| Diana J. Gabaldon | |
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Diana Gabaldon at a book signing in August, 2007. |
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| Born | January 11, 1952 Arizona (U.S.) |
| Pen name | Diana Gabaldon |
| Occupation | novelist |
| Nationality | America |
| Period | 1991 – present |
| Genres | Speculative fiction, historical fiction, mystery |
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www.dianagabaldon.com |
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Diana J. Gabaldon (b. January 11, 1952 in Arizona) is an American author of Mexican-American and English ancestry.[2] Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander Series. Her books they contain elements of romantic fiction, historical fiction, mystery, adventure, and science fiction.
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Diana J. Gabaldon was born on January 11, 1952, in Arizona, (U.S.A.). Her father, Tony Gabaldon (1931–1998) was an Arizona state senator from Flagstaff.[3] He moved to Flagstaff from New Mexico at the age of thirteen.[1] Her mother's family are originally from Yorkshire (England); her great-grandfather immigrated to Arizona from England in the 1860s.
Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has received three degrees from two different institutions: a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Zoology from Northern Arizona University, 1970–1973; a Master of Science (M.S.) in Marine Biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1973–1975; and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Northern Arizona University, 1975-1978. Her M.S. research topic was "Agonistic Interactions of Hermit Crabs." Her Ph.D. dissertation title is "Nest Site Selection in Pinyon Jays, Gymnorhynchus cyanocephalus)." Gabaldon received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) degree from Northern Arizona University in 2007. Gabaldon Hall, a dormitory on the campus of Northern Arizona University, is named in honor of her father.
As a full-time assistant professor in the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University in the 1980s, Gabaldon did research, was a scientific computing and database expert, and taught university classes for college credit in anatomy and other subjects. She was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly.
During the mid-1980s, Gabaldon also designed and taught personal computer courses part-time as a faculty member of the ASU Computer Institute, located in the Tower Shopping Center in Phoenix. The ASU Computer Institute offered non-credit, one-day, evening, and Saturday classes for students, business professionals, and others who wished to learn PC computing. Students received a certificate and could obtain Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for classes they completed successfully. During this period, she wrote computer articles and software reviews for popular national computer publications such as Byte magazine, PC Magazine, and InfoWorld. During this time, her husband founded and ran a successful company which provided computer programming services and support to Phoenix-area businesses.
Gabaldon currently lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area with her husband, Doug Watkins; they have three adult children.[4]
In March 1988, Gabaldon decided to "write a novel for practice, in order to learn how." She did not intend to share it with anyone at the time, or to try to get it published. While "casting about for an appealing time and place" for the novel she happened to see an old Doctor Who rerun on PBS, titled "War Games." One of the Doctor's companions was a young Scot from around 1745, a young man about 17 years old named Jamie MacCrimmon, who provided the initial inspiration for her main male character, James Fraser, and the mid-18th century time period. She used the name “Jamie” from the Dr. Who character, though she has stated that "other than the kilt and the first name (which I used in compliment to the Scottish inspiration), there’s no resemblance between Jamie MacCrimmon and James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser."[5]
The use of time travel came when Gabaldon decided it would be interesting to have "an Englishwoman to play off all these kilted Scotsmen," but her female character who "took over the story and began telling it herself, making smart-ass modern remarks about everything." Gabaldon realized that she would have to provide an explanation for the character's modern behavior and attitudes, and chose to do so using time travel.[5]
Later in 1988, Gabaldon posted a short excerpt of her novel on the CompuServe Literary Forum, which led to her being introduce to the agent of author John E. Stith, who was impressed by her post.[6] The agent, Perry Knowlton, represented her on the basis of an unfinished first novel, tentatively titled Cross Stitch. Her first book deal was for a trilogy, the first novel plus two future sequels. The title of the first book was changed from Cross Stitch to Outlander in the United States before release, but it bears the original title in the U.K. About this name change, Gabaldon says, that Cross Stitch was " a play on "a stitch in time", and that the British publishers liked it. The American publisher, though, said that it "sounded too much like embroidery" and wanted a more "adventurous" title.[5] Gabaldon resigned her faculty position at ASU after the first book deal was finalized, and became a full-time fiction author.
There are presently seven novels in the Outlander series, with the eighth installment, Written in My Own Heart's Blood, to be published in 2013. The novels center on (Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser) and (James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser), and are set in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England, and America. The Lord John Series is a spin-off from the Outlander books, and centers on a secondary character from the original series.
Gabaldon has also published a graphic novel, The Exile (An Outlander Graphic Novel) (2010).
Below are short stories and novellas by Dr. Gabaldon that are independent of the Outlander and Lord John series:
The Outlander series has been released in unabridged audiobooks (read by Davina Porter) and abridged audiobooks (read by Geraldine James). The licenses for the abridged books have not been renewed and the unabridged versions, which Diana Gabaldon prefers, will be the only ones available when the licenses expire. Several of the Lord John books have been released in audiobook form, read by Jeff Woodman.