What Outlander Means to Me – Words in honor of #WorldOutlanderDay

So several people have asked me today if I was planning to write anything for #WorldOutlanderDay. I wasn’t really planning to, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I do have a story to tell.  I may even admit to my darkest, most shameful Outlander secret.

In the beginning…

From reading many reminiscences today, I’ve realized that many, if not most, Outlander fans can point to the exact month and year they first read Outlander. I’m not like that.  I’m pretty sure I picked up my first copies of Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber at a Barnes and Noble somewhere in the mid 90s but I couldn’t say when. And although I know how strongly Diana objected to them being there, I likely would not have ever found the books in a bookstore if they had not been in the Romance section. Anyway, I bought them and took them home. And they sat on my shelf for days, months, dare I say, years. I know I tried to start Outlander several times, but I never seemed to make it past the magic first 100 pages. Finally, in the midst of a paperback book-reducing frenzy, I did something I can’t believe I’m admitting in public: much less in an Outlander-related post, I traded Outlander and Dragonfly in at a used book store.

I know, I know. I can hear the gasps and screams of outrage already. I have no real excuse. Looking back, I can only come up with a couple of reasons why I think Outlander didn’t “click” for me back then. First, I was pretty young.  I was only 23 or 24 and was still pretty much living in the bosom of my family and I think I just had a hard time relating to Claire.  Second, although I’ve always been a huge fan of historically based fiction, neither WWII nor the Jacobite period had ever numbered among my favorite historical time periods. Somehow both these factors, plus never making it past the first 100 pages, doomed me into making a tragic mistake.  Most of you will be quite relieved to note however that now, when I recommend Outlander to others, I make them sign a blood oath  not to stop reading before magic page 100.

Seeing the light–

Luckily, unlike so many other things in life, I was offered a second chance.  I was attending a music festival in Wilkesboro, NC, ( not too far from the fictional location of Fraser’s Ridge) when I started chatting with a weaver who was exhibiting her wares in the arts and crafts tent.  As we were talking about different historically set books we had read, she asked me if I had read Outlander. I readily admitted that I had purchased the book at one time but had never ‘got into it.’ Looking back, I think I’m really lucky she decided to have anything more to do with me. However, as I listened to this lady extol the virtues of the series, I resolved to give Outlander another go, and boy is that a decision that has impacted my life.

Continue reading →

World Outlander Day – June 1, 2014

Conny, blogging at Highland Saga, has come up with a great idea to have World Outlander Day on Sunday, June 1.  As far as we can tell , June 1, 1991 was the day that Outlander was first published, so what better way to celebrate? This grass-roots effort is really a fresh example of the “Outlander Effect” from my previous Great Scot post.

Fans the world over are embracing this celebration of Diana Gabaldon and all things Outlander! So what kinds of things are Outlander Fans doing to celebrate? Some of the activities I’ve seen mentioned include:

– Online discussions on Facebook, Twitter sharing how Outlander has affected them personally.

– Pocket Jamie photos commemorating the Day worldwide.

– Reading favorite passages and sections from the books.

– Sharing meals and treats based on Outlander dining (see recipes here: Outlander Kitchen).

– Give-A-Gabaldon Sunday: make a gift of an Outlander book to a friend, library, or book drive.

– Because blood helps us Travel Through the Stones:  American Red Cross blood donations (one Fan is moving her Summer Solstice Quarterly donation up 3 weeks).

– Making donations to Diana’s, Cait’s and Sam’s charities:

– Plant an Outlander plant, flower bed, or garden – for ideas, see: Outlander Plants

– Walk, run, or otherwise mobilize your body for fitness with fellow fans: @OutlanderFit

– Write a Haiku poem about Outlander, and tweet using #OutlanderHaiku (5 syllables – 7 syllables – 5 syllables on a theme or idea from Outlander)

 

What will you be doing to celebrate World Outlander Day, and the effect Outlander has had on your world?

The Outlander Effect or (in Gàidhlig) “Buaidh Outlander”

 Outlander and Scottish tourism

Now that a premiere date for Outlander has been announced, we are slowly yet surely seeing press coverage about the series tick up. One such article published recently got me to thinking. Outlander already has a large and loyal fan base. What impact has there been, if any, on Scotland’s economy and culture? And what can we expect to change after the series starts airing?

First, let me start with the article that intrigued me, published by a site called “We Love Soaps,” who bill themselves as the “World’s biggest champion of scripted, serialized storytelling on TV & the web.” I guess the Outlander TV series does fit that description, although I would never call it a Soap! The bit of the article to catch my eye was this:

The fervent on-line fan base totals over a half-million and when the ‘first-look’ photo of Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser posted on the Starz social channels, it outperformed other introductions of lead characters for properties such as The Great Gatsby (Gatsby), Hunger Games (Katniss), Game of Thrones (Ned Stark), and NBC’s Dracula (Dracula). Additionally, when Sam was cast as Jamie Fraser, the fans took it upon themselves to make their voices heard and put him on E! News’ “Hottie of the Week” charts two weeks in a row (which is very rare, if not unprecedented). In addition, #Outlander trended (was one of the top ten things being talked about on Twitter) numerous times during NY ComicCon.  Starz Summer 2014 New Series: ‘Power’ and ‘Outlander’

It is apparent the size and fervency of the Outlander fan base has already been noticed and its impact noted. One example is the recent Twitter trending event held on May 19 for #WorldWideTVNeedsOutlander. The tag trended globally and the fact was highlighted in the introduction of Outlander during the L.A. Screenings event for international TV buyers that same day. You can see Diana Gabaldon — author of the bestselling Outlander series of novels — tweet about that here:

Continue reading →

How to Speak Outlander: Lesson 9 ‘Tùlach Àrd’

Happy Monday Outlanders! Starz has given us a sparkling new ‘How to Speak Outlander” video this afternoon. This video focuses on ‘Tùlach Àrd’, the war cry of the Clan MacKenzie.  After a most spirited introduction and pronunciation by Àdhamh (is it just me or does he just get better and better in front of the camera with every new video), we are forced to recognize yet again that the Gàidhlig language is full of traps for the unwary learner.  For English speakers like me, ‘ard’ on paper does not logically translate to ‘aarsd’ in pronunciation, but I have learned to not be too phased by this. (See previous comments regarding H’s in Gàidhlig)

Luckily, we are treated to the MacKenzie brothers (Gary Lewis and Graham McTavish) giving us their rendition of the Clan war cry as well. And may I take a moment to compliment Terry Moore (@outlandercostum) once again for such a lovely job with everything we have seen so far costume wise. As have all the others I’ve seen, the costumes for Column and Dougal take my breath away.

In this new video, viewers are also given a glimpse into the humor of Gary Lewis as he very helpfully points out that the large chap (Graham as Dougal) will be uttering the war cry as he asks for another glass of the Rhenish. I can so totally believe Gary is the prankster on set.

And last but not least, I can’t help but get a little thrill at the end of the video when the premiere date of August 9, 2014 is shown. So close and yet so far!

 

How to Speak Outlander: Lesson 9 ‘Tùlach Àrd’

Outlander UK Gathering Immortalized in Cartoon

As a follow-up to my post covering Àdhamh’s appearance at the Outlander UK Gathering, I couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to share Outlander Cartoon’s latest masterpiece.  The ever talented Vivi has really outdone herself with this multimedia commemoration of the wildly successful first annual (we hope) event!

Experience the full multimedia version here:

#OutlanderInvadesEdinburgh