20th Anniversary reactions

Diana's Reaction to the 20th Anniversary Essay Collection

I know many of you have been wondering what Diana Gabaldon thinks of the collection of essays I sent her from the OUTLANDER 20th Anniversary Contest. Here is a picture of the final collection that I mailed to her.



I sent an email to Diana on Tuesday asking whether she'd received the package, and here is what she wrote back:

Dear Karen--

   I did!  And thank you IMMENSELY!  I was saving it to open once SCOTTISH PRISONER was done <g>, so did open it last night, after the launch party at the Poisoned Pen.  I've only had time enough to read the first few essays, but they're wonderful--touching, funny, and just amazingly lovely.  Thanks so much, and yes, of course I'll come by the blog to say thanks in person.

   All the Best,

   --Diana

I'm so glad to hear she's been enjoying the essay collection.  Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest!  And I do hope Diana will stop by here and comment on it, when she's had a chance to read through the whole collection.  [UPDATE 7/17/2011 8:13 am:  She's now done just that!  Click here to see Diana's comments.]

My reaction to the 20th Anniversary Edition

And speaking of reactions <g>....my autographed copy of the 20th Anniversary Edition of OUTLANDER arrived from the Poisoned Pen this afternoon.  I think it was worth the wait, and the extra money, to get a signed copy.



On the plus side:

- I love the look of this book.  Very elegant!  There is something about the "faux-leather" cover that makes me want to squeeze it over and over, just for the pleasure of how it feels in my hands.  I like the ribbon bookmark very much; it's longer than I expected, and the color is lovely.

- I love the map!  It really helps to see the approximate locations of many of the places in the books.  I was surprised that Ardsmuir is so far north; I didn't really have any concept of where it was located.  My only quibble is that I wish Helwater was marked on this map.  (And yes, I know it's not mentioned until VOYAGER, but then, neither is Ardsmuir.)

- The lengthy description of Diana's writing process was fascinating, even though I'd seen some parts of it before.  The part that is new to me is the detailed explanation (starting on page 634) of how she fiddles with every word in every sentence, to get it just right.  No wonder it takes her so long to finish a book, if she's spending this much time and effort fine-tuning every sentence!

- Diana says she wants an octopus on the cover of Book 8. I may actually have been the first one to suggest that, in a discussion about possible Book 8 titles on Compuserve in October, 2010. (Not looking for credit, of course, just noting that I came up with an idea that Diana seems to like quite a bit.)

- Kudos to my friend Cathy MacGregor for the wonderful Reader's Guide to OUTLANDER that is included with this book.  She clearly put a lot of time and thought into it, and it shows.  I hope we'll see similar Reader's Guides for the other books, eventually.

The down side:

- I will miss that striking blue cover, which is the reason OUTLANDER caught my attention in the bookstore almost five years ago.

- I didn't really care for the new song on the OUTLANDER: The Musical sample CD. (Although the other three songs are some of my favorites.) I will have to listen to it a few more times just to be sure, but my first reaction was that the songwriter didn't really get the relationship between Claire and Dougal very well. Too bad.

On the whole, I'm quite pleased with the 20th Anniversary Edition. If you've seen it, please let us know what you think of it!