Site Announcements 2001

This page archives the announcements that Diana sent in 2001, which were originally posted on the home page.

6 November 2001

New Book-ordering information! Important
I'm immensely grateful to all of you who have been requesting autographed books from me lately--also immensely surprised. I wasn't expecting the avalanche of orders we've received lately, and frankly, my husband's poor secretary (who does the actual work of filling these orders--I just show up periodically and sign my name) is about to have a nervous breakdown.

I've always provided autographed copies strictly as a courtesy to readers, and with the recent influx of orders threatening to push my husband and his secretary completely out of their offices, I saw that the Time Had Come to think of a better way of handling this.

Fortunately, The Poisoned Pen--a wonderful independent bookstore here in Scottsdale--has agreed to help. While The Poisoned Pen is principally a mystery specialty store, they also do a large business in First Editions, signed copies, and--most importantly--mail order books.

Since the store is not far from where I live, I can conveniently zip down there once a week to sign copies, and they will kindly take care of all the mechanical drudgery of taking orders, and packing and shipping the books. This arrangement also offers a couple of major improvements in service to customers:

1. The Poisoned Pen can take credit card orders (by phone, FAX, or mail), which I can't, and

2. they also do all shipping by UPS Insured, which means that you will get your books faster and with a lot more security than via the US Post Office, which is what we've been using.

3. They also routinely ship books worldwide, and know all the intricacies of customs forms and IRC coupons (which baffle both me and the Post Office).

4. Another advantage--The Poisoned Pen routinely imports books from the UK, and can acquire UK editions of my books, as long as these are available from the UK publisher.

So--how will the new arrangement work?

Easy. To order any of my books--in hardcover, trade paperback, or mass-market editions--or to check current prices, you can

a) call The Poisoned Pen's toll-free number: 1-888-560-9919

b) FAX queries or orders at 480-945-1023,

c) email the bookstore's staff at sales@poisonedpen.com,

or

d) go to the bookstore's website, where you can access the store's secure online order form.

This excellent new arrangement will go into effect immediately. However, I realize that some people will have book orders in transit to us now. Therefore, any orders received before Dec. 1 will be filled at the rates in effect when the orders were mailed. Any orders mailed to me after Dec. 1 will be fulfilled by The Poisoned Pen, and may therefore be subject to different shipping charges. Thank you, and I hope you'll find the new arrangement as much of an improvement as I do! --Diana

23 July 2001

Change in publication date
I do hate to cause any disruption in people’s plans, but in case anyone was circling dates and making arrangements to temporarily secede from household, job, and/or the human race in order to accommodate the publication of The Fiery Cross, I thought I’d better tell you that we have a new publication date: NOVEMBER 6

The production of a huge book like this one (I told my editor I thought it was still a hair shorter than SHO-GUN--but not by much) entails considerable difficulties, as you might imagine. One of these (I’m told) is the problem of insuring sufficient press-time to actually get the beastly thing printed, to say nothing of bound, covered, and shipped.

I didn’t realize this, but publishers do not in fact print books themselves; they contract with independent printing companies to print specific “jobs” (aka books). Which means that they have to set up a schedule and contract with one (or more) such companies for specific quantities of press-time, in order to get this or that book produced in time for its publication date. I.e., It isn’t just a matter of shouting “OK, WE GOT IT! START THE PRESSES!”

So, given the fact that The Fiery Cross is a) very large, b) to be printed in alarmingly large quantities, c) competing for press-time not only with my publisher’s fall list, but all the others as well, and d) [whispering] not quite finished yet...[ahem]. Well, you see the problem.

Meanwhile, the valiant Production people are struggling nobly with the problem of simultaneously doing all the things that are normally done sequentially, and so am I. We appreciate your patience! --Diana

Naked Came the Phoenix
I was very flattered to be asked to provide a chapter for Naked Came the Phoenix, a collaborative mystery novel published by St. Martin’s Press (released 11 July). Aside from the Worthy Cause aspect of the undertaking--half the proceeds from this novel are being donated to breast-cancer research--I was extremely pleased to be asked to join the company of such wonderful mystery writers as Nevada Barr, Val McDermid, and Laurie King--especially given the fact that I have not yet actually written a mystery. [cough]

(For those of you who have written asking when the first mystery will be published...well, that’s the next book in the lineup after The Fiery Cross. I have chunks of the mystery written already, but was obliged to stop working on that temporarily, in order to finish The Fiery Cross before people imploded waiting for it.)

Just to make things crystal-clear, here--I DID NOT WRITE THE WHOLE BOOK. I wrote ONE CHAPTER in this novel. The chapter does not have anything whatever to do with Jamie Fraser, Claire Beauchamp, Scotland, North Carolina, war, magic, medicine, etc.

A collaborative novel is one in which a number of different authors take turns writing chapters. The person who writes the first chapter (which was Nevada Barr, in this case) describes the setting and the basic cast of important characters. Later authors can introduce more characters, if they want, but they have to deal with the ones already onstage, as well as with the basic setting and premise of the book that have already been established.

I wrote Chapter 11 in Naked Came the Phoenix, which means that I was dealing for the most part with characters and a plot which already existed. I’d like to think I gave this chapter my own style [g], but that’s a matter for the reader to judge.

If you’re interested in trying a book of this type, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

--Diana

6 Jul 2001

Trade Paperbacks and Tours
Among these plans are:

a) the re-issuing of brand-new “Collector's Edition” (don't blame me, this was their idea) trade paperbacks of all of the Outlander novels. I've seen the new covers, and they're truly beautiful.

I believe the new edition of Outlander will be out in July; the other three books will be out in August, thus giving everyone a chance to reread the whole series in preparation for the new book in October.

(For those who aren’t sure what a trade paperback is--it’s the kind of book that's sort of in-between mass-market paperbacks (the regular kind you see in supermarkets and drugstores) and hardcovers. Trade paperbacks are bigger than mass-market, with sturdier covers and better binding--so you can open one up all the way without having to crack the spine, for instance--but are not as expensive (or heavy) as hardcovers. The price is intermediate, too--usually about $14.95 for trade paper, as opposed to $7-8 for regular paperback, and $26-up for hardcovers. So they don't fall apart as fast as paperbacks, but they won't break your nose if you fall asleep while reading one in bed. {g})

and

b) Book-tours. I will be touring in both the US and Canada this fall, in October (and possibly November). I will probably be touring in the UK and in Germany next year (2002).

(For those of you in the UK; Random House UK is issuing The Fiery Cross at the same time--October 9--as the US edition. However, I can't manage to tour in the UK at the same time, I having not yet mastered the art of bilateral translocation (I'm working on it). That being so, the UK publisher thinks it would perhaps be a good idea for me to come tour when their paperback edition of Fiery Cross is released--i.e., summer of 2002. I said I thought that would be a good idea, too. I have no specifics, but such a tour will probably include an appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival, which takes place in August.

I don’t know when I might be coming to Germany; most likely when Fiery Cross is released in that country.

OK. Now, we do not yet have any set dates or locations for any of these tours, with two exceptions:

1. The launch-date appearance, on October 9, will be at The Poisoned Pen bookstore, here in Scottsdale. (Or at least that’s the plan--if anything should change, I’ll let you know in good time.)

2. Since I already have a commitment to be at the Surrey Writers Conference in British Columbia in late October, (Oct. 19-21) I may well be doing book-signings in the Vancouver/Surrey area at that time as well. --Diana

Book Tours
In case you haven’t read the note on Book-tours, let me repeat here: I DON'T SET THE ITINERARY FOR BOOK-TOURS. It’s no good writing to beg me to come here or there; it isn’t up to me to say. The publicity departments of the assorted publishers do this, then give me a list and a wad of airline tickets.

There is also a physical limit to how many places I can visit. The publisher--in their collective wisdom--tells me that I will probably be hitting major cities on the West Coast, the Midwest (to people in New York, this includes Nashville, Chicago, and Dayton), and the East Coast. I probably won’t be going to many smaller cities, as they don’t want to kill me. {g}

If you live in a biggish city and particularly want me to visit a bookstore (or library, or festival, or whatever) in your area, what you should do is a) talk to the bookstore or event manager, and ask them to speak to the Random House sales representative about it (the publicists confer with the sales reps, to see where an author is in most demand), or b) write or call the publishers’ publicity department with your suggestions.

For Random House US, the publicist who will be handling things for The Fiery Cross is Teresa Zoro, who can be reached at:

Random House, Publicity Department
1540 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

For Random House Canada, the publicist is Tracey Turriff:

Random House Canada, Publicity Department
(Sorry; I don't have a street address; they moved recently)
Toronto, ON
CANADA

I don’t have a specific name for publicists for the UK or Germany as yet.

--Diana

Where is Hellfire
Well, it’s sort of in limbo at the moment. {g} (Though I believe the Pope has decided that we no longer believe in limbo, it's a useful sort of concept.)

For those of you who are wondering what is Hellfire--it’s the only solo short story I've ever written (bar stuff done in school). I wrote it originally a few years ago for a British anthology of historical crime stories. Not having time to research an entirely new historical period, I used the one I know best--the British Isles in the 18th century--and took as my detective Lord John Grey, who has a very interesting life, even when he isn’t directly interacting with Jamie and Claire Fraser.

Then, having written this story, I wondered just what the heck else I could do with a 12,000-word short story with a gay detective, set in 1757 London. About this time, two friends of mine decided to try e-publishing, and set up a new company to do so. They asked me whether I had “anything short” that I might be willing to let them publish, in order to help draw readers to their site. To which I replied, “How odd that you should ask me that...”

Anyway, this small e-publisher did publish Hellfire for nearly two years--as did a much larger German e-publisher, Bertelsmann Online (BOL).

We eventually allowed the English-language contract for the story to lapse, though, as we (me and my agent) wanted to explore other possibilities for it. Therefore, the story is no longer available in English; I don't know whether it's still around in German on the BOL site or not.

We are discussing e-publishing possibilities--and the possibiliity of combining Hellfire with further stories written about Lord John Grey--with Random House, who publishes the Outlander novels. However, we don’t yet have any firm plans to announce. I'll let you know, as soon as we do!

Other Stuff
Now, I said that Hellfire was the only solo short story (well, 12,000 words is relatively short) that I’ve written. This is true. However, I have also written three short stories with two of my children:

The Castellan- by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins in Out of Avalon, edited by Jennifer Roberson. This is an anthology of (more or less) Arthurian fantasy. Our story has nothing to do with Arthur, but does have a dragon in it.

Mirror Image- by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins in Mothers and Sons, edited by Jill Morgan, published by Signet. This one is sort of a fantasy murder-mystery--complete with courtroom drama.

Dream a Little Dream for Me - by Diana Gabaldon and Laura Watkins in Mothers and Daughters, edited by Jill Morgan, published by Signet. This story is sort of a romantic fairytale farce.

Beyond these three short stories, I’ve also published a short nonfiction piece, titled A Stillness at the Heart, in Fathers and Daughters, (which, as you have no doubt deduced, is edited by Jill Morgan, etc.). This is a very brief memoir about my father.

NOW PLEASE NOTE: These stories and pieces do not have ONE SINGLE THING TO DO with Jamie and Claire, or with the Outlander universe (except for Hellfire). I mention this only to prevent people rushing out to get them and then being disgruntled because they don't involve Jamie and Claire (you'd think people would look at the covers of books before buying them, but evidently not everyone does, judging from the remarks one sees on amazon.com). --Diana

30 April 2001

New Domain Names
Many of you have expressed concern about the domain name dianagabaldon.com to both Diana and me. Diana has purchased two domain names as pointer to the site. These will be easier to remember than the incredibly long, official one that I have to use because the site is at Caltech. The user-friendly versions are dgabaldon.com, aboutdianagabaldon.com, or aboutdianagabaldon.org. It will still take you to this site, but it's easier on the brain cells.

Ivanhoe with intro by Diana
David Ebershoff, Publishing Director of The Modern Library let me know that this summer the Modern Library is releasing a new edition of Ivanhoe with a newly commissioned introduction by Diana Gabaldon.

1 April 2001

Quick Update
There is one bit of news that came out of Diana's trip to Alaska. Diana wrote, ". . . when I was working on Fiery Cross, I realized that if I told all of the story I had in mind, it would be 650,000 words long, which is a little much for the physical limits of the book-making process. So I stopped at an earlier point, and the rest of the stuff will be in the next book. But since I haven't yet started formally working on that book, I have no idea what-all might be in it or how much room it might take when I do write it. --Diana"

14 February 2001

The Fiery Cross Publication
You know, I don't plan to keep it a secret when I do finish the manuscript [g]. I'll announce it here, and you guys will know almost as soon as my editor does.

Bear in mind one thing, though -- I do not set the publication date.

I write the book. The publisher publishes the book. Ergo, when and how they do so is strictly up to them. The US and UK publishers do coordinate, so those editions will probably appear more or less simultaneously, with the German edition coming out as soon thereafter as the translation can be manager (my excellent German translator is already working on the early sections of the book, so as to get it done as close the English-language publication date as possible.

This means that a) I have nothing to do with when the book appears in the bookstores, and b) I don't know when the book will appear in the bookstores, because the publisher won't set a definite date until after the manuscript is accepted and starts the production process. As soon as I do have such a date, I'll tell you.

And yes, I likely will do a book tour. However, for the reasons state above, I don't know when that will be. I also don't know where I'll go; I don't set the itinerary for the book-tours, either.

The publicist(s) who work for the various publishers (US, UK, Canada, possibly German (!) this time) get together with the Sales reps who go out to the bookstores, and they decide where they think it would be most effective for me to go. Then they send me a wad of plane tickets. [g]

If you would like me to go to a particular town/store/event on a book-tour (whenever it happens), what you do is speak to the manager of your local bookstore, the organizer of your local event, or whatever. He, she, or they should then speak either to their usual sales rep, or to the publicist. For the US, the Bantam publicist currently dealing with my books (these poor people do a wonderful job, and work like dogs; consequently, they burn out fast [g] is

Teresa Zoro
Publicity Department
Bantam/Dell
1540 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

Friday, November 17, 2000

IT'S SHOWTIME! (Maybe)

You know, on the list of Most Frequently Asked questions, #1 is undoubtedly "Is there another book?"

#2 is "So when is it coming out, already!?!" [g]

But #3 is almost always, "Has anybody thought of making a movie of these books?"

Well, sure they have. The books have been optioned a few times, and that's as far as it's gone. I always said I'd tell y'all if and when it ever went farther than that--so it has, and I am. [g]

I have the pleasure to announce that I've signed a contract for the production of a four-hour mini-series based on Outlander, said mini-series presumably to be aired sometime next year on ABC.

All right. Now, when you quit whooping and hollering, cast your eye back over that paragraph. Focus your attention on that "presumably," OK?

The producers of this mini-series have prepared a script, and ABC likes it--or so they tell me. However, the Ultimate Powers at ABC still need to approve said script, in order to begin actual casting, shooting, and all that. So, while I can't absolutely guarantee that this show will go on...it's looking pretty good.

Now, I want to make a couple of things Perfectly Clear. [g]

1. I do not have one thing to say about the casting of this show. Aside from the fact that I don't watch a lot of TV or movies, and therefore don't know anything about actors, the casting really has to be determined by the people who are making the movie.

2. Ditto, I don't have the power to force anyone to make it a six-hour, eight-hour, etc. mini-series. Four hours is what they think they want, and I'm sure they'll do a good job of adapting the book to that length.

3. I am not writing the script. I am (God willing) writing The Fiery Cross, and if not too much distracted by the film business, will finish it pretty soon. But I can't afford a whole lot of distraction of any kind, OK?

OK. That being so, please don't deluge me with casting suggestions, exhortations to "make sure they don't change a thing!" or suggestions about what should be included in the script. I got nothin' to say about it.

On the other hand....[cough]. I suppose it might be helpful for ABC to hear any such suggestions--to say nothing of countless wild expressions of enthusiasm that might cause them to realize that the Outlander series does have a sizable audience, and therefore to think that approving this project is a Really Good idea.

ABC has a website, which provides a channel for comment on "Movies and Specials," and it seems to me that this might be a good place for people to go and express their opinions--whether these have to do with casting, script, or merely that you think it's great that they have this project in development. The link is abc.go.com; at the foot of the main page is a menu selection for "Contact"--and if you click on that, you get a choice of categories for comment, and an email form.

So if the spirit moves you...I'd certainly appreciate your support!

Thanks,

--Diana