2 feet and more for working heavy cables and rodes. They are usually made from iron or steel, whereas fids, similar in shape and function, are formed from wood or bone.

Bonus fun fact: the fish known as a marlin (which you may remember from Hemingway's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA) actually got its name from the marlinspike.

3) This is a portrait of Flora MacDonald (1722-1790), by Scottish artist Allan Ramsay, from the Ashmolean Museum. Many of you will know the story of Flora MacDonald's role in saving Charles Stuart in the aftermath of Culloden, but for those who don't, here is a synopsis.

[So] far as the people here knew, the MacDonalds had immigrated permanently.

But I had seen the tall memorial stone on Skye--where Flora MacDonald had been born, and would someday die, disillusioned with America.

It wasn’t the first time I’d met someone and known their fate, of course—but it was always unsettling.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 52, "Flora MacDonald's Barbecue". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's Flora MacDonald's grave on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

4) Bitter cascara, more commonly known as cascara sagrada (scientific name, Rhamnus purshiana) is a laxative made from the bark of a tree called cascara that is native to the Pacific Northwest. From Wikipedia:

Spanish conquerors exploring the Pacific Northwest in the 1600s came across many Native peoples using the bark of R. purshiana as a laxative. They gave it the name "Sacred Bark" (cascara sagrada) in honor of its effectiveness.

Given its extremely bitter taste, I wonder how Claire managed to ingest enough of it to make her violently ill without noticing it?

The pain increased once more, a vise squeezing my insides, and I gasped and doubled up once more. As it eased a bit, I opened my eyes and saw one of the ladies, her eyes fixed alertly on my face. A look of dawning realization passed over her features, and still looking at me, she leaned over to whisper to one of her companions. There was too much noise in the room to hear, but I read her lips clearly.

"Poison,” she said.

The pain shifted abruptly lower with an ominous interior gurgle, and I realized finally what it was. Not a miscarriage. Not appendicitis, still less a chilled liver. Nor was it poison, precisely. It was bitter cascara.

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 16, "The Nature of Sulfur". Copyright© 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

For more on the medicinal uses of cascara sagrada, look here and here.

5) The photos above show what a wild boar (Sus scrofa) looks like.

Jemmy had tight hold of the cloth with both hands. He was looking toward the wood.

“Pig, Daddy,” he whispered. “Big pig.”

Roger glanced in the direction of the little boy's gaze and froze.

It was a huge black boar, perhaps eight feet away. The thing stood more than three feet at the shoulder, and must weigh two hundred pounds or more, with curving yellow tushes the length of Jemmy’s forearm. It stood with lifted head, piggy snout moistly working as it snuffed the air for food or threat.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 108, "Tulach Ard". Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Here's a short audio clip of what a wild boar sounds like. It definitely isn't anything I'd want near a two-year-old child!

For more information about the wild boar, look here.

I hope you enjoyed these Friday Fun Facts! Look here to see all of my Friday Fun Facts blog posts, and please come back next week for more.

How would you describe the series?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Diana Gabaldon asked the following question on her Facebook page yesterday:

OK. We're starting to work on the flap copy for WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEARTS BLOOD. This is always tricky, because we have to come up with copy that will say _something_ halfway relevant about the book/series _and_ lure new readers into at least flipping the pages, _and_ do that in about 300 words. (Well, say 100 words to describe the series, 200 for the plot of MOBY.)

So I thought I'd ask: what would _you_ tell a friend that you wanted to hook on the books?

Here's my own answer to that question. It's the best description I can come up with for the OUTLANDER series as a whole.

A highly entertaining roller-coaster ride through 18th-century history, with unforgettable characters, the OUTLANDER series is an epic adventure that touches on virtually every aspect of the human condition. Whatever you're looking for -- history, sex, warfare, time-travel, medicine, murder, witchcraft, and much, much more! -- you'll find it in these books. Diana Gabaldon’s prose is richly evocative, often lyrical, and filled with warmth and humor. She brings the past to life with fascinating historical details, intricate plots, and characters so vividly portrayed that they seem like real people.

What about the rest of you? How would YOU describe the series, to someone who knows nothing about Diana Gabaldon or her books?

(P.S. The photo above shows my own OUTLANDER book collection.)

Great interview with Diana!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:57:00 +0000

Check out this terrific interview with Diana Gabaldon on Barbara Rogan's blog, In Cold Ink. I really enjoyed it. Such a pleasure to read an interview where Diana has the opportunity for longer, more in-depth responses!

This is Part 1 of a two-part interview.

[UPDATE 5/14/2013 6:45 am: Part 2 is here.]

I've known Barbara for about five years online. She's one of the section leaders of the Writers Exercises section on the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. (For those of you who don't know, that's the online forum where Diana Gabaldon hangs out, and I'm section leader of the Diana Gabaldon folder there.) If you're an aspiring writer, or just a reader who's interested in how the publishing process works, check out Barbara's blog!

I would love to interview Diana here on Outlandish Observations, if I can come up with some questions that haven't been asked a thousand times before. I've been thinking about it for a while. It would be a lot of fun, I'm sure.

OUTLANDER-related content on Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 05 May 2013 12:11:00 +0000

It's been about 15 months since I first started collecting OUTLANDER-related content on Pinterest, and I'm still enjoying it quite a bit. I thought the rest of you might like to see my collection.

Click on the image below to go to my main Pinterest page.

I have 14 different OUTLANDER-related boards at the moment, with more than 900 pins:

Outlandish Observations - this is the main pinboard, for pictures relating to me, my blog, Diana's books, and OUTLANDER fandom in general.
From my Zazzle Store! - links to all the items found in my new Outlandish Observations store on Zazzle.com.
OUTLANDER: Wildlife
OUTLANDER: Plant Life
OUTLANDER: Objects
OUTLANDER: Places
OUTLANDER: Historical Figures
OUTLANDER: Standing Stones
OUTLANDER: Men in Kilts
OUTLANDER: Gemstones
OUTLANDER: Food and Drink
OUTLANDER: Medicine and Surgery
18th Century Clothing
Scotland Pictures

You will find the vast majority of the photos from my Friday Fun Facts and other blog posts on these pinboards. I add new content almost every week, so please come back from time to time to see what's new.

Feel free to look around and repin any of these photos for yourselves. Hope you enjoy them!