#go tell the bees that i am gone

[gotham-ruaidh]

In 7x16 William goes to both of his fathers, asking them to help in the best way they can.

He goes to Lord John for some diplomacy.

When that doesn't work, he goes to Jamie Fraser for a commando raid.

That he is asking them to help a whore who killed a man, does not matter. For both of William's fathers love him dearly.

Though, to quote his sister in "Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone":

“Poor William. He’s such a good guy, but my God! How does anyone that young manage to have such a complicated life?"

[elasticmonk]

This is my go to 7 hour (and growing) Outlander playlist. Everything from soundtrack, to traditional Celtic, to songs I thought fit the vibe of both the Frasers and the playlist.

Tell me if you have a song in mind or come across one that’s off-putting. 😊

[cookie-de-baunilha]

What bothers me the most about the cynical interpretation a lot of people have of Percy’s character and his feelings for John is that, besides cheapening the story (like I said in this post), it can’t be backed up by canon.

Like, I profoundly hate the utterly tragic, broken beyond repair path that Diana decided to make for him in Bees, but at least I can acknowledge that the point she was making was “he loves John but he is too weak”. But people go to great lengths to interpret everything he does in the most cynical way, so for them it’s like Percy is an evil mustache-twirling villain.

Except any attempt to say that his feelings for John aren’t sincere (e.g. people who believe he was just guilt tripping John by telling him that he loved him in that gaol scene in order to get John to save his ass) falls flat because Percy keeps showing that his feelings for John are the most genuine thing about him:

when he was incarcerated in BOTB and sent that letter to John that started like this:

“I will leave you to imagine, if you will, what the writing of this letter costs me, for that ultimate cost is up to you. I have been in perturbation of mind for days, debating whether I shall write it, and now, having written, whether to send it. The end of my deliberations, though, is the point from which I began: that to speak may mean my life; not to speak may mean yours. If you are reading these words, you will know which I have chosen.”

when he warned John about Richardson and told him William was in danger (people love to conveniently forget that this scene exists when trashing Percy)

when, defying John’s judgment of him, he went after William and told him John had been kidnapped by Richardson even though he was afraid of what Richardson could do to him

non-canon bonus: in the draft of the scene of their conversation that takes place when John is being held hostage by Richardson (the one that got discarded by Diana and got swapped by… that ship scene from Bees), Percy purposefully omits from John that his own life is at risk too, so that John could make the decision only for himself (when he finds out about that, John even thinks that Percy is braver than he — Percy — thinks)

But sure, his love for John isn’t real or pure and he must be a selfish insincere coward, right? 🙄

He is constantly choosing to leave his fears aside for John. He is constantly proving himself to be selfless and courageous when it comes to John, even by putting John’s life above his own. He finds his strength in the love that he feels for John and that, my friends, is powerful, beautiful and genuine. At least I think so.

[farnwedel]

Jahresrückblick/book rec 2024

Ein frohes neues Jahr, loves. Lasst uns jede Gelegenheit nutzen, es zu einem guten zu machen. <3

In diesem Rückblick: Lizenz zum Beißen, Maurice, Mr. & Mr. (Sammelband), Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone, Unlearn Patriarchy, Das verborgene Kind, Winterland und Todland.

Lizenz zum Beißen

Autor*in: Kerrelyn Sparks

Inhalt & Kommentar: hier

Empfehlenswert für: Fans der Reihe, sonst fehlt einiges an Kontext und Hintergrundwissen für Nebenfiguren; ansonsten ist es ein sehr unhinged, bizarres Leseereignis.

Maurice

Autor*in: E. M. Forster

Inhalt: Maurice entdeckt in einer Zeit, in der das den gesellschaftlichen Ruin bedeuten kann, seine Homosexualität und verliebt sich in seinen Kommilitonen Clive.

Kommentar: Ich weiß nicht, ob es an der Jahreszeit liegt, in der ich diese Bücher lese, oder an ihrer Haptik, aber sie haben immer etwas Deprimierendes und die nervlichen Zusammenbrüche der Hauptfiguren scheinen ein wiederkehrendes Thema zu sein. Aber immerhin endet dieses Buch hoffnungsvoll.

Empfehlenswert für: Freund*innen empfindsamer Literatur und Connoisseurs des "Hopeful Ending"-Tags auf AO3

Mr. & Mr. (Sammelband)

Autor*innen: Lorena Morrissen, Zoe Larsen, Sienna Miles

Inhalt & Kommentar: hier, hier und hier

Empfehlenswert für: seichte, queere Unterhaltung auf 'ner mittellangen Busfahrt durch die Pampa ohne genug Mobilfunk für den T-Tag auf AO3

Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone

Autor*in: Diana Gabaldon

Inhalt: Claire, Jamie und alle irgendwie verwandten, verfeindeten, alliierten Personen leben im aufkommenden amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg.

Kommentar: Let it end.

Empfehlenswert für: Fans der Reihe, die den immer gleichen Plot, die immer gleichen Konflikte und die immer gleichen Figuren noch nicht über sind, I guess.

Unlearn Patriarchy

Autor*innen: Kübra Gümüşay, Linus Giese, Emilia Roig, Lena Marbacher, Friederike Otto, Laura Gehlhaar, Teresa Bücker, Madeleine Alizadeh, Olaolu Fajembola, Tebogo Nimindé-Dundadengar, Margret Rasfeld, Lisa Jaspers, Kristina Lunz, Ise Bosch, Kenza Ait Si Abbou, Naomi Ryland

Inhalt: Feministische Perspektiven auf Themen von Sprache über Arbeit, Rassismus, Familie, Politik bis hin zu Geld

Kommentar: Durchaus kurzweilig, bietet neue Sichtweisen, erweitert den Begriff von "Feminismus" um einige Dimensionen und Aspekte

Empfehlenswert für: alle, allerdings ist ein gewisses linkes Grundverständnis von Gesellschaft und Gender eine ratsame Grundvoraussetzung

Das verborgene Kind

Autor*in: Marcia Willett

Inhalt: Im Nachlass seiner Mutter entdeckt der Schriftsteller Matt Llewellyn Fotos von sich selbst als Kind, die ihm seltsam vorkommen, da er sich an die Kleidung oder Gegenstände darin nicht erinnern kann. Auf der Suche nach Antworten und sich selbst zieht er aufs Land zu seiner (Ersatz-)Familie, die alle mit ihren eigenen Dämonen kämpfen.

Kommentar: Ich hätte mir eine Fortsetzung sehr gewünscht, da ich erst am Ende des Buches das Gefühl hatte, jetzt mit der Exposition durch zu sein. Die sehr gut geschrieben war und mich mit allen Charakteren und deren persönlichen Geschichten, Beweggründen etc. vertraut gemacht hat! Ich hätte nur gern mehr von ihnen gelesen - und auch mehr Zusammenhängendes statt fünf parallel laufende Einzelschicksale.

Empfehlenswert für: Zugfahrten oder andere ruhige Stunden, in denen man nicht viele Kapazitäten zum Nachdenken hat und trotzdem angenehm unterhalten werden möchte.

Winterland

Autor*innen: Kim Faber, Janni Pedersen

Inhalt: In Kopenhagen sterben 21 Menschen bei einem Terroranschlag auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt. Gleichzeitig werden in einem Kaff in der dänischen Pampa zwei Menschen brutal ermordet. Kommissarin Signe Kristiansen und Kommissar Martin "Juncker" Junckersen ermitteln - zunächst in den jeweiligen Fällen getrennt.

Kommentar: ...hmpf. Die beiden Autoren sind TV-Moderatorin/Kriminalreporterin (Pedersen) bzw. Architekt/Journalist (Faber) und das merkt man. Ich möchte zu gern wissen, wer von den beiden für welchen Teil zuständig war, denn die leicht belehrende/herablassende Erzählweise (inkl. Anspielungen auf Dinge, die man als Dän*in in gut informierten und bezahlten Kreisen weiß, aber nicht als Deutsche, die einen Krimi liest) kann ich mir noch erklären, nicht aber den konstant bevormundenden bis sexualisierenden Unterton gegenüber ausnahmslos jeder weiblichen Figur in diesem Buch.

Empfehlenswert für: Fabers und Pedersens social circle, schätze ich.

Todland

Autor*innen: Kim Faber, Janni Pedersen

Inhalt: Junckers demnächst geschiedene Frau Charlotte erhält ein halbes Jahr nach dem Anschlag aus dem ersten Band einen Hinweis darauf, dass bei der Aufklärung Dinge vertuscht wurden. Sie geht den Hinweisen nach und begegnet Signes Mordermittlung. Juncker arbeitet derweil an der Aufklärung eines Mordes des ehemaligen Kollegen seines Vaters und hat Besuch von seiner Tochter.

Kommentar: In der ersten Hälfte sowohl zäh als auch unangenehm nah an den Ermittler*innen (ich muss echt nichts über Junckers altersbedingte Schwierigkeiten beim Pinkeln wissen, danke vielmals) und verfängt sich wieder in einigen seltsamen Beobachtungen/Beschreibungen von Figuren sowie in der permanenten horniness der Hauptfiguren; in der zweiten Hälfte nimmt das Buch jedoch mehr Fahrt auf und führt die Stränge zufriedenstellender zusammen, als das im ersten Band der Fall war. Insgesamt sehr leicht und schnell zu lesen.

Empfehlenswert für: einen Krimi zwischendurch, am besten bei kühleren Temperaturen, sonst schwitzt man mit.

[bookishfreedom]

go tell the fur babies that i am gone…

[lucasbarr]

Just finished Bees and yet again the Bree + Roger subplots are the least interesting to me but I’m glad we got more of William and of Ian and Rachel! It kinda dragged on a bit with the day-to-day monotony of the Ridge (which I usually like but this was a lot) but overall I enjoyed the book!

Major Spoilers under Read More

John Cinnamon is my new favorite character! He is such a sweet young man and I think I’m going to go back and read the Lord John series now too! Because it felt like I was missing something with the whole Percy subplot in MOBY + this book having not read it.

Like lowkey why is everyone other than Jaime and Claire’s immediate offspring (sans Willie) more interesting? Idk how Diana managed to create such an unlikeable little family unit with Brianna, Roger, and their kids (tho I do like Jeremiah, not so much Amanda) but such a rich supporting cast!

Also why give Brianna a heart condition if it’s just magically going to be fixed by her being pregnant?!

I will say though it’s interesting that Davy isn’t a time traveller like his siblings. Makes you wonder if Fergus (who I am also choosing to believe is La Comte’s son) is a traveller or not and what this means for Claire and her family. Also makes one wonder if Percy’s family that he married into or even Fergus himself might be one of her ancestors 👀

The Richardson subplot is…😬 Why would you make an abolitionist the main villian! Not to mention he has African American ancestry! Diana WTF? Your racism is showing in this book 🤦‍♀️ Not to mention the plot with Ulysses/Joseph Stevens… like Diana why???

I am also choosing to believe that Totis is Ian’s son! He is such a sweet addition to the household, even if the reasons were a bit strenuous in the book. Though I am also intrigued by the Jenny/Joseph Brant’s Uncle romance. Though I don’t know why Claire didn’t tell Jenny that the war would be over in a matter of months? 🤔

Makes me wonder why she’s decided to kill off Percy and what this means for the Percy & Fergus storyline.

And why in hell Hal want to see Ben! Like I was under the impression that Amaranthus was in cahoots with Ben and then she went to see him and saw him with a other woman which came out of nowhere. Honestly it would have been more interesting if she’d known and went be with him and left Trevor with the Willie and Lord John. Bye maybe the whole widow thing is a ruse and she lied about the other woman and maybe she is in on it?

Though it makes me wonder if Hal made the poison to poison Ben…

Like I wonder if William will take Amatanthus up on her offer and pass off his title and estates to their kid. Like obviously that’s what Ben did with her and why I thought that Amarantus was more involved with the plan than we saw (esp with her reaction when she went to see him) though I’m dubious about whether her account of the events is true or not.

I mean the way she brazenly suggested the plan that Ben had gone through with seemed suspicious to me!

I think Richardson is involved with Rob Cameron in some way and that the gold is going to come into play. Again, weird choice of villain with Richardson being an abolitionist but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

And also WTF happen to Ulysses? Is he dead? I know Duncan was one of his men but like why didn’t you just tell him she was in Nova Scotia? Just be vague and then he might not have tried to ya know oust Jaime and that whole skirmish!

Like I want to see less filler (or just more with beloved characters like Lizzie!) and more streamlining from the editor on the major plot points!

Also WTF happened to Buck!

[beasanfi1997]

Outlander will end with season eight based in Written in My Own Heart's Blood but Diana Gabaldon had Just wrote go tell the bees that i am gone and now She Is going to write the tenth book and It means that they will transform in the movies the Last two books as they did It with Downtown Abbey

[inlovewithquotes]

When ye ha' barins, there's that wee time when ye really are all they need. And then they leave your arms and ye're scairt all over again, because now ye ken all the things that could harm them, and you not able to keep them from it.

-Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone

[ladywynneoutlander]

I remember once, goin’ into the chapel of Saint Sebastian in the wee hours of the morning, long before dawn--almost all the candles were burnt out--and hearin’ someone playing a guitar, singing.  Very soft, not playing to be heard, ken.  Just…singing before God.”

Something odd moved in his eyes at the recollection, but then he smiled at her again, a rueful smile.

“I think that may be the last music I remember really hearing.”

She’d never before seen a look on his face as she did when he called back that song for her, but quite suddenly she felt what he had felt in the depth of that distant night, and understood why he found peace in silent spaces.

~Excerpt "Jamie Reflects" from Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon

⬆️ The "Ave Maria" we hear in the trailers for season seven reminds me of this sweet passage. I had the thought, what if it were Roger he heard that night? I don't know why he would have been there, but part of me hopes it was him. 🧡

[gotham-ruaidh]

Hey Gotham. Was reading Bees and came to Claire and Jamie's argument in chapter 37. What do you think Jamie means when he says this about picturing someone else in bed: “I don’t.” He gulped air, and took me by the arms. “I don’t, Claire. It’s only that I’m afraid I might.”

I think he's afraid of his own mind and body. He has good reason to be afraid that he'd see someone else:

He did achieve climax during the ordeal at Wentworth (as a purely physical reaction, not because he wanted to) and feels so much shame about it

As we know, his brain was very muddled in the months after Wentworth (we know this from Jamie's dream early in Season 2 which shifts quickly from him smiling with Claire in bed to having Randall in bed)

There's a scene in one of the later books (following a scene where they're talking about Laoghaire) where a sleeping Jamie touches Claire in bed in a very business-like manner and Claire realizes that Jamie thinks he's touching Laoghaire

So to me, this fear is very well-grounded. He's open with Claire about it - he has many reasons for it - and while none of them are deliberate, that doesn't make it any less scary or painful for him.

[popfishjr]

Someone should match book titles with characters like

[beefsteakclub]

For those of you who read go tell the bees I am gone:

[uasal]

I did not think of this but now that you’ve said it I think you’re really on to something

Bees stuff

Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks a relationship with John Cinnamon would suit William waaaaaaayy better than a relationship with Aramanthus?

[cookie-de-baunilha]

Tbh the more I think about how Diana handled Percy in Bees, the more I wonder why she decided to write him into the main series in the first place. What was the point, really?

Everything he did could be achieved through a brand new character. Let’s say, Claude Beauchamp himself. Claude could be the one looking for Fergus. He could be the French spy that was once John’s opposite in the Black Chamber. John wouldn’t trust him anyway.

It just makes no sense to me, from a narrative standpoint, to bring a character from the LJG series, who shares a complicated history with John, and not have their relationship further developed/dealt with in any meaningful way to the characters.

Percy is connected to the main series through John, mostly, but they never had a single conversation about them that actually did something to further develop their dynamic (no, that brief conversation they had in the end of Bees added nothing new to their dynamic).

And this is not me saying that they necessarily had to get back together, mind you (even though I’d like that very much), just that they needed… to talk. About them. About what happened 20 years before. Unresolved things. And from there Diana could’ve gone anywhere really, writing them getting back together or not.

The thing is, the ending of BOTB — sad and tragic as it is — could pass as a satisfying closure to their relationship. So one could assume that bringing Percy back meant dealing with unfinished business between them, right? But Diana doesn’t even make an effort to do that.

So what was the point of Percy specifically? If we could easily have a different character doing the exact same things (with some adjustments)? It just screams bad writing to me, and, if I had to bet, that’s also part of the reason why so many readers struggle to care about Percy’s storyline in the main series.

Because, yeah, most of them haven’t read the spin-off series, so they get pretty confused when they hit the first chapters of Echo. And what Percy brings to the table is essentially a political side plot with some mystery surrounding Fergus — so, unless you get really interested in Fergus’ parentage storyline, Percy’s plot and overall presence becomes a big “ok… so what?” (add that to the fact that 2 huge books later and the Fergus storyline still hasn’t gone anywhere, so even if you like that plot, which I do btw, you are gonna be frustrated by the lack of development).

What about Percy’s relationship with John? Well, that is not dealt with in any way, shape or form besides “something happened between them in the past, John doesn’t trust him”. So much so that the readers who haven’t read the LJG series have to either accept the vague informations that are given to them or search more about it online. There’s no emotional investment by the readers whatsoever because Diana doesn’t make them care at all.

Actually, that’s a problem that also exists within John’s plot as a whole in the main series and the reason why so many readers struggle with his storyline in the later books (something something *John not having a character development in the main series* something something)… but I’m gonna leave that conversation for another post because this one is already too long.

[beasanfi1997]

Willie in Outlander Book 7 realize that Jamie Fraser Is his father but i really Hope that if Jemmy will learn that Stephen Bonnet Is his biological father in the Last two books of Outlander because Rob Cameron, the true villain in Outlander franchise, tried to warn him in Outlander Book 7 and 8

[inlovewithquotes]

But war's war, Sassenach. Honor only makes it a bit easier to live wi' yourself, afterward.

-Jamie Fraser