Outlander fever is sweeping the world. But what is behind the hit television drama's popularity? This collection of new essays explores the series as romance, a ghost story, an epic journey, a cozy mystery, a comedy of manners, a gothic thriller and a feminist answer to Game of Thrones, and considers the source of its broad appeal.

Table of Contents Introduction: On Modern ­Multi-Genre and a New Age for Fandom Part I: Gabaldon’s Fans, Forming Communities “A love letter to Scotland”: The Creation and Conception of Heritage (Stephenie McGucken) Engaging with “Herself”: Fandom and Authorship in the Age of Tumblr (Jennifer Phillips and Katharina Freund) Diana Gabaldon’s Excerpts and Daily Lines: When the First Read Is a ­Re-Read (Jessica R. Matthews) Melodrama, Gender and Nostalgia: The Appeal of Outlander (Eleanor Ty) Part II: The Romance Question—Is It or Isn’t “Linked … through the body of one man”: Black Jack Randall as a ­Non-Traditional Romance Villain (Michelle L. Jones) The Good, the Bad and Lord John Grey: Observations on Desire, Sex, Violence, Lust and Love (Sandi Solis) Traveling Through Time and Genre: Are the Outlander Books Romance Novels? (Jodi McAlister) Gabaldon and the Practice of Gay Male Homoerotic Reading (Anthony Guy Patricia) Part III: Putting the Speculative in Speculative Fiction The Short Stories on the Science Fiction Shelf, or Lord John Grey Complicates Matters as Usual (Valerie Estelle Frankel) Half-Ghosts and Their Legacy for Claire, Jamie and Roger (Stella Murillo) Confrontational Content, Gendered Gazes and the Ethics of Adaptation in Outlander and Game of Thrones (Jennifer Phillips) The Heroine’s Journey: Claire Beauchamp Reclaims the Feminine (Patti McCarthy) Appendix A: Series Reading Order Appendix B: Television Episode Guide Appendix C: Television Cast and Crew About the Contributors Index