Steven Brust’s Firefly novel now online
Back when Serenity came out, there was a deal with Pocket Books to release two original Serenity novels. Quite a few authors jumped at the chance and submitted proposals such as Keith R.A. DeCandido (author of the Serenity novelization) and Jamie Chambers and Margaret Weis (creators of the Serenity RPG). Those submissions went into a holding pattern due to Serenity’s lackluster box office and finally sat waiting for Joss’s approval. It was never forthcoming, and the whole idea died.
Steven Brust’s submission, however, was in the form of an entire, completed novel, and it would be a shame not to do something with it…
Brust, author of the popular Dragaeran Series, “Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille,” and many others, wrote the 55,000-word book because, as he said, ”I couldn’t help myself” and this was the only way he’d get to read one. Since finishing it he has been reading the first chapter at conventions to riotous reactions and now, as promised, after exhausting every possible way of publishing it, he’s posted it online as fanfic.
“My Own Kind of Freedom” is a Brust book so it has 17 chapters (if you don’t understand, you haven’t read his work and you should go buy them all now — they ain’t Firefly but they’re the next best thing). It occurs between the end of the show and the movie (he finished the first draft before seeing Serenity). While transporting cut maple to Hera, Mal realizes he’s not quite himself; asking Wash dumb questions, being nice to Jayne. Clearly something is up. Could be because Inara’s gone, could be because this job is taking them back to where he led the fight in the last, losing battle of the war, could be something else. But he’s distracted and jumpy. Zoe is edgy because Mal’s jumpy. Kaylee is worried because of Mal and Zoe. Jayne is more impatient than usual to get some private time. And River is hearing from ghosts, some more solid than others…
Now, I judge fan fiction (and “media tie-in novels,” which, as far as I’m concerned, is fan fiction someone got hired to write) by how well the author captures the characters. It’s an especially tricky thing to do here because each of Serenity’s crew has his or her own very distinctive voice and a different way of relating to every other character. I am pleased to say that in what I’ve read so far, Brust nailed them all. I could hear Jayne muttering, could feel the easy partnership between Mal and Zoe, could see Kaylee smiling fit to beat the band. I could hear Alan Tudyk coming through in Wash. Simon was the perfect combination of attentive skill and befuddled confusion, and River… Few writers handle River well. They make her too coherent, or too incoherent, or too ninja-y. Brust’s River is dealing with different parts of her brain running at different speeds and more sensory input than most folks deal with, and knowing what the problem is doesn’t help her any. What comes out is always relevant, but not always terribly useful. She knows it and her frustration is palpable, although she still manages to embarass Simon without much trouble.
Brust is known for his sarcastic dialogue and his cheerful violence, and it serves him well here. There were times when I thought the constant POV shifting was hurting the narrative flow, but I kept up well enough and there were more than enough times I was laughing out loud or marveling at his insight.
Why are you still here?
February 5th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I love Brust, especially Cowboy Feng’s, so I’m not sure why I’m still typing this repl…
February 5th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
This is a lie: “Since then Joss has said in interviews that Serenity is special to him and he doesn’t want to relinguish control over it the way he did with the Buffy novels. So no original novels.”
He didn’t have control over the Buffy novels because 20th Century Fox licensing didn’t give it to him. Universal =DID= give him control over the Serenity novels. He wouldn’t have relinquished anything — in truth, the reason WHY there won’t be Serenity novels is BECAUSE he has control over them, and actively shitcanned them.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Fair enough. You would certainly know more about the situation than I would, so I’ve removed that paragraph.
However, technically it would be a mistake, rather than a lie. In the future I would appreciate it if it might be assumed first that I was merely wrong and not actively lying.
Thanks.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I assume Joss just wants to retain creative control over his universe because he still has stories to tell. It’s not like the Star Wars EU where background movie characters can be fleshed out with many millenia in which to tell their tales. The stories we’ve gotten so far have been about nine central characters and various others who enter and exit their lives over the span of a year or so (not counting the War, OoG flashbacks, etc.) The more non-Joss stories that are out there only muddy up the waters continuity-wise, plot-wise, and any other -wise for when, not if, dammit, we see the cast and crew flying again.
February 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Just finished reading it. I thought it was excellent. The characters were, as you said, spot on, even if Jayne didn’t exactly shine. River was awesome though.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Ditto to that. The storycraft and writing do both Firefly and Steven Brust proud. Now I gotta go read it again…