MEETING DIANA GABALDON

Tonight I went to my local Chapters store to hear a reading and get a book signed by Diana Gabaldon (Gabble-DOAN), the author of the Outlander series of books.

For those of you who are unaware (and you're probably all single men), the Outlander books are a hard-to-genrify series about an English woman, a doctor, in 1945 England who goes back in time to 1745 Scotland via some ancient Scottish standing stones.

It's part historical fiction, part romance, part mystery, part adventure-- Gabaldon herself admits that her publisher just didn't know what niche to put it in. They finally chose Romance, because as her publisher told her: "A bestseller in Science Fiction is 50 000 copies. A bestselling Romance is 500 000 copies."

I found out about the series, as I'll wager most men did, from my wife. It was one of the hot books going around the office Mrs. M used to work at, and when meeting her former co-workers for lunch one day was asked if she'd read it. It was hyped to her in a very woman-affirming join-the-club way, and so she borrowed the first book from her friend and read it.

Then I read it, just to see what all the hype (which Mrs. M had by then joined in spreading) was about.

At first blush, yes, they do seem to be romance fiction. A fiery red-headed doctor, ahead of her time and dissatisfied with her tame husband, reflecting on the war and its effects; yatta yatta yatta, woops, some druids and then eep, falling through a magic stone to be found by an evil English army captain and rescued by a saucy, strapping giant of a Scottish red-headed hero-type.

In spite of myself, I was hooked. "Bodice-rippers" never did it for me-- but this one had enough of other flavours added to the mix that I was able to overlook the sometimes "Mary-Sue" approach Gabaldon took with her heroine.

And, as I continued to read the other books in the series (there are currently four, plus one Companion book), I was drawn further and further in. Plots! Politics! Historical figures! Gay English Lords! And... spanking?

Hot DAMN.

So Mrs M. and I hied ourselves off to hear Ms. Gabaldon read and answer some Q&A. She speaks like someone who's been a university professor and an author: Sometimes it took her ten minutes to come to the answer of a simple question, but at the same time gave a wealth of interesting anecdotal information to back it up.

She has a playful, organically disorganized feel to her speech, which helped me to understand how she could write such convoluted plots and still keep track of who did what in what book-- that's simply how her brain works.

Oh yes-- be aware that a mystery she presents in one book might not be solved until the next book, or the book after THAT. The series is one great epic, you see. But don't let that deter you-- each book does stand alone, it's just that each one is full of hooks.

When it came to our turn to get our book signed, I was happy to tell Ms. Gabaldon that she was a terrible woman; she wrote compelling characters that I found intriguing and ultimately frustrating; and how terrible that I still would want to read them. I also informed her that her books were good both for reading, and for throwing across the room in frustration. And finally, I thanked her for taking time out from the series to devote an entire book to my favorite character, Lord John Grey-- Lord John and the Private Matter.

To the men out there, let me assure you that although her books may have what could be considered "girly bits," they're a fun read and worth looking into. And if there are in fact women on this planet who have not read the "Harry Potter of the Romance Fiction aisle," I urge you to pick one up and enjoy.

Me, Ms. Gabaldon, and Mrs. M.

Posted by Agent M at November 06, 2003 10:58 PM