A Trail of Fire

This is a great read for fans of The Outlander series.The book is basically 4 short stories about things mentioned in the Outlander book and The Lord John stories, but expanded a bit to give more of an insight into the person or event mentioned.Bulges are what Diana Gabaldon herself calls them!! And a very good description it is too!!A leaf on the wind of All Hallows, tells the story of Rogers parents during WWII, which we don't hear too much of in the main book.The space Between, tells of the Comte St Germain, a tricky customer to say the least, we thought him dead, but was he?The Custom of the Army, is a Lord John story. Following on the heels of an electric Eel party in London, Lord John is forced to flee.And the final story is set in Jamaica where Lord John is sent to try and quell a revolt of escaped slaves, but certainly nothing is as it seems!Bulges of a very interesting variety!!

Here are another wonderful set of stories from the Wonderful Diana Gabaldon. These are what she calls bulges and expand some of the stories about the characters that add a little extra to the really big books that she has written. This book contains a story about Rogers father, Jerry MacKenzie, two stories about Lord John Grey and the last one is about Michael Murray, Young Ian's older brother and Marsali's sister Joan. Diana once again weaves her magic and brings these wonderful characters to life. Fantastic book to read but better if you have already entered into the wonderful world of Outlander. Warning, once you enter this world you can not escape............

I adore Diana Gabaldon's books about Jamie and Claire, their family and adventures and I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series (Written in My Own Heart's Blood). I am hoping that they live long enough for a few more books to be written about them. In the first book, Claire falls asleep on a warm day, among standing stones and wakes up 200 years in the past where Jamie Fraser saves her life and they fall in love with each other. In this book, their daughter (who grew up in the future but followed her mother back to the past) has returned to modern time Scotland because of the health of her child leaving Jamie and Claire in America in the past. Diana makes even the everyday routine of life interesting but there is also danger and excitement as well as an old fashioned love story. Unputdownable.

At first disappointed that this did not continue the adventures of Jamie/Claire/Lord John and Briana/Roger/wee Jemmy where we left them at cliffhanger stage, but nevertheless i found it very satisfactorily ties up a few loose ends of related people in a most satisfactory way. Easly digestible short stories with all the usual humour and detailed observation in her "big books", these are, as Ms Gabaldon says, "bulges" in the timeline. They save the main story from meandering off in these none-the-less interesting directions.I'm attempting to write something myself, and I fluctuate beween soaring inspiration to write like this, and the depths of depression that i will never be this good!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book of short stories, although as is normal with me - wanted them to be longer! The first one -'A Wind on All Hallows' gives important information about what happened to Roger's father and certainly should be read by all those who have enjoyed reading the main Outlander series of books. If possible before reading Diana Gabaldon's recent book ''Written in My Own Heart's Blood'.

I really enjoyed reading this book of novellas, not only for their own sake, but also for the tie-in with characters in the Outlander series of novels about Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser.Diana Gabldon's writing is wonderful; multi-layered and full of detail. I have been reading her books for 20+ years now and still enmoy the freshness of her writing, which never fails to enthrall the reader! I would heartily recommend Diana's writing, you'll never be disappointed!!

I love Diana Gabaldon books and bought this one while waiting impatiently for "Written in my own heart's blood" which I am still waiting impatiently for... bring it on!This book of short stories was fab and I didn't want them to finish! as always, I dreaded the end of the book and then worry I'm not going to find another one that grasps me so much!I didn't realise I would enjoy reading about John Grey without Jamie Fraser, but how wrong i was.I've also recently read the Scottish Prisoner and again LOVED IT!!!!!!!

These are my kind of books. All her fans wait eagerly for her next book in the series, they are so amazing. Says it all that Amazon prime has snapped up the TV series of it. If you like books with adventure, time travel and action then try these. A big chunk of history as a bonus, they are well researched, imaginatively written and always so entertaining to read.

The book consists of four novellas:A Leaf on the Wind of All HallowsThe Custom of the ArmyLord John and the Plague of ZombiesThe Space BetweenI liked all four novellas. The Custom of the Army placed Lord John at what Canadians know as the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and an important turning point in Canadian history. With Lord John and the Plague of Zombies, it includes an encounter between Lord John and Geillis Duncan, now living at Rose Hall in Jamaica. The fourth novella is particularly interesting as it brings back the Count of St. Germaine, who it seems is a time traveller and a descendant of Master Raymond, who he meets in the story.

DG novellas generally jump into the spaces left between the novels of the Outlander saga and the Lord John series, picking up clues left in the books and running away with fresh plot bunnies. A Trail of Fire takes four novellas previously published in anthologies and single novellas and wraps them in one handy bundle. Of course, you could skip reading these - but really, you'd miss out. I for one would bet my tickaba black diamond that clues put in here will make a return in DG's much expected book 8 ... and fill in what the earlier novels left mentioned but unexplained.All four novellas have their own feeling, close related to the point-of-view protagonists. We already know Lord John's voice quite well, and he features in two of the novellas. While 'Custom of the Army' goes back to his stint in Canada (as mentioned in The Scottish Prisoner) and is the customary case solving with army life background mystery, 'A Plague of Zombies' is quite a bit more fantasy than we're used from no-nonsense LJ. It takes place some years before Voyager, at the time LJ went to Jamaica for the first time in his life, and deals with slave and maroon rebellion, witches and witchdoctors, and, yes, zombies. Eery, that one. I actually loved it a bit more, but then, it's so ... gothic. Goody!'A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows' shows us, what really happened to Roger's Dad the day his Spitfire crashed. Be prepared, grab some tissues. Gotta love Macks, so here's a treat.My personal favorite was 'In the Space Between', though. I like both Michael Fraser (Wee Ian's brother) and not-quite-Sister Joan (Marsali's sister), and the novella is full of time-travel weirdness - including new hints on the 'How to', picks up long-time-no-see characters like Raymond and the Compte, and leaves you routing for a new pair of the Fraser-Murray family, as much as it is remains open.All in all, I'd say you COULD go without those stories. But why would you want to?

Da ich nicht auf die deutsche Ausgabe warten wollte, kaufte ich mir die englische. Lieferung wie üblich schnell.Die Geschichte von Michael und Joan war ganz nett, aber doch sehr vorhersehbar. Hier wird wieder ein weiterer Handlungsstrang in der Geschichte rund um Jamie und Claire eröffnet, was meiner Meinung nach langsam zuviel wird.Ich bin auch ein großer Fan der Lord-John-Saga und ich muss sagen, mir haben diese Geschichten am besten gefallen. In The custom of the army wird wunderbar die Vorgeschichte von Lord John aus The scottish prisoner erzählt (warum er nach Kanada geschickt wurde), die eine Lücke füllt.Ansonsten fand ich die Kurzgeschichten sehr gut geschrieben und es hat Spaß gemacht sie zu lesen (Hab das Buch an einem Abend verschlungen:-))

I love the Outlander series big time. This book didn't really add anything to anything. To me it was just a filler till the next book came out. If you like Lord John, go for it. I do like his character, but I like sticking to the original books in the series, none of the off-shoots.

I really enjoyed this book. But of course I simply adore the author, Diana Gabaldon. I would recommend any of her works as she is a fabulous writer. Delivery was very prompt.

I enjoy Diana Gabaldon 's writing so much that when I finished the massive "Outlander" series I found myself missing her voice and observations.I was happy to find she's written these short stories further exploring the life of John Grey, an important character from the series.I've enjoyed reading them very much! They are so well crafted (as usual) that a reader will not need to have read the Outlander series to enjoy them. If you're looking for intelligent, colorful writing with unexpected twists, turns, and adventures, this book is a good choice.

Als Fan der Highlander-Reihe habe ich natürlich auch dieses Buch gekauft. Manches versteht man erst, wenn man den 8. Band der Reihe, der allerdings erst später erschien, gelesen hat. Dann ist es eine Aneinanderreihung von Episoden, die mal mehr und mal weniger interessant sind. Man muß es nicht haben.

Considering it is written by Diana Gabaldon it is a bit strange. It does not have the same flair that the major novels do, but it is still Gabaldon and still well worth the time to read it.

I've never read a book by Diana Gabaldon that I haven't loved. These 4 novellas are no exception. She's simply one of the finest storytellers in the world today!

Gabaldon and Outlander - what's not to like? All four tale expanded on various scenarios touched on in her Outlander books. All were well researched, as always, and entwined stories of established and peripheral characters.

This book was what I was looking for...the delivery and condition of the product was as expected. I was very happy with this purchase.

A good read that compliments and adds to the Outlander series. I enjoyed all the stories and look forward to more

Four Outlander Tales beautifully written by DG.

Diana is my favourite Author I'm on my 4th go Of the Outlander series. these are short stories that are not in the Outlander series. One of them is in the Mad scientist Guide.

Another really interesting read in the "behind the scenes" stories to the Outlander series. Interesting characters, as well as some loose ends tied up...or at least hinted at...