You can’t stop the signal: Firefly fans get to return to Joss Whedon’s sci-fi western ’verse with three new novels from Titan Books! While the adventures of Captain Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of Serenity have lived on far past the television series’ sole season in both the 2005 film Serenity and a number of comic book arcs for the last decade-plus, these are the first original Firefly novels to be published. The three books—the first coming in late 2018—will focus on Mal’s past with the Browncoats, will riff on The Magnificent Seven, and will engage with a popular sci-fi subgenre: generation ships!
In Titan Books’ press release, commissioning editor Cat Camacho said she is “delighted to be bringing new, official stories to fans of a show that has continued to grow in popularity over the years, finding new audiences in an unprecedented way. Firefly is a hugely unique IP and Titan Books is excited to be becoming part of its legacy.”
The novels will be written by Nancy Holder, who has written over a dozen Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-in novels; Age of Heroes author James Lovegrove; and Tim Lebbon, who has written the movie novelizations for 30 Days of Night and The Cabin in the Woods, as well as tie-in fiction for the Star Wars, Alien, and Predator franchises. Joss Whedon will serve as consulting editor. Here are the official synopses:
Firefly: Big Damn Hero by Nancy Holder (October 2018)
Captain Malcolm Reynolds finds himself in a dangerous situation after being kidnapped by a bunch of embittered veteran Browncoats.Firefly: The Magnificent Nine by James Lovegrove (March 2019)
Jayne receives a distress call from his ex Temperance McCloud that leads the Serenity crew to danger on a desert moon.Firefly: Generations by Tim Lebbon (October 2019)
The discovery of the location of one of the legendary Ark ships that brought humans from Earth to the ’Verse promises staggering salvage potential, but at what cost? River Tam thinks she might know…
The fact that the second novel is called The Magnificent Nine would suggest that at least one of these books takes place before Serenity, seeing as… well, there aren’t nine crew members by the end of that movie. Personally, I am super interested in Generations for its take on generation ships. All that we ever got in the original canon about “Earth-That-Was” was the history lesson opening scene of Serenity, and a shadow-puppet theater sequence from the episode “Heart of Gold” that is only a brief shot in the final version. Whether Serenity’s crew is encountering an Ark that never touched down on another planet, or a ghost ship, I’d read on to find out what hijinks they get into.
In the meantime…
I will be reading. Which is pretty much the same as saying I will be breathing.
I can hardly wait!
Meanwhile, there’s my favourite irefly fanfiction novel, My Own Kind of Freedom by Steven Brust.
OMG! I so want these like now. Make sure to re-post this article as a reminder they are currently unavailable for pre-order.
Please and Thank You.
Of course, all depends on what Joss has to say after they’re done. They could be amazing, or terrible. Not much middle ground.
As a collector of Tie-ins, i am definitely getting these.
I’ll be in my bunk…
Since Joss Whedon is actually serving as exec editor, I believe I’ll be checking in on these stories. (The first comicbook series was okay, although the artwork was less than par.) Thanks for the heads-up!
What Anthony said
Sweet! And an excuse to watch the series again. As if I needed one.
I’m in. These sound like they could be fun. I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.
Now if they can just get Fillion to do the voice work for the audio version I’ll be in heaven.
12, There’s only one thing to say to that idea. This.
Wait a second, how does that work with audio books? This plan may be a failure.
Tor, my wife is an avid Firefly fan. There is just one problem with this, she is blind. This means she has to wait a great deal of time after the release of a book to get it in an accessible format, or pay a great deal of money to get in an audio book. Is there any chance you could see yourselves making accessible versions available on release? I am not familiar with all the sources available to my wife but I know Bookshare, library of Congress, and Library of digital talking books are places she frequents. Could you please see yourself trying to work with them so EVERY fan can enjoy Firefly?
#14: A worthy request, but mis-aimed; as the opening of the post indicates, the publisher of these will be Titan Books, possibly best known to genre fans for its extensive catalog of Sherlock Holmes fiction.
I believe the correct response to this is, “Shut up and take my money!”
Can’t wait for these.
Vincent: As indicated by John upstream, these books are not being published by Tor, but by Titan Books, a UK-based publisher. They’re the ones you need to direct your query to.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Or just in case the moderator would prefer something shorter, I believe this will let you contact Titan Books through the appropriate channel:
OTHER INFORMATION
Please direct all other enquiries for Titan Books to readerfeedback@titanemail.com
Sounds good to me! I have been following the Firefly comics as they appear, and will be looking forward to these books.
These are going to be keeping the comics in the same canon, right?
vincent i know it was posted over a year ago but if by chance you see this the app ereader prestigio might be a viable option for your wife, it reads the ebook, most formats , to you. i use it at work everyday the readers voice is monotonous but i for one quickly got used to it. i wish there was a way i could pm you to make sure you see this…..
hey mods will you try to reach out to vincent for me??????
Is it too much to ask for a Firefly novel written under the pen name of Richard Castle? I mean, he was a fan.