Diana Gabaldon's Blog, page 38

Happy New Year, differential nostrillation, and Facebook

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all! My personal idea of a great New Year's Eve celebration is a nice nap, after which I get up, go up to my office, and light a new pillar candle to work by (the new one is white, scented with—it says on the bottom—Japanese Cedarwood. A very subtle and unobtrusive scent. The old one—which expired the night before, with excellent timing—was dark blue and reeked of cinnamon.)

(I learned something Extremely Interesting recently, btw, speaking of smells. You know how sight c...

Goodreads

Someone mentioned to me that ECHO is on the list of Goodreads' candidates for Best Book of 2009. At a glance, there seem to be a _lot_ of good books listed, and I'm honored to be among them.

If you happen to feel like voting for ECHO or any of the others, the link to do so is

http://www.goodreads.com/list/best_of....

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas -and a small treat for your stocking

Merry Christmas to all!

I've been telling you about various short pieces involving dragons and murder and what-not--but there's another short story you may want to hear about. This one is for (yet another) anthology, titled STAR-CROSSED LOVERS, and the story itself is titled "A Leaf on the Wind." This is the story of What Happened to Roger's Father--those of you who've read AN ECHO IN THE BONE may be especially interested, [g:] though I think most folks who've enjoyed the series--and R...

HOW Long 'til the next book?!?

I have, as you might suppose, been getting a certain amount of agitated mail following publication of ECHO, [g:] all centering on one question: HOW long is it until the next book will be out?!? (This accompanied by various pleas of increasing age or senility on the part of some readers. It's not that I'm not sympathetic, and I _am_ flattered--but the fact that you think you might not live long enough to read the next book really can't make me write any faster. Look, just exercise and take ...

PHOENIX NOIR

If you're still in the market for stocking-stuffers, and have people on your list who prefer mystery to dragons….. PHOENIX NOIR is a brand-new paperback anthology of short crime stories set in—as one might suppose—Phoenix. I wrote one of the stories, titled "Dirty Scottsdale;" this one is a solo effort by me.

"Dirty Scottsdale" is also the debut in print of Tom Kolodzi, who's the protagonist of the contemporary crime novel I've been working on for some time (in and amongst other...

The Dragon Book

I'm always a trifle taken aback to see myself described as one of "the masters of modern fantasy"—but I can't say that I really object to finding myself in the company of people like Gregory Maguire and Naomi Novik.

For those looking for something small and different, either as a Christmas gift or as a distraction from looking for Christmas gifts, let me call your attention to THE DRAGON BOOK, recently released. It is, as you probably suspect, an anthology of stories featuring dragons, in...

Chicken and Mushrooms in Orange Sauce

This recipe is in THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, but I'm in Santa Fe right now and don't have a copy with me, so this is out of my head. It may read a little differently from the printed version, but it should taste the same. [g:]

Chicken breasts (allow one per person) - diced

Garlic, minced

Onion, minced

Mushrooms, sliced or chopped – 2/3 good sized mushrooms per chicken breast.
(Any kind—I like a mixture of the regular ceps (default grocery-store mushrooms), porcini (these usually come dried an...

Return to Domesticity

People now and then ask me what I do to celebrate finishing a book. Do I have a special spa ritual, a nice restaurant I go to, do I buy champagne? In fact, I buy towels.

It takes me about three years to write one of the big books of the main OUTLANDER series, and that's just about how long it takes for most of the towels around here to be worn out, destroyed in the wash, or taken away by Persons Unnamed to be used to wrap greasy engine parts in. So when a new book is finished, I ceremon...

Thanksgiving

Turkey is good. Turkey sandwiches are better. Eaten without the distraction of pumpkin pie, mashed rutabagas (not my idea of a good time, but tastes vary), yam fries with maple aioli, and the other fripperies of a Thanksgiving table, turkey achieves its highest calling between two slices of bread.

I like two kinds of turkey sandwiches. The night-of-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, eaten late and alone, in the peaceful muzziness that follows a successful party, is moist white meat on 12-grain ...

THANK YOU!

Dear Readers--

Well, AN ECHO IN THE BONE debuts on the New York Times list next week at #2! (My publisher sent me a large bottle of single-malt Scotch in congratulation--and, I suspect, in apology for having released Dan Brown's book a week before ECHO [g:].)

HUGE thanks to all of you, and I'm thrilled that y'all seem to be enjoying the book!

A word about the ending...I did say, did I not, "Nobody's going to hit the end of _this_ book, and think it's the last one?" [g:] Indeed it...