Monday Morning Musing on OUTLANDER

photo credit: IMDB

I had today’s blog post all worked out in my head before getting up this morning. I often do my best thinking in that twilight between awake and asleep. Then I watched the episode of Outlander that I’d recorded last night. Oh my goodness. Such a heartbreaking episode. At least, that’s how I felt as a mother. Then immense joy.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

Have you been watching Outlander? It’s a Starz original series based on Diana Gabaldon’s eight-book Outlander time travel collection. I read the series when it first came out. Everyone was back then. Or so it seemed. The main question in my book group's discussion was would she go back?

When the series premiered in 2014, I was excited to watch it, because of reading the books. I even blogged about it three years ago. Hubs enjoyed the series because of the Scottish history. (His grandfather was born in Scotland.) While he was interested in the battles, I watched for the romance between Claire and Jamie. Of course, I anticipated their happy-ever-after. Would they get it or not? What trauma Gabaldon put them through! What heartache.

I said (above) this episode was heartbreaking to me as a mother. To be reunited with her true love, Claire must leave her daughter (and Jamie’s) behind. It doesn’t matter that her daughter encourages her to go. I’m not sure I could do that. Perhaps, I'm not the romantic I always thought I was.

Amazon

Last year, I wrote a novella called Mission to New Earth. The beginning of the blurb reads: Would you go on a one-way trip to explore a new planet? Would you do it to save humankind? My main character (Sara) has no family to leave behind. My answer to the question in the blurb is no, not in my present life. Never to see my family again? No way. But other characters in my story did leave their families. In a future story (one that's in the early stage), I'll explore the rest of the crew's reasons for leaving those families behind.

When I wrote that novella, I didn’t consciously think about Outlander. Since I can now see the similarities, I must have done it subconsciously. At the beginning, Claire isn’t given the choice to travel back in time. Sara chooses to go on the mission. Later in the series, when Claire discovers Jamie survived the battle of Culloden, she’s torn between her family (daughter) and her true love. That’s what makes the story so emotional. What would we do for love?

I’m looking forward to watching the next episode. What does Jamie feel when Claire returns? How will that affect his life?

Are you watching Outlander?

Come back tomorrow when I share a fun new release from some friends of mine: an anthology titled Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2.

Time Travel

photo from IMDB

Have you been watching Outlander, the movie series based on Diana Gabaldon’s books? Wow. Is it ever fascinating! I read the books when they first came out. Even though I wasn’t crazy about historical romances, I love a good time travel. In Outlander, Claire is transported from post-World War II to 18th century Scotland. She desperately wants to return to her own time and her husband with whom she’s just been reunited after being separated by the war.

I don’t remember the details of Outlander as much as I do the general feeling of the book. So the movie series is like discovering it anew. Hubs enjoys it, too—more for the Scottish history (did I mention his grandfather came from Scotland?) than the characters. I do remember some things and it’s killing me not to reveal them. LOL I don’t want to spoil it for him.

photo from IMDB

My all-time favorite time travel movie is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Kirk and crew save the whales and their 23rd century world. Fish-out-of-water (no pun intended) stories are always interesting and often comical. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed that movie so much—the humor. Like Jessie in my first book Switched, who sleeps through her favorite movie, I can recite most of the dialogue. If it’s on TV, I’ll watch it. Hubs will go downstairs to his workshop.

Time travel stories always pose the same questions—will she (or he) return to her own time? will she want to? Have you ever wondered what you would do in that situation? Would you want to stay? In many of the time travel books that were popular in the early 1990s, the main character always found her true love. Then either she stayed or he came forward to her time. A book I read through the night (just couldn’t put down) was Jude Deveraux’s A Knight in Shining Armor. Tears and joy. What a gripping story.

If time travel could exist, what time period would you want to travel to? 

If you haven’t discovered Outlander, it’s on Starz on Saturdays at 9pm Eastern Time. If you have On Demand, you can catch up on previous episodes.