A TRAIL OF FIRE FAQ

1) What is A TRAIL OF FIRE?

A TRAIL OF FIRE is a collection of four novellas (shorter pieces) by Diana Gabaldon:

• "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows"
• "The Custom of the Army"
• "Lord John and the Plague of Zombies"
• "The Space Between"

(For those of you who don't know, "The Space Between" is a novella about Young Ian's brother Michael, Marsali's sister Joan, and the Comte St. Germain.)

2) What does the title mean?

As Diana explained in a blog post dated May 1, 2012:

Why A TRAIL OF FIRE? Well…as the cover copy says… “ _Trails of tracer bullets in the dark, and the fiery trail of a wounded Spitfire falling out of the sky. The trail blazed by night by the handful of heroic Highlanders who fought their way straight up a vertical cliff to stand on the Plains of Abraham in a fiery dawn. The burning of plantations in a Jamaican night, in a trail leading down from the mountains, straight toward Kingstown. And the trail of a torch burning green as it moves through the eerie surrounds of a Paris cemetery, down into the mysteries of the earth._”

3) When will this story collection be available?

That's complicated.  Please read Diana's explanation below, taken directly from a post on Compuserve.

This collection is going to be peculiar, because of the rights issues.  To wit:  we can't legally publish these stories in North America until the rights to all of them have reverted--and each one has an exclusive period of 12-18 months (depending on the original contract) from first publication in the anthologies until the rights _do_ revert to me.  So right this minute, "Custom" is the only one I could legally sell again--but the rights to "Leaf" come due this October, and "Plague of Zombies" next April (2013).

However--owing to a lot of complications and negotiations you don't need to hear about <g>--we _can_ publish a printed collection in the UK when "Leaf" comes free.  So there _will_ be a print volume coming out from Orion in [November 2012]--but _only_ in the UK (and its Commonwealth countries--i.e., Australia, New Zealand, etc.).  (You can still get the book in the US, but it would be expensive.)  

That print volume, called A TRAIL OF FIRE, was released in hardcover in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand on 8 November 2012.

4) I don't live in the UK, Australia, or New Zealand.  How can I order a copy of A TRAIL OF FIRE?

You can order A TRAIL OF FIRE from amazon.co.uk, the Poisoned Pen bookstore, or other online booksellers that ship worldwide, but it will be expensive.

What if you don't want to order the book from overseas?  What other options are there for readers in the US and Canada?  Diana explains:

[We] have it in mind to publish the individual stories in the US/Canada as individual e-shorts (sold inexpensively) as the rights revert, so that US readers can _get_ the stories as they revert without waiting until _all_ the rights revert and we can do a print collection--we couldn't do print in the US until (probably) early 2014.

The first of those "e-shorts", The Custom of the Army, was published on May 21, 2012, and is available for Kindle, Nook, etc.  The second one, "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows", will be released on December 3, 2012.

Please see Diana's blog post here for all the details about A TRAIL OF FIRE and the individual e-versions of the shorter pieces.

5) How can I get an autographed copy of A TRAIL OF FIRE?

If you would like a signed copy of A TRAIL OF FIRE, you can order it from the Poisoned Pen bookstore here, or call them at 1-888-560-9919.

The cost of the signed hardcover is $42.00 plus shipping.  They ship all over the world.  

6) Will there be an e-book version of A TRAIL OF FIRE?

Yes, there is a Kindle edition of A TRAIL OF FIRE, but it's not currently available in the US and Canada, owing to the same rights issues mentioned above.

The four stories in A TRAIL OF FIRE have been released as standalone e-books (in the US and Canada ONLY), priced at $1.99 each.

7) What about an audiobook?

I have no information about an audio version of A TRAIL OF FIRE.  But there are audiobooks of two of the four stories in the collection, The Custom of the Army and A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows, at least in the US.

That's as much as I know right now.  I hope you find this information helpful!

(Last updated December 27, 2012)