Fictional Crush Series No.7
Have we made it to the 90′s yet? We have!
What’s this you say? The Outlander series didn’t premier until 2014? Well! There just happens to be an antiquated technology called books in with this particular tale was first created.
Let me set the scene. It’s 1993. I’m at the library with my dad. I feel like I’ve read the entire YA section, and I’ve run out of David Eddings and Anne McCaffery books to read. I complain to my dad that I have sucked this library dry. He reaches into the Returned Today Shelf of unsorted books and grabs one at random. “Here, you haven’t read this yet.” It was this, a first edition copy of Outlander:
Perhaps he though it was an historical novel set in the highlands. It kind of is…?
To prove to him that plucking ugly books at random off the shelf was no was to pick a quality read, I read it. First came intrigue, then delight, then fascination and compulsion, then welling tides of love and lust, and the feels! So many feels!
For those very few who are still unfamiliar with the Outlander universe, it’s a genre-bending book and series, especially the first three books, combining historical fiction, time travel, romance, blood, gore, sexual violence, medical ickiness, touches of mythical fantasy and magic, mystery, and a big slabbing helping of hot sexy sex.
https://www.deviantart.com/aryundomiel/art/the-heart-asks-pleasure-first-181601743
Oh, and this hunk of red-blooded, red-haired Scot!
That means “I am ready” for everyone who doesn’t read French or hasn’t read the book. I was 15. I was ready. My parents may have disagreed if they had known what was behind that twee bookcover.
James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser, Jamie to some, and JAMMF to the old school fandom. Oh course, now we have Sam Heughan to envision Jamie as, but back in the day we used a read words off a page and picture Jamie et al in our minds. I don’t think they did a bad job of casting Jamie. Sam is of course, too short, and his hair is not red enough, but I give it a pass.
What makes Jamie Fraser a worthy subject of a lasting fictional crush that rocked my world? He is an enlightened and modern thinker of the Enlightenment era, meaning that he does still kinda believe in witches and faeries, but also in science, and can eventually be persuaded to not beat his wife for wrongdoing (after a knife to the throat). He is a soldier, a mercenary, an expert swordsman, can ride any horse, even a demonic stallion that no one else can master, a farmer, a landlord, a leader of men, a student of science and progress, a virgin at the beginning of the first book, and a sex-god by the end of it.
Packaged in a 6 foot 6 Viking-esque warrior’s body, like a red-haired, blue-eyed demon set on Earth to sway our time-travelling heroine Claire off the path of marital fidelity. It could be said that he is the ultimate Gary Sue. He does have flaws though, mostly pertaining to pride and being a man of his day, even if he is a progressive one. He is the prototype that launched a thousand Highlander romance novels.
The most singularly swoonworthy thing about Jamie though is how much he loves his woman. The end.
https://www.deviantart.com/ellaine/art/Blood-and-Bone-567354322
https://www.deviantart.com/ellaine/art/Wild-strawberries-576708467
You want more detail? Oh, fine, SPOILERS AHEAD.
He will save his wife from his worst and most feared enemy, armed only with an unloaded pistol, even though he thinks she’s probably an English spy bent on turning him and his folk as traitors to the crown.
https://www.deviantart.com/lehanan/art/Outlander-Take-your-hands-off-my-wife-486871484
He will single-handedly rescue her from the midst of a witch trial that is in the process of condemning her, even though he’s fairly sure she really is a witch.
He will trade his soul and his body to keep her alive. He will believe the insane truths she tells him, and based on them, betray his kin and his King. What impressionable young hetro woman doesn’t want that level of devotion from her man?
At the opening of the book, Jamie has already been through a lot - imprisonment and two disfiguring floggings, exile, the soldiers life. near starvation, serious head injury, family intrigue, the death of both his parents….and he’s only 22. And yet, Jamie is still fairly optimistic character, aside for when he or his wife are getting tortured, raped, nearly killed etc. He’s not one to wallow unnecessarily in his Man Pain. Until he is, and then grab the popcorn and watch Claire drain the pool.
While we’re here, I’d like to point out a few unexpected treats and differences that I got from the show that I didn’t get from the books.
1) Jamie’s knees
2) The flogging and several other violent scenes that were disturbing enough in the books became Extremely Uncomfortable and Upsetting Viewing. If you’ve seen the show or read the books you probably know what scenes I am talking about.
3) they didn’t hold back on the sex scenes. Many gifs from the various scenes would get this post removed from Tumblr. Many were so hot I was blushing whilst watching it alone. DO NOT WATCH WITH YOUR PARENTS.
I have read all the books of course, though I mainly concentrated on the first one here, the one that spawned my crush. IT was a couple of years before I got my hands on books 2 and 3, and the fourth one hadn’t been written yet (I did get to go to a book signing and have my copy of Drums of Autumn signed by Diana Gabadon, Herself!). My parents remembered my love for the series, unfortunately, and tried watching the TV when it came out. My dad finally saw the error of plucking a book at random from a shelf to give to his 15 year old daughter to read.
