OUTLANDISH COMPANION FAQ

Here is the latest information on Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume One (Revised and Updated Edition) and OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume Two. (Last updated July 27, 2022)

Diana Gabaldon has two books coming out in 2015:

THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume One (Revised and Updated)
Includes: OUTLANDER, DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, VOYAGER, and DRUMS OF AUTUMN
Publication Date: March 31, 2015

THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume Two
Includes: THE FIERY CROSS, A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, AN ECHO IN THE BONE, WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD
Publication Date: October 27, 2015

A lot of people have been asking about these books recently, and I hope this FAQ page will help to clear up some of the confusion.

1) What is THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION?

For those of you who are not familiar with the original OUTLANDISH COMPANION, Diana Gabaldon described it this way, in a post on Compuserve on January 14, 2015:

[It's] a non-fiction book, with a lot of information about the first four books of the series: OUTLANDER through DRUMS OF AUTUMN. It has detailed synopses of those books, for the use of people who can't remember what happened and want to catch up before reading the next book, but don't have time (they think) to go back and re-read the earlier novels.

It has numerous essays by me, about how I came to write the books, where characters come from, doing historical research and a few other things, an annotated Bibliography of all the references I used while working on those four novels, a Gaelic Glossary, a few fun things like professionally-cast horoscopes for Jamie and Claire, and so on. My husband describes it as "the perfect bathroom book," since you can pick it up and open it anywhere. <g>

Please note that word "non-fiction"! This is NOT one of the OUTLANDER novels.

The original version of THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION (pictured above) was first published in 1999, at a time when there were only four books in the OUTLANDER series, the Lord John books and stories did not yet exist, and none of us (including Diana Gabaldon!) had any idea that there would someday be a TV series based on OUTLANDER. It's an interesting book, and definitely worth reading, but a lot of things have changed since 1999, to put it mildly!

2) I already have a copy of the original OUTLANDISH COMPANION. What's new or changed in the Revised and Updated Edition?

The sections on "Work In Progress" and "Outlandish Websites and Online Venues", which had become badly outdated, have been removed, and obsolete material has been removed from some of the other sections as well.

As for what has been added, Diana Gabaldon posted this on Facebook on February 18, 2015:

I put _in_ four new essays, and a new Section dealing with the TV show. The essays are: Jamie and the Rule of Three (about the hows and whys of Wentworth Prison), Book-Touring for Beginners (for those who think this is a glamorous thing to do <g>), A Brief Disquisition on the Existence of Butt-Cooties, and "The Shape of Things" (an essay on How I Write, and what the internal geometry of each book looks like to me).

Now, these essays have all appeared in one place or another on the internet, though the first three were originally done as blog-posts, and thus have been formalized and tidied up a bit for their appearance in the OC I. ("The Shape of Things" appears as a back-matter add-in to the 20th Anniversary edition of OUTLANDER.)

The new TV section has several pieces, describing the book-to-screen process (how we got from an option to a TV show), the adaptation process in theory and in practice, the actors and what they do, and an account of "My Brief Career as a TV Actor." Also a section including photos from the show kindly supplied by Sony.

For the full explanation in Diana's own words, look here.

3) What is included in THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume Two?

In addition to detailed plot synopses and an updated Cast of Characters for THE FIERY CROSS, A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, AN ECHO IN THE BONE, and WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD, the OC II includes a number of other interesting topics.

4) When were these books published?

THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume One (Revised and Updated Edition) was published on March 31, 2015. THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume Two was published on October 27, 2015.

5) How can I get a copy of these OUTLANDISH COMPANION books?

The updated OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume One is available in print and e-book editions from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume Two is also available in print and e-book editions from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If you would like an autographed copy of either book, you can contact the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Arizona. The Poisoned Pen is Diana Gabaldon's local independent bookstore, and they ship autographed copies of her books all over the world.

6) Will the updated OUTLANDISH COMPANION and the OC II be available in the UK and other countries?

I asked Diana Gabaldon on Compuserve about the availability of the updated OC Volume One in the UK, and she said, "Probably. Eventually. <g>" The situation in the UK is complicated because there are several different publishers involved. If I find out anything more definite regarding UK availability of either of the two new OUTLANDISH COMPANION books, I will update this page.

As for other countries, I have no information at this time.

7) What about audio versions?

The audio version of the OC Volume 1 was released on August 17, 2015.

The audio version of the OC Volume 2 was released on November 5, 2015.

Both audiobooks are narrated by Davina Porter and Diana Gabaldon.