It’s the birthday of Diana Gabaldon (b. 1952), one of today’s most popular authors in the historical fiction-science fiction-fantasy-adventure-mystery-romance (HFSFFAMR) genre and whose Outlander novels have sold more than 28 million copies.

Gabaldon (known as “Herself” to her fans at Comic Con) was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, and grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona, telling stories to her younger sister from the age of six. She’s always known she was meant to write novels, but Gabaldon first studied science, earning a B.S. in Zoology from Northern Arizona University, an M.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in Quantitative Behavioral Ecology back at Northern Arizona University. She then became a professor in scientific computation and wrote many scientific articles and textbooks, worked on MacMillan’s Encyclopedia of Computers, and founded Science Software Quarterly, all of which naturally positioned her perfectly for her breakout novel in HFSFFAMR. She also wrote comic book scripts for Walt Disney along the way. About her career in scientific computation, Gabaldon says, “It’s really easy to be an expert if there are only six people in the world who do what you do.”

Gabaldon was inspired to set her first novel, Outlander (1991), in 18th century Scotland because of a Doctor Who episode set then and there. She decided to go with an historical novel because she was very good at research, and she threw time travel in there when she couldn’t get her female lead character, an Englishwoman, to stop making snarky modern comments about everything. The novel was just supposed to be a practice run, but then Gabaldon accidentally wrote it brilliantly, posted a piece online, got positive feedback, posted more, got referred to somebody’s agent, and landed a three-book contract, like you do. (Doh.) The Outlander series now has eight novels, every one of which has been a New York Times bestseller, with a ninth, Go Tell the Bees that I Am Gone, forthcoming. In 2014, Starz adapted Outlander as a drama series for television, which is ongoing and wildly popular.

Gabaldon lives with her husband in Scottsdale; they have three grown children.

Have a genre-busting kind of Friday and stay scrupulously honest to the data.