Diana Gabaldon

Diana J. Gabaldon
Diana Gabaldon at a book signing in August, 2007.
Born	January 11, 1952 (1952-01-11) Arizona (U.S.)
Pen name	Diana Gabaldon
Occupation	novelist
Nationality	America
Period	1991 – present
Genres	Speculative fiction, historical fiction, mystery
Influences Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dorothy L. Sayers, John D. MacDonald, P.G. Wodehouse
Influenced Jeaniene Frost
www.dianagabaldon.com

Diana J. Gabaldon (b. January 11, 1952 in Arizona) is an American author of Mexican-American and English ancestry , best known for the Outlander Series. Her books contain elements of romantic fiction, historical fiction, mystery, adventure, and science fiction.

Early life, science career and family

Diana J. Gabaldon was born on January 11, 1952, in Arizona, (U.S.A.). Her father, Tony Gabaldon (1931–1998) was an Arizona state senator from Flagstaff.[1]. Her mother's family were originally from Yorkshire (England).

Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. 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 Ph.D. in Ecology from Northern Arizona University, 1975-1978. Gabaldon received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) degree from Northern Arizona University in 2007.

As a full-time assistant professor in the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University in the 1980s, Gabaldon did research, was a scientific computing and database expert, and taught university classes in anatomy and other subjects. She was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly. During the mid-1980s, Gabaldon wrote computer articles and software reviews for national computer publications such as Byte magazine, PC Magazine, and InfoWorld.

Gabaldon currently lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area with her husband, Doug Watkins; they have three adult children. After her first book deal was finalized, she resigned her faculty position at Atizona State University to become a full-time fiction author.

Novel writing

In March 1988, Gabaldon decided to "write a novel for practice, in order to learn how." At the time, she did not intend to share it with anyone, or to try to get it published. While "casting about for an appealing time and place" for the novel, she happened to see an old Doctor Who rerun on PBS, titled "War Games." One of the Doctor's companions was a young Scot from around 1745, a young man about 17 years old named Jamie MacCrimmon, who provided the initial inspiration for her main male character, James Fraser, and for her novel's mid-18th century setting.. 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." To explain the character's modern behavior and attitudes, Gabaldon chose to use time travel.

Later in 1988, Gabaldon posted a short excerpt of her novel on the CompuServe Literary Forum, which led to her introduction to the literary agent Perry Knowlton by author John E. Stith. 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. The first book's title was changed before release to Outlander in the United States, but remained unchanged in the U.K. According to Gabaldon,Cross Stitch," a play on "a stitch in time", was liked by the British publishers; however, the American publisher said that it "sounded too much like embroidery" and wanted a more "adventurous" title.

The Outlander series presently comprises seven published novels, with the eighth installment, Written in My Own Heart's Blood, scheduled to be published in 2013. Gabaldon has also published The Exile (An Outlander Graphic Novel) (2010). The novels center on Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser and James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, and are set in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England, and America. The Lord John Series is a spin-off from the Outlander books, centering on a secondary character from the original series.

Bibliography

Outlander series

• Outlander (1991)
• Dragonfly in Amber (1992)
• Voyager (1994)
• Drums of Autumn (1997)
• The Outlandish Companion (1999), a guide to the Outlander series containing synopses, a character guide, and other notes and information
• The Fiery Cross (2001)
• A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005)
• An Echo in the Bone (2009)
• The Exile – An Outlander Graphic Novel (2010)
• "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" (2010), a short story in Songs of Love and Death, an anthology
• Written in My Own Heart's Blood (forthcoming)
• The Scottish Prisoner (2012)

Lord John series

• Lord John and the Hellfire Club (1998, initially an audio-only release), novella
• Lord John and the Private Matter (2003)
• Lord John and the Succubus, novella published in Legends II, edited by Robert Silverberg
• Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (2007)
• Lord John and the Haunted Soldier (2007), novella
• Lord John and the Hand of Devils (2007), collection of three novellas
• The Custom of the Army (2010), novella published in Warriors, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
• Lord John and the Plague of Zombies (2011), novella published in Down These Strange Streets, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (2011)
• The Scottish Prisoner (2011)

Published short stories and novellas independent of the Outlander and Lord John series

• "Humane Killer," a short story co-written Samuel Sykes in The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy, as its title implies, an anthology of dragon stories, edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. Released in hardcover by Ace Books in the U.S.A. on November 3, 2009. ISBN 0441017649.
• Phoenix Noir (2009) [2], a short story collection with fifteen other authors.

Other works

• Naked Came the Phoenix (2001), a collaboration with twelve other authors.

Audiobooks

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

Awards

• 1992: RITA Award given by the Romance Writers of America in the category Best Book of 1991 for the novel Outlander.
• 2006: Quill Book Award in 2006 in the category Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror

External links

• Official website
• Diana Gabaldon at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database