Diana has posted on her own blog - Voyages of the Artemis - that she is working on The Outlandish Companion II - ALONG WITH BOOK 8 (squeeee!) - and is actually interested in finding out what the fans want to see in the books.
I have to throw out a big, ol' THANK YOU, DIANA for giving a hoot about her fans the way she does. It's completely refreshing that she makes herself accessible by having a website, a blog, a youtube page, etc. The woman actually answers some of the comments. And if she has an assistant doing a lot of it? Doesna matter. Good for her. I think it's absolutely wonderful.
Let me tell you something about my life regarding the Outlander series. My friends and I meet at school pick-up and we read. We meet for coffee and we discuss Diana's characters. We meet my sister for drinks and discuss Jamie Fraser's anatomy (ooops! Did I say that?!) The bottom line here is that we're all hard-working women - some with young children and a lot of stress... and these books have brought a lot of joy and comfort to our lives. It's heartwarming to know the author actually cares.
Our spouses, however, curse HERSELF as a wee bloody wench who has caused us to constantly obsess about a Scottish hottie and question why said spouses don't mean to take their time about it. LOL.
ReplyDeleteOh, Tracy... how right you are!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it fun to have a crew of Outlander friends? My friend and I often find ourselves casting members of our town as players in the series, while we take walks. I envy you not being done reading yet!
Perhaps my happiest moment of Outlander mentoring thus far was when one of my mentees, Shannon, said that I was her Claire (because I am a bit of a curly-wig myself, lass). I thought I was gonna cry, I was so touched.... :-)
ReplyDeleteI love Outlander and I am sadly in love with Jamie Fraser. My devotion to Jamie Fraser spilled over to Gerard Butler after I saw a few fan You Tube Video's. Some of those videos are so well done!
ReplyDeleteWow Amy. WOW. Casting Outlander in our TOWN. That is a TREMENDOUS idea I've never thought of. Jenn and Shannon - we are SO DOING THIS next time we get together!
ReplyDeleteDianne - I need to put more of those videos on the site. You are right - some of them are so good they can actually make me cry.
This one is my favorite and it did bring tears to my eyes and started me on my wild crush on Gerard Butler...
ReplyDeleteIt's on You Tube and called "Jamie-isms From Outlander why I fell in love with Jamie"
I tried to post a link but I can't. =( Check it out though. It is beautifully done!
Carol, are you the person I've been talking too on twitter?
ReplyDeleteDiane--the twitter person would be me...I'm Carol's sister/Outlander mentor, and I do most of the tweeting in the MOP world.
ReplyDeleteDiana is amazingly responsive to readers' questions and comments. If you have a question or a comment for her, please visit the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum, which is the online community where Diana hangs out.
ReplyDeleteI have been Section Leader in Diana's section of the forum on Compuserve since September 2008. We are always happy to welcome new members, and Diana likes to hear from her fans, so I would encourage you to check out the forum.
Karen Henry
blogging at Outlandish Observations
Karen--are spoilers marked on the forum, or do you enter at your own risk? I've got about 300 more pages to go in Fiery Cross, and am terrified of trolling around sites for fear of ruining the remaining books. (I've already come across a HUGE spoiler that I still can't believe.) LOL--as soon as I finish the last page of E in the B, I am soooo doing nothing but reading every Outlandish site I can get my paws on!
ReplyDeleteTracy:
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read ALL SEVEN of the OUTLANDER books (including ECHO), then you'll want to be careful what you read on Compuserve. We use spoiler warnings for the unpublished books/stories only, so it's definitely "read at your own risk" if you don't want to see spoilers for the later books.
Definitely feel free to join in once you've finished the series, though! :-)
Karen
Oops, sorry, Tracey, I didn't mean to misspell your name.
ReplyDeleteKaren
Karen - THANK YOU for letting us about the forum - and for letting us know there are spoilers. I got my internet start on Compuserve back in the mid 90s. (on a Word Processor, no less!) I have nothing but love for Compuserve. :) I canna WAIT to check out the forum - and your blog - after I finish Echo. I am right now 32% through The Fiery Cross (just got a Kindle so I have no clue what page that translates to! It's chapter 29.)
ReplyDeleteDiane - I run the blog and Tracey (my sister/Outlander mentor) does the Tweeting. She runs circles around me over there. I canna keep up. I am also at my computer at different intervals throughout the day, which allows me to blog, whereas Tracey works in an office and can see Twitter on a constant basis. So it works out quite nicely.
Love your site. I saw the reference to it ths morning at Outlandish Observations and added it to my Google page. It is always fun to follow a fellow Outlander fan with good insites and information. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI am reading Echo and I have been really going slow on it because I know I will feel so let down when it's over and I have to wait for the next book.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, hi Tracy.
THANKS Cathy and Welcome! I am so thrilled you guys are all commenting. I love writing about the series and discussing these characters. I'm on The Fiery Cross and I'm still a bit cocky because I have two more to go... and I know there will be a new one after Echo. But what will we all do when the final book comes out? I can't even think about it!
ReplyDeleteCarol--are you and your friends on facebook at all? I am on my first read-through of the series as well and am always looking for another friend to discuss the books with! I found your blog through Karen Henry (who is one of my facebook friends).
ReplyDeleteMOP has a fan page on Facebook--do a search for My Outlander Purgatory and you'll find it. Still trying to figure out how to generate a "generic" URL for the fan page on FB that can be posted here, on Twitter, etc. Anyone know how to do that?
ReplyDeleteHello Tracey. I searched for "My Outlander Purgatory" on Facebook and nothing came up... :-(
ReplyDeleteOK, try this link and let us know if it works. We'll then be able to put a button on the site directing people to FB....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Outlander-Purgatory/358692555787
That worked! Thanks for passing that along. :-)
ReplyDeleteYEY! Thanks Tracey. I'll link it on the site.
ReplyDeleteOK - there is now a Facebook button. Not a very exciting button, mind you...but a button none the less. :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I can say for Diana Gabaldons books is they turned me into a reader. I wasn't much of one before and I am really enjoying books and the blogging community surrounding them.
ReplyDeleteTOTALLY agree, Cathy. I wasn't much of a reader before - and now my best friend is my Kindle. I read the Twilight series first...and now I joke that it was practice for Outlander.
ReplyDeleteI wish Gabaldon hadn't made Ian homely. I love Ian and I want him to be hot. =(
ReplyDeleteI know, that is so FUNNY! Every time DG mentions how Ian is homely, I crack up... kindof like "OK! We get it! He's got a longgg faceee." LOL!
ReplyDeleteBack to Diane's original comment above about falling in love with Gerard Butler after seeing him on You Tube in the Outlander videos. I totally agree. I especially love the one with him in it and Evanescene's My Immortal is the background music. Perfect Jamie in my mind!
ReplyDeleteI know Jenn, I kind of like Gerard Butler then I read Outlander--fell in love with Jamie and started watching the You Tube videos. Transfered my crush on Gerard Butler, now I run one of his web sites.
ReplyDeleteThis is true; someone asked Gerard Butler what character he would most like to play and he said, "For the benefit of my fans I must say Jamie Fraser. You have no idea how many women have sent me a copy of that f*&^%$@# book!"
ReplyDeleteGabaldon says that although she thinks he's a fine example of Scottish Manhood and is a fine actor there is no way he could pull off being a 22 year old virgin.
Alas, I'm afraid she is likely right... =`(
In my mind Carol, Ian is tall and thin but a cutie pie.
ReplyDeleteTracey says she sees Ian as a gawky teen who just hasn't grown into his looks yet. I can agree with that. How can he be a child of Ian and Jenny and not grow up to be a cutie pie? Then again - older Ian is supposed to be "homely" too, right? And Jenn/Diane - wow - watch Gerard in "RocknRolla" (Diane I'm sure you probably have) - he lays on his Scots accent thick. It's HOT.
ReplyDeleteYep Carol, I've seen Rock-n-Rolla. You want to her his Scot accent at its thickest rent Dear Frankie. It's set in Scotland and I had to watch about five minutes to get used to the Scottish accents because at first the actors were hard to understand. Then I got used to it and it wasn't a problem, but it is a really good movie and very sweet.
ReplyDeleteIt has been suggested that Gerry Butler could play Jamie after Culloden. I'm not sure how that could be though, Jamie pre-Culloden is so yummy I don't think changing actors would be an option...Sigh sadly my desire to see The Butler play Jamie is likely a pipe-dream.
Oh and yes older Ian is homely too! Whaaaaaaaaa! Why Diana Gabaldon, why did you make poor Ian homely?
ReplyDeleteMostly Ian is homely and horny but I love him.=D
WHOA!! Dianne! Gerard Butler actually knows about Jaimie Fraser? OMG!! Do you have a sound byte of that or a copy of the interview? I've always wondered if he was aware of the YouTube videos of him as Jaimie Fraser. What is your Gerry Butler website?
ReplyDeleteOK, I've a confession to make. I'm a wee bit embarrassed to admit this, but I'm amongst friends, so I will.
ReplyDeleteHere goes....
I've never seen a Gerard Butler movie.
[DUCKING]
Actually, that's not QUITE true--that Hilary Swank movie PS I Love You has been on cable lately, and I watched about 10 minutes towards the end with GB to see what all the fuss was about, and I will say that he is definitely fuss-worthy. Trouble is, I'm really not a big Hilary Swank fan, so it would be hard to get through that entire movie.
So educate me, lassies--what movie do I need to see to get myself onboard the GB express?
TRACEY R I AM SHOCKED!!! LoL, start with the movie 300 and then The Phantom of the Opera, he was the Phantom. YUMMMMMM!
ReplyDeleteYep Jenn he does know about Jamie cause everyone has told him he needs to play Jamie Fraser. Gerry is pretty down to earth and I would say he has seen some of the videos. He is known to lurk some of his sites. My site is Weirdly Obsessive Gerard Butler fan site. If you Google just Weirdly Obsessive I will come up or Google Gerard Butler message board and I am number 1. =D Jamie Fraser though, led me to Gerard Butler. Love them both!!!
ReplyDeleteCarol that reminds me, would you like to affiliate with me. Quite a few of my gals are huge outlander fans and would love your blog. We always have an Outlander thread going.
ReplyDeleteI will steer my people to your blog.
Absolutely Diane! I will put you in my links section!
ReplyDeleteTracey - I canna BELIEVE you have never partaken in the joy and rapture that is Gerard Butler on screen. Woman - SET YOURSELF DOON in front of "300" PRONTO!!!
ReplyDeleteLOLOL!! I am getting a good education! Diane, are you talking the musical version of Phantom--the one with Emmy Rossum as Christine? Had no idea he was the Phantom in that! Never have actually sat down and watched it (tho I've seen the stage version a few times) but I am TOTALLY on board with doing so!
ReplyDeleteYep Tracy he is the Phantom in the Emily Rossum version, and you must watch 300. Gerard Bulter displayed for all to see in nothing but a pair of leather panties and a cape. It doesn't get any better than that. Unless it Gerard Butler in a kilt playing Jamie Fraser. (see how I stay on topic Carol)*fans self* I'm having a hot flash at the awesomness of these possibilities!
ReplyDeleteOh and Carol, I will PM my associate and she will create a little clickie thing for you in our affiliates section. I will let you know. Meanwhile I will announce your Blog on my board with the addy. You can get my URL off this post. =D
We are a fairly busy board and most of the people there are Outlander Junkies...it goes with the territory of being a Gerard Butler fan.
Ok my dear Carol,
ReplyDeleteYou are up to my site! Check it out by clicking on my name. =D
Diane - thanks, you rock. Saw the button - totally cool. I am not that technical yet; but I'm getting there! Going to update my links now... check back soon!
ReplyDeleteEither am I Carol. Spamming is welcome on my board. If you have an extra interesting discussing going on here please feel free to post it on my shout out board with your blog addy to pull people for my site. I don't care at all. Nice to help a fellow site owner. Like I said we have plenty of Outlander fans on my site.
ReplyDeleteI have sat through some heinous films in order to gaze upon our lad, Gerard. Beowulf and Grendel is awful, but he is a beauty. Try also Timeline, where he has longer hair and is a time traveler! At one time I had a Netflix queue backlogged with GB flicks, but I often found it's more entertaining to get a fix by watching YouTube videos of him on the Craig Ferguson show. All manner of Scottishness oozing off that stage!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your blog. I dinna think I can wait to get through the books to read all the entries. I'll just be spoilt.
Thanks Molly! Since you were at chat last night, I suppose you definitely made the decision to be spoilt. ;)
ReplyDelete