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Diana Gabaldon

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Diana J. Gabaldon (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> born January 11, 1952) is an American author and television writer. She is best known for the book series Outlander. Her books merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy.<ref name="EW Devils">Template:Cite magazine</ref> A television adaptation of the Outlander novels premiered on Starz in 2014.<ref name="HR 2014-05-08">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="EW 2nd Season">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Early life and educationEdit

Gabaldon was born on January 11, 1952,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in Williams, Arizona, United States, the daughter of Jacqueline Sykes and Tony Gabaldon (1930–1998), an Arizona state senator from Flagstaff for sixteen years and later a supervisor of Coconino County.<ref name=NAU>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her father was of Mexican ancestry, and her mother was of English descent.<ref name="ADN 2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Diana">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona.<ref name="ADN 2009"/> She earned a bachelor of science in zoology from Northern Arizona University, 1970–1973; a master of science in marine biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1973–1975; and a PhD in behavioral ecology from Northern Arizona University, 1975–1978.<ref name="ADN 2009"/><ref name="Montreal Gazette">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CareerEdit

Gabaldon was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly in 1984 while employed at the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> During the 1980s, Gabaldon wrote software reviews and technical articles for computer publications such as a review of Full Impact,<ref name="gabaldon198902">Template:Cite magazine</ref> as well as popular-science articles and Disney comics.<ref name="Montreal Gazette"/> She was a professor with an expertise in scientific computation at ASU for 12 years before leaving to write full-time.<ref name="Montreal Gazette"/><ref name="bio 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

NovelsEdit

File:Diana Gabaldon by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Gabaldon signing books at the 2017 Phoenix Comicon

In 1988, Gabaldon decided to write a novel for "practice, just to learn how", and with no intention to show it to anyone.<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a research professor, she decided that a historical novel would be easiest to research and write,<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books"/> but she had no background in history and initially no particular time period in mind.<ref name="ADN 2009"/> Gabaldon happened to see a rerun episode of the Doctor Who science fiction TV series titled "The War Games".<ref name="drwho">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One of the Doctor's companions was a Scot from around 1745, a young man about 17 years old named Jamie McCrimmon, who provided the initial inspiration for her main male character, James Fraser, and for her novel's mid-18th century Scotland setting.<ref name="ADN 2009"/><ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books"/><ref name="drwho" /> Gabaldon decided to have "an Englishwoman to play off all these kilted Scotsmen", but her female character "took over the story and began telling it herself, making smart-ass modern remarks about everything."<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books"/>

To explain the character's modern behavior and attitudes, Gabaldon chose to use time travel.<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books"/> Writing the novel at a time "when the World Wide Web didn't exist", she did her research "the old-fashioned way, by herself, through books."<ref name="ADN 2009"/> Later, Gabaldon posted a short excerpt of her novel on the CompuServe Literary Forum, where author John E. Stith introduced her to literary agent Perry Knowlton.<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books"/><ref name="Wirten">Template:Cite journal</ref> Knowlton represented her based on an unfinished first novel, tentatively titled Cross Stitch. Her first book deal was for a trilogy, the first novel plus two then-unwritten sequels. Her US publishers changed the first book's title to Outlander, but the title remained unchanged in the UK. According to Gabaldon, her British publishers liked the title Cross Stitch, a play on "a stitch in time"; however, the American publisher said it "sounded too much like embroidery" and wanted a more "adventurous" title.<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Books" /> When her second book was finished, Gabaldon resigned her faculty position at Arizona State University to become a full-time author.<ref name="Montreal Gazette"/>

Template:As of, the Outlander series comprises nine published novels. The ninth installment, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, was published on November 23, 2021.<ref name="WaPoBees">Template:Cite news</ref> Gabaldon also published The Exile (An Outlander Graphic Novel) in 2010. The Lord John series are additional books in the Outlander series rather than a spin-off series,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> centering on a secondary character from the original series. Gabaldon announced in September 2021 that she is working on the tenth Outlander series book.<ref name="townandcountrymag.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 2025 she announced that she is still writing the book, that it will be the final novel in the main series, and that it be called A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out.<ref name="dianagabaldon.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

Gabaldon lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband Doug Watkins, with whom she has three adult children.<ref name="Gabaldon FAQ Diana"/><ref name="bio 2013" /> Her son, Sam Sykes, is also a fantasy writer.

Gabaldon is a Roman Catholic.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

BibliographyEdit

Outlander seriesEdit

The Outlander series focuses on 20th-century nurse Claire Randall, who time travels to 18th-century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the dashing James Fraser.<ref name="EW Devils"/> Set in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England and North America, the novels merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy.<ref name="EW Devils"/>

Main seriesEdit

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Short worksEdit

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Later collected in A Trail of Fire (2012),<ref name="Gabaldon Trail"/> and Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).

  • Virgins (2013), a novella in the anthology Dangerous Women,<ref name="Gabaldon Virgins">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Tor July 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="PW 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="GRRM blog 130123">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> later collected in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).

  • "Past Prologue" (2017), a short story written with Steve Berry and published in the anthology MatchUp. The story acts as a crossover between the Outlander franchise and Berry's Cotton Malone series, featuring the characters Cotton Malone and Jamie Fraser.
  • A Fugitive Green (2017), a novella published in the Gabaldon collection Seven Stones to Stand or Fall.

RelatedEdit

  • The Outlandish Companion (1999), a guide to the Outlander series containing synopses, a character guide, and other notes and information; revised and updated as The Outlandish Companion (Volume One) (2015)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Lord John seriesEdit

The Lord John series is a sequence of novels and shorter works that center on Lord John Grey, a recurring secondary character in Gabaldon's Outlander series. The spin-off series currently consists of five novellas and three novels, which all take place between 1756 and 1761, during the events of Gabaldon's Voyager.<ref name="Gabaldon Grey">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Gabaldon Chronology">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They can be generally categorized as historical mysteries, and the three novels are shorter and focus on fewer plot threads than the main Outlander books.<ref name="Gabaldon Chronology"/>

NovellasEdit

Other worksEdit

  • Naked Came the Phoenix (2001), a collaboration with twelve other authors
  • "Humane Killer", short story co-written with Sam Sykes, published in The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy (2009)
  • "Dirty Scottsdale", short crime story set in Phoenix, Arizona, published in Phoenix Noir (2009), an anthology with fifteen other authors

Scientific worksEdit

Professor Gabaldon's research works included:

AdaptationsEdit

The Outlander series has been released in unabridged (read by Davina Porter) and abridged (read by Geraldine James) audiobooks. Several of the Lord John books have been released in audiobook form, read by Jeff Woodman.

A television adaptation of the Outlander series premiered on Starz in the US on August 9, 2014.<ref name="HR 2014-05-08"/> Gabaldon made a cameo appearance as Iona MacTavish in the August 2014 episode "The Gathering".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Gabaldon is a paid consultant for the show,<ref name="CordDiana">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and wrote the screenplay for the 2016 season 2 episode "Vengeance Is Mine".<ref name="LAT Vengeance"/>

In 2010 Gabaldon adapted the first third of Outlander into The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel, illustrated by Hoang Nguyen.<ref name="GNR 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="PW 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Gabaldon Exile">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The same year, a 14-song cycle based on Outlander was released under the title Outlander: The Musical.<ref name="Gabaldon Musical Amazon 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Gabaldon Musical 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="BroadwayWorld 2012">Template:Cite news</ref>

Reception and awardsEdit

Gabaldon's Outlander won the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award for Best Romance of 1991.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005) debuted at #1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and won the Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2007, The Montreal Gazette noted that Gabaldon's books "are in demand in 24 countries in 19 languages", and that the author "continues to churn out one bestseller after another."<ref name="Montreal Gazette"/> By 2012 her novels had been published in 27 countries and 24 languages.<ref name="NAU"/> She has since gone on to win numerous awards for both her writing and her contributions to the UK, one of which was from the National Trust for Scotland's "Great Scot" award,<ref name="Great Scot">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> rarely given to a non-Scot. Also, Gabaldon received the St. Andrew's Society of Los Angeles & Southern California "Robert Burns Lifetime Achievement Award." Gabaldon continues to be recognized and given accolades the world over.

Lord John and the Private Matter reached No. 8 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List in 2003.<ref name="NYT Private Matter">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2007, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade debuted at #1,<ref name="NYT Blade">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Hand of Devils collection reached No. 24 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List.<ref name="NYT Devils">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Scottish Prisoner debuted at #6 on The New York Times E-Book Fiction Best-Seller List in 2011,<ref name="NYT Prisoner">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the novella A Plague of Zombies was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for the “Best Short Mystery Story” the same year.<ref name="Gabaldon Plague">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Reviewing the Lord John series, Publishers Weekly said that "Gabaldon's prose is crisply elegant"<ref name="PW Private">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and that she "brings an effusive joy to her fiction that proves infectious even for readers unfamiliar with her work or the period."<ref name="PW Hand">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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