Sunday 24 July 2011

The Inspiration For Jamie Fraser

Dedicated Diana Gabaldon fans will probably have heard all about the very early days of her foray into fiction writing.  How she decided to write a novel as practice yet had no idea what to write about until she was inspired to write a historical fiction by watching an old episode of Dr Who! Now original Dr Who episodes were very well known for making children (and some grown ups) hide behind the settee in terror but luckily for us Diana was brave and bold resulting in a momentous moment in literary history. Yeah I know that sounds far too dramatic but when she saw Fraser Hines dressed as a Scottish highlander it sparked something in her (it was the kilt) which steered her new novel towards the Highlands, a kilted warrior and all things Outlander.

So what was so special about this guy in his kilt I hear you ask?  Well I've delved into the archives (or rather done a quick search on youtube) and dug up this little video of the Doctors assistant who made it all possible ... Enjoy!







If you want to listen to how a Scottish accent really shouldn't sound watch this ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PfJ_5rvnuw&feature=related  If this isn't proof that we need a real Scotsman to play Jamie I don't know what is. No disrespect to Fraser Hines but he sounds as Yorkshire as I do in this clip!

Friday 22 July 2011

Tall, Blonde and Viking!

Alright so blonde may not be ideal for a potential Jamie Fraser actor and he's not Scottish but on the bright side he is 6'4" and he is a "real" Viking ... or at least he comes from that part of the world. Well actually when someone first mentioned him as a potential Jamie I wasn't that impressed (not that I didn't think he was as sexy as a big bar of chocolate covered yumminess you understand) but he just didn't immediately make me think of our resident ginner Scot! 

HOWEVER, (I thought it deserved capitals), after almost swooning over his latest TV escapades and sitting slack jawed at recent, almost naked, pictures of him this particular actor has been seen in a slightly better light and so without further a do I'd like to introduce you to another potential Jamie actor .....

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Wait of  it .....
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It's worth the wait honestly ....
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Alexander Skarsgard a.k.a Eric Northman
From Trueblood!

Now, if you aren't familiar with Trueblood you have to realise that those teeth aren't permanent, in fact they aren't even real as Alex is playing a vampire in the photograph.

I hear you ask two questions though:

Question 1:  Why is he in sunlight? 
Answer:  I have no idea because this is from season 4 and I'm only half way through season 3.

Question 2: What were they thinking calling him Eric the Viking? 
Answer: I have no idea but perhaps it's just me who thought how lame the name was.

Now as beautiful as that body is he has a very strange expression on his face in the photograph above. (probably because he's out in the sunshine for the first time in a thousand year) so below are a few other facial shots of Mr Skarsgard.




So maybe he doesn't have red hair, cat eyes or a long nose and even if you hate the idea of him playing Jamie Fraser well guess what?   He's pretty and I like looking at him!

Sunday 17 July 2011

Roger MacKenzie in the flesh!

Why waste time with words when photo's can tell you much more? Here are a few possible Roger candidates ....






Wednesday 13 July 2011

Scottish Prisoner Available For Pre-Order at Amazon!

It doesn't happen very often in life but today is a very special day in the world of Gabaldonia (I just made that up so my apologises regarding the naffness of it!) Today you can pre-order the latest Diana Gabaldon novel The Scottish Prisoner: A Lord John Novel on Amazon.com.

For any Diana Gabaldon fans who don't know about this book, and it is possible that there are a few, it is set sometime in 1760 and therefore prequels most of the main Outlander books.  It is set during the period of time when Jamie is at Helwater and currently he and John are not on the best of terms (that I think is putting it mildly).  Chronologically it is set after Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade within the Lord John books and although there have been a handful of short stories in between that book and this I think it is fairly important for fans to have read Brotherhood first in order to know more of the background.  Readers of the later Outlander books will know that in the long term the two men gain trust and friendship and I believe that this novel goes a long way towards building that relationship.

If you are a regular reader of the compuserve forum or follow Diana on Twitter (writer_dg) you may have come across loads of very exciting excerpts from this book which I'm sure you'll agree is *almost* as anticipated at book eight in the main series!  I'm not going to post any spoilers on here because it would be very unfair for those who are avoiding them but for those of you who have seen them I'm sure you'll agree that this book seems to be a real gem!

If you plan to pre-order your own copy they should be with you some time shortly after the released date of 29th November 2011  ....

Monday 4 July 2011

Outlander 20th Anniversary Edition!

For a novel which was only meant for "practice" Outlander has certainly marked it's place in literary history and tomorrow is celebrating the 20th anniversary of it's original release. For anyone who isn't already aware of the fact there is a special 20th anniversary edition of Outlander to celebrate the special day.

In addition to the story that we all know and love there will also be a few extras such as letter from Diana and a map showing the locations in the book. It has a fake leather cover and a pretty ribbon bookmarker so that you can keep track of where you are (or mark the juicy bits!)

Susan McCreadie (@the_bothy) on twitter has suggested that we celebrate by adding the hashtag #Outlander20 to all our tweets to spread the word. We may even get it trending! I won't be on the internet for a good portion of tomorrow due to having to spend it on a "school thing" but I'll be on twitter for a while in the morning (Of course that's UK time morning not US time morning).