Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (Outlander)(2)
“A Fugitive Green” (novella)—Set in 1744–45 in Paris, London, and Amsterdam, this is the story of Lord John’s elder brother, Hal (Harold, Earl Melton and Duke of Pardloe), and his (eventual) wife, Minnie—at the time of this story a seventeen-year-old dealer in rare books with a sideline in forgery, blackmail, and burglary. Jamie Fraser also appears in this one.
Voyager (novel)—This won an award from EW magazine for “Best Opening Line.” (To save you having to find a copy just to read the opening, it was: He was dead. However, his nose throbbed painfully, which he thought odd in the circumstances.) If you’re reading the series in order rather than piecemeal, you do want to read this book before tackling the novellas. (1968/1746–67)
Lord John and the Hand of Devils, “Lord John and the Hellfire Club” (short story)—Just to add an extra layer of confusion, The Hand of Devils is a collection that includes three novellas. The first one, “Lord John and the Hellfire Club,” is set in London in 1756 and deals with a red-haired man who approaches Lord John Grey with an urgent plea for help, just before dying in front of him. [Originally published in the anthology Past Poisons, ed. Maxim Jakubowski, 1998.]
Lord John and the Private Matter (novel)—Set in London in 1757, this is a historical mystery steeped in blood and even less-savory substances, in which Lord John meets (in short order) a valet, a traitor, an apothecary with a sure cure for syphilis, a bumptious German, and an unscrupulous merchant prince.
Lord John and the Hand of Devils, “Lord John and the Succubus” (novella)—The second novella in the Hand of Devils collection finds Lord John in Germany in 1757, having unsettling dreams about Jamie Fraser, unsettling encounters with Saxon princesses, night hags, and a really disturbing encounter with a big blond Hanoverian graf. [Originally published in the anthology Legends II, ed. Robert Silverberg, 2003.]
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (novel)—The second full-length novel focused on Lord John (though Jamie Fraser also appears) is set in 1758, deals with a twenty-year-old family scandal, and sees Lord John engaged at close range with exploding cannon and even more dangerously explosive emotions.
Lord John and the Hand of Devils, “Lord John and the Haunted Soldier” (novella)—The third novella in this collection is set in 1758, in London and the Woolwich Arsenal. In which Lord John faces a court of inquiry into the explosion of a cannon and learns that there are more-dangerous things in the world than gunpowder.
“The Custom of the Army” (novella)—Set in 1759. In which his lordship attends an electric-eel party in London and consequently ends up at the Battle of Quebec. He’s just the sort of person things like that happen to. [Originally published in Warriors, eds. George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, 2010.]
The Scottish Prisoner (novel)—This one’s set in 1760, in the Lake District, London, and Ireland. A sort of hybrid novel, it’s divided evenly between Jamie Fraser and Lord John Grey, who are recounting their different perspectives in a tale of politics, corruption, murder, opium dreams, horses, and illegitimate sons.
“A Plague of Zombies” (novella)—Set in 1761 in Jamaica, when Lord John is sent in command of a battalion to put down a slave rebellion and discovers a hitherto unsuspected affinity for snakes, cockroaches, and zombies. [Originally published in Down These Strange Streets, eds. George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, 2011.]
Drums of Autumn (novel)—The fourth novel of the main series, this one begins in 1767, in the New World, where Jamie and Claire find a foothold in the mountains of North Carolina, and their daughter, Brianna, finds a whole lot of things she didn’t expect, when a sinister newspaper clipping sends her in search of her parents. (1969–1970/1767–70)
The Fiery Cross (novel)—The historical background to this, the fifth novel of the main series, is the War of the Regulation in North Carolina (1767–1771), which was more or less a dress rehearsal for the oncoming Revolution. In which Jamie Fraser becomes a reluctant Rebel, his wife, Claire, becomes a conjure-woman, and their grandson, Jeremiah, gets drunk on cherry bounce. Something Much Worse happens to Brianna’s husband, Roger, but I’m not telling you what. This won several awards for “Best Last Line,” but I’m not telling you that, either. (1770–1772)
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (novel)—Sixth novel of the main series, this book won the 2006 Corine International Prize for Fiction and a Quill Award (this book beat novels by both George R. R. Martin and Stephen King, which I thought was pretty entertaining; I mean, how often does that happen?). All the books have an internal “shape” that I see while I’m writing them. This one looks like the Hokusai print titled “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.” Think tsunami—two of them. (1773–1776/1980)
An Echo in the Bone (novel)—Set in America, London, Canada, and Scotland, this is the seventh novel of the main series. The book’s cover image reflects the internal shape of the novel: a caltrop. That’s an ancient military weapon that looks like a child’s jack with sharp points; the Romans used them to deter elephants, and the highway patrol still uses them to stop fleeing perps in cars. This book has four major story lines: Jamie and Claire; Roger and Brianna (and family); Lord John and William; and Young Ian, all intersecting in the nexus of the American Revolution—and all the stories have sharp points. (1776–1778/1980)
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (novel)—The eighth book of the main series, Blood begins where An Echo in the Bone leaves off, in the summer of 1778 (and the autumn of 1980). The American Revolution is in full roar, and a lot of fairly horrifying things are happening in Scotland in the 1980s, too.