If you’ve ever watched Firefly you know what a cool…oh excuse me…you know what a shiny show it was. Though it’s set in the future, it has an old west, 19th century feel to it. They use use archaic technology along with spaceships, which ties it to Steampunk. Most Steampunk enthusiast are great Firefly fans.

Firefly – Wash, Jane, and Mal costumes at Lone Star Con 2013

At WorldCon in San Antonio last month, I attended a fun panel, with Michelle Sagara, Ginjer Buchanan, Kate Baker, Steven Brust, and Selina Rosen, it was called The Enduring Popularity of Fire Fly.

Firelfy lasted one short season, yet no power in the verse can stop us from enthusiastically hoping for more. One thing the panel brought up was the idea that because it lasted such a short time it never had a chance to get bad.  Which is one of the reasons it’s so special. That really is something to think about. If it had run a few seasons, would it have the same popularity to fans, to brown coats, that it does? Firefly theme song. 

Reasons Why Firefly Is So Special:

It was understated
It stretched our imagination
You can relate to the characters
We all wanted to be someone on that ship
Technology mixed with an old west feel – gives it a tie-in to Steampunk

Of the 14 episodes many fans agree some of their favorites are:

Out Of Gas

War Stories

Jane’s Town

Wash with his dinosaurs and Jane with his hat and gun
– so cute & crazy-
you have to love them
Lone Star Con 2013

Life After Firefly or Ways To Get Your Firefly Fix:

• Dark Horse put out comic adaptations: Serenity Volume 2: Better Days and Other Stories, 2nd Edition which includes Down Time. It’s a “slice-of-life, day-on-the-ship story depicting the crew of Serenity stranded on an icy planet. Also from Dark Horse are Serenity: Those Left Behind and Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale, which covers Shepherd and his past.
• Steven Burst, who was on the panel and is best known for his Vlad Taltos novels, wrote – My Own Kind Of Freedom. This Firefly fan fiction novel is free to download in a format of your choice at his website. The book trailer.
• Also I wanted to add that back in 2011 at Comicaplooza, I saw a screening of the film Brown Coats: Redemption. That labor of love with all proceeds going to charity was written and directed by Michael C. Doughtery. From a gal’s perspective Firefly is always fitting of the coolest of cool label for many reasons one of the highest on my list is due to the strong female characters, who in all their roles even that of a companion showed the best of the female gender and a woman’s ability to do anything a man could do and often do it better. Well Brown Coat Redemption not only offered strong female characters, both the captain and the pilot were women and they filled those roles well, but also the twist to the plot was feminine based, Also all proceeds went to five great charities Equality Now, Kids Need to Read, Dyslexia Foundation, The All Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, and The Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation.
• The movie Serenity came out in 2005, but was not greatly loved by most fans, mainly due to what happened to Wash in it.
• The Firefly episodes are available on Net Flix and you might also catch them on the Science Channel.

Also if you like quirky, creative sci-fi with steampunk elements, like Firefly, you’ll like my Steampunk/Erotica/Romance – Conquistadors In Outer Space.

Blurb: Thrown off the Spanish estate she worked at all her life, Ana—a milkmaid—seeks a new life. Disguised as a rich widow, she boards a rocket, to be blasted out of a huge cannon, and targeted for the newly discovered planet, X.

Sparks fly when she finds Ramon—the only man she ever loved and heir of the estate she worked on—is flying to Planet X as well. As the Spanish governor of Plant X searches for gold, the treasure Ramon seeks is Ana. His conquest is challenging. Though he swears to protect and love her, as a noble he cannot marry a peasant. Ana cannot deny her desire for Ramon but she will not be his mistress.

Will his conquest of her heart succeed or will Ana make a life for herself alone amid the wonders and dangers of Planet X?

 * * * * *       CONTEST      * * * * *

Please comment below on your favorite Firefly episodes or which Firefly character you’d like to be or anything else you want to say. I’ll draw six winners for a PDF eBook of Conquistadors In Outer Space and my new, short fantasy eBook, The Ghost Lights of Marfa. Please leave your email so I can send your eBooks to you.

And now, I leave you with this thought, “Burn the land and boil the sea, you can’t take the sky from me.”

 ~ ~ ~

Maeve Alpin, who also writes as Cornelia Amiri, is the author of 19 published books including her latest Steampunk/Romance, Conquistadors In Outer Space. She lives in Texas as does her son, granddaughter, and her cat, Severus. And she loves Firefly.