Science Fiction & Celtic Connections

[DWFII]

I'm just about to start the last in the Outlander series--A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I've enjoyed it immensely despite the occasional anachronism and the fact that sometimes the books take on the aspect of a soap opera...with her protagonists getting into one improbable scrape after another almost non-stop.

She's a good writer though and the books hold your attention.

I wish she would have included some kind of guide to pronunciation, though. I don't know Gaelic and when I tried to start a thread here on Gaelic pronunciation, it petered out pretty quickly.

[Arlen]

I'm an avid reader of the Outlander books. (Once I got by the dreadful inaccuracies and realised she had started writing them just to see if she could write a book.)
They're well written and interesting if dramatic and stressful.

I wish she would have included some kind of guide to pronunciation, though. I don't know Gaelic and when I tried to start a thread here on Gaelic pronunciation, it petered out pretty quickly.

She actually has a gaidhlig pronunciation section in her companion book The Outlandish companion, (Sold in the U.K. as Through the stones.)
That said, it only goes up to The fiery cross and isn't perfect.
She makes a lot of mistakes with the gaidhlig in the earlier books but met a native speaker later on who helped to correct her and now has a good few people doing that.
I tend to help folk out on the Livejournal Outlander fan communities with pronunciation when I can, but it might be worth a shot emailing her with the request of a pronunciation guide in the back of each book.


Other 'celtic' themed series I am a fan of are:
(These are mostly historical fiction/Speculative fiction with a bit of sci-fi and fantasty.)


The Song of Albion Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead.

The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte

The Rigante series by David Gemmell

The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell.



All of them are great books and a lot of fun to read with a lot of interesting things thrown in to make them individual.

[DWFII]

Other 'celtic' themed series I am a fan of are:
(These are mostly historical fiction/Speculative fiction with a bit of sci-fi and fantasty.)


The Song of Albion Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead.

The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte

The Rigante series by David Gemmell

The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell.

Thanks for the tip off to the Gaelic pronunciation volume Outlandish Companion.

I have read a lot of Lawhead but no that one so far. Most of it is celtic themed in one way or the other.

I've also read Whyte and Cornwell. Not much Sci-fi or fantasy there but still great reading. And in that same context...without, I hope, hijacking this thread...I can enthusiastically recommend Patrick O'Brian and the whole Jack Aubrey series. No sci-fi at all, little if any fantasy but historical fiction at its best and most literate. If you like Cornwall (or any of the others you mentioned) chances are you'll love O'Brian.