Outlandish Companion, Volume II

Diana Gabaldon posted this on her blog earlier this week:

"What sorts of things might you like to see in THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, Volume II?"

I would personally love to see:

• Maps showing the (approximate) locations of Fraser's Ridge, River Run, and the important battle sites (Alamance, Moore's Creek, Ticonderoga, Crefeld) mentioned in the books.

• An updated FAQ with answers to the questions Diana gets over and over and over, in email and at her public appearances.

• How a page of the graphic novel evolves, from the preliminary pencil sketch to the final version.

If you are wondering why Diana is working on the OC Volume II now, rather than waiting until the series is done, look at her comment on that blog entry:

There are a lot of people who want a COMPANION to cover the next books of the series _now_. If they think they're confused about the details of earlier plots or don't remember a particular character now, how much worse will it be in three, four, five, six years from now?

I think this is undeniably true.

If I wait until the series--including _possibly_ two further novels, a prequel novel, and whatever Lord John books or other inclusions there may be (sorry, guys, _I_ get to say what belongs in this series, because I'm the only one who sees all the connections. And [cough] it's my name on the front, aye?)--the resulting COMPANION would be Way Too Big to contain anything other than the synopses and cast of characters. If I do a second volume now and a third when the series _is_ complete, we have room to include all kinds of other interesting stuff--which is why I'm asking y'all what you'd like to see, capisce?

If you have suggestions for Diana, you can post them on her blog, here. There's also a thread on Compuserve, here. By all means, feel free to comment here as well!