Our theme for Summer Reading this year is space. I’m not the biggest fan of things that are out of this world, but one old friend popped his head back up. If you know me at all, you know that I’ve been a fan of Firefly, like, FOREVER. So let’s reconnect with our favorite space western and see what Mal, Wash, Zoey, Jayne, Kalie, River, Simon, and Shepherd Book have been up to.
Firefly, created by the great Joss Whedon, was a short-lived TV show on Fox that went on to have a massive afterlife, spawning the movie Serenity as well as a line of comics. The basic premise: after losing the battle for the universe, Malcolm Reynolds and his fellow rebel browncoats are left to either fall in line or live on the fringes of society. Never one to give in, Mal puts together a crew of like-minded bandits and takes to the black to squeak out a living.
Honestly, as much as I love Firefly, I struggled to keep up with the comics. Luckily, these have all been gathered into two separate volumes: Firefly, Legacy Edition (books one and two). Some of these stories are new, while some give us more backstory, helping to answer pressing questions like “why is Shepherd Book the way he is?” The library has the first volume, but it looks like Interlibrary Loan will have to be your friend on the second. 

This past Christmas, I was in a comic book store in Florida and when I came around the corner Mal’s face was staring at me from the shelf. What was this? I wondered. Turns out the powers that be have started a series of novels with new stories. The first one – Big Damn Hero – was good. The writers did a good job and the characters felt like themselves. I’m not gonna lie – it was stressful because Mal gets kidnapped by a bunch of fellow browncoats who are accusing him of sabotaging them during the war. Whew. Does that man ever not get into trouble? (The answer is no, that’s why we love him. He aims to misbehave.) The library has this one in ebook.
I have not read the second book, yet – The Magnificent Nine – but I have my ILL request in. Also, Jayne is on the cover wearing the hat his mama sent him, so I’m excited. A third book, Generations, is due to be released in October. 
If that’s not enough for you, a new comic has just released its first volume – Firefly: The Unification War. The one is too new for the library to have or to request through ILL, but give us time. We’ll get it worked out. The second volume doesn’t drop until December, so you’ve got a minute.
Ok, friends. That’s all I can find to update you on Firefly. I hope you’re as excited about all this fun new stuff as I am.
Happy being shiny,
:) Amanda