The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [311]
Le Voyage (Voyager)
Again, a quietish sort of cover, echoing the Talisman one; this in pale grayish-blue, featuring misty people on a boat and a super-imposition of a nice-looking woman in her thirties or forties in the upper right. I really wish they wouldn’t put faces on the covers, but no stopping them—and they did at least pick a woman of the proper age, and the right coloring.
ITALY
Publisher: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri
Bompiani, Sonzogno, Etas S.p.A. Via Mecenate, 91 Milano
Ovunque Nel Tempo (Outlander)
(hardcover, out of print, and a good thing, too)
ISBN 88-454-0510-9
The original cover design wasn’t bad; a pair of shadowy female eyes, hovering in the air over Stonehenge. I found the book-club edition objectionable—featuring a raven-haired gypsy wench sprawled on the grass, low-cut gown in disarray—but not as horrifying as the book itself. Both editions were roughly one-quarter the size of the original manuscript.
SPAIN/LATIN AMERICA
Publisher: Emece Editores, S.A.
Alsina 2062 Buenos Aires, Argentina Emece Editores Espana, S.A. Mallorca 237 08008 Barcelona
All tides published in trade paperback only; slight differences in cover design between Spanish and Latin American editions, text identical. My guess (judging from the size of the books) is that the text has been cut slightly, and/or the content paraphrased quite a bit.
Forastera4
(Outlander) Latin American edition
ISBN 950-04-1317-5
Forestera
(Outlander) Spanish edition
ISBN 84-7888-193-X
Well, it’s orange. Other than that, it’s quite nice; a very old-world, misty depiction of a castle, with lots of feathery-looking trees, dripping moss. Not that there happen to be lots of moss-dripping trees around your average Scottish castle, but it’s a nice picture anyway.
Attrapado en el tiempo (Dragonfly in Amber) ISBN 950-04-1622-05
This means “Trapped in Time,” which is at least minimally appropriate.
La Viajera (Voyager)
ISBN 84-7888-363-06
This tide means “The (female) Traveler,” which is more or less okay. It features a view
(from behind) of two people on a boat, sailing away. Judging from the dress of the people, they’re from fifteenth century Spain, rather than eighteenth century Scotland, but you can’t see their faces, and one is disposed to be grateful for small mercies. A pale and misty blue in tone.
SWEDEN
Publisher: Bra Bocker
Bokforlaget Bra Bécker AB 5-26380 Hoganas Sweden
Telephone: 042-39000 FAX: 042-30504
Framlingen (Outlander)
(hardcover)
ISBN 91-7119-917-97
The early Swedish covers are … er… well, I like them, they’re just very strange. Framlingen (which I gather means “stranger”) has a background done in green and blue swirls, like the peacock endpapers of a very classy book. The title is superimposed on this in flowing white script, and above the title is inset a really odd painting (it’s a real Scottish museum painting, titled—heaven knows why—“Gow leading the Glee Maiden”). It shows a very large brown-bearded Scotsman, wearing a white shirt and a plaid, and carrying a mandolin. A much smaller woman, wearing (no doubt for excellent reasons) a low-cut white chemise and leading a small dog, is attached to the Scotsman’s arm and trails after him, head drooping.
Slanda i Bérnsten
(Dragonfly in Amber)
(hardcover)
ISBN 91-7119-923-3
I think this really does mean “Dragonfly in Amber.” The cover design is similar to that of Framlingen; however, the background is done in a green, pink, and purple plaid, and the inset photo (again, a reproduction of a museum painting), shows a dark and brooding gentleman with a mustache and a gaucho hat, evidently just in from riding the pampas. (I had lunch once with my Swedish editor; he was a very nice man, who certainly seemed entirely normal….)
Sjéfararna (Voyager)
(hardcover, published in two volumes) Vol. 1: ISBN 91-7119-723-0 Vol 2: ISBN 91-7119-833-4
I can’t say whether it was in response to reader mail