Firefly needs no introduction, but my recomendation of these books relies almost entirely on the way it affects me. I discovered the show and fell in love with the characters, their chemistry, their banter, their hijinks, the whole bit. When I saw that novels were coming out in the Firefly Verse, I was excited, to put it mildly.
The books are fairly short, and give the feeling of being a series of long-ish episodes. Are they incredible, groundbreaking, life-changing stuff? No. But they gave me a chance to spend time with some old friends I’d never thought I’d get to see again. For that bit of escapism alone, they were worth the price of admission to me.
For what it’s worth, of the four that are out now THE MAGNIFICENT NINE felt the most like an episode of Firefly to me and GENERATIONS felt like the one that expanded the Verse the most (note: I’ve only watched the show and Serenity, so maybe the graphic novels and such might color your experience of the novels, sorry).
There are, at present, four novels in this extend Verse. James Lovegrove wrote the first three (but the “original story concept for BIG DAMN HERO was by Nancy Holder), and Tim Lebbon wrote the fourth. Lovegrove also wrote (is writing?) LIFE SIGNS, which has a release date set for Spring, 2021.
I’m just going to link to them all in one big linkfest here.
If it sounds good to you, check it out. If you’ve got a local independent bookseller, please give them your business in this difficult time. If it works, try using the Bookshop link, which tries to support independent booksellers. If your local library has it on the shelf, support libraries!
If Amazon is the what works for you to get books in the pandemic, use Amazon, that’s okay too!
Bookshop:
Firefly – The Magnificent Nine
Firefly – Life Signs (preorder)
Powell’s:
Firefly – The Magnificent Nine
Firefly – Life Signs (currently listed as “out of stock”)
Amazon:
Firefly – The Magnificent Nine
Firefly – Life Signs
Jon Ficke Writer 