Outlander Book Club's 1 Year Anniversary Contest

In honor of the Outlander Book Club's one year anniversary in September, they are having an essay contest for a chance to win a personalized signed copy of The Exile by Diana Gabaldon!  Yey OBC!  Awesome idea!

See the Outlander Book Club site for more details!

Outlander Chat Instructions

I received an email asking for help with chat and wanted to make sure I post the instructions!

1. To get to chat, click the "My Outlander Chat" tab above. 
2. Type a nickname - any nickname - and click "Join". 
3. You are now signed on to the chat room and your nickname will show up in the box in the upper right hand corner of the chatroom.
4. To start talking, go to the bottom of the white box, where is says: Type here and hit ENTER to send a message". Type whatever you'd like to say and hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard. 

That's it! You're chatting! Whatever you type will show up above in the larger white box. Sometimes it gets crowded (not that we're complaining; we LOVE a full chat) and it helps to change the color of your text so everyone is a different color. If - for instance -  I am typing in green, and I am discussing Fergus - and you want to discuss Fergus - you will know to follow the green text.

We try to follow topics every week, but I don't want it to be so rigid that people have to discuss what we're discussing. I want everyone to have fun at chat!

Hope that helps! And please don't hesitate to let us know if you're having problems!  You can email Tracey or myself by clicking the "Contact Us" tab at the top of the blog!

Pillars of the Earth on Starz: QUESTION

Can SOMEBODY please tell me who is playing Jacque Cherbourg (or Jack Shareburg - aka Jack Jackson's father) in all those flashbacks on The Pillars of the Earth??? I canna find his name anywhere. NO credits on IMDb. NO credits anywhere.

Why? Because he's a big, strapping hulk of a man with big shoulders and red hair. 

Y'all do the math. :)

Another Great Outlander Chat

Thanks to everyone who participated in last night's Outlander chat!  And a warm welcome to two MALE participants from last night... Richard... and Charles. We hope you come back again next week!

Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander chat tonight at 9PM Eastern!  Tracey will be there -  I am headed to the great Hershey Park in Hershey, PA (to buy gobs of chocolate) with my family.... and will try verra hard to make it! By 9PM I'll be dying to sit down with the laptop and some peace and quiet, I'm sure!

Outlander Casting: Eddie Redmayne

OK because I am such a huge fan of The Pillars of the Earth (squee - two hour finale on Friday!) I have recently become absolutely captivated by Eddie Redmayne who plays Jack Jackson.  He's fantastic.  I think he's absolutely beautiful. He's so soulful... and can easily do strong - and vulnerable - at the same time.  He was on Broadway in a show called Red, for which he won a Tony.. and it closed in June which is SUCH a bummer. I live in NJ and could have easily gone to see him in this show. I canna say enough about him, sassenachs; I think he's an exceptional actor.

Soooooo.... here's the deal. I want him in Outlander. He FITS in Outlander. Somewhere. I just don't know where.  Any suggestions??

Claire's Bad Mofo Wallet

I just had to post this video because I just came across it and was reminded of my commentary from two weeks ago about Claire being a bad mofo and needing her own bad mofo wallet. There is some bad language - so be warned, especially at work or if you are around kids.

This video is dedicated to Tracey R, my sister and Outlander mentor and lover of Pulp Fiction... and also to Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser GREY (tee hee, I couldna resist) because she is one BAD MOFO!!!!

Book 8 Ponderings - Post Scriptum!

SPOILER ALERT:  Dinna read unless ye have read An Echo in the Bone.

Thanks to our Purgatory bud, Danette, for reminding me of something that I left out of the last post.

Another thing that caused my latest musings: I remember reading that Diana didn't want the readers to think Jamie was dead - and I started thinking "Well why did Claire even have to think he was dead? WHY did she HAVE to sleep with Lord John??" And that's when it all fell into place. I am starting to think Tracey is correct; Jamie will forgive Claire in the first 50 pages (after some punishment, right Karen?!) and they will go back to the Ridge - and William will go with them. And even if they don't go back to the Ridge - William and Jamie WILL form a father/son bond...and the infidelity was necessary to allow Jamie to allow himself to hurt Lord John in that way.

WORD.

"Book 8" Ponderings

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have finished An Echo in the Bone.

So I've been doing some serious pondering and surmising about "Book 8". Allow me to share.

I was brushing my teeth and thinking about how much I miss the Outlander crew. I then said to myself, "Self", I said, "what on earth is Book 8 going to be about? Is it going to grab me from Page 1?" I then thought "Oh it's going to start off with Jamie finding out about Claire sleeping with Lord John... so of course it's going to grab me." I then did the usual pondering about Claire sleeping with Lord John and what Jamie's reaction is going to be... yada yada yada... we've all been there a thousand times in our heads.

And that's when it happened. "Self", I said, "what is Willy's role going to be in Book 8?" And all at once, I knew. Jamie and Willy are going to rekindle the relationship they forged all those years ago at Helwater and truly become father and son. Ask me why I think this. Go ahead. I'll wait.

HERE'S WHY:  THAT'S why Claire HAD to sleep with Lord John. Diana probably thought to herself,  "Well, I'd like to form that father and son bond between Jamie and William - but how in the world can I do that with William's relationship with his "father", Lord John... and with the respect Jamie has for his best male friend in the world?" And that's when she probably said to herself "Lord John has got to do something so awful, so hideous that Jamie won't feel the least bit bad getting close to Willy as his true father"...

And then she probably said "But what? What on earth could Lord John possibly do that would make Jamie THAT mad?"

And the rest, my friends... is (future) history.

On Yesterday's Bree and Roger Video...

I love putting up a video and saying "discuss". What a loaded statement!

I agree with the general consensus. He's not my Roger and - while I absolutely ADORE Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica on True Blood; she's not really my Bree.

But I did love the song - and I also love that people take the time to put these videos together. You have to give them props. It takes countless hours of research to go through video and cut up parts that you think pertain to the story. I loved the boat shot - even though it was roughly 200 years (give or take a decade) too late. It reminded me of Roger on the ship headed to find Bree... and I got a lovely warm feeling in my wame.... like the kind you get when you have a cup of hot tea or coffee on a freezing cold, rainy afternoon.

I miss Roger. I miss Bree. Don't even get me started on how much I'm missing Jamie and Claire. And I know the general consensus of THAT commentary is "reread the books!" But it's not what I truly want. It's so difficult when you've read all 7 books in a row without stopping - and then have to wait for so long. Lorddddddd where's Diana's Methadone list when I need it?!