I can’t play a note on anything more complicated than a kazoo but I wanted this anyway, and I’ll bet you do too. It’s “Firefly: Music from the Original Television Soundtrack,” a folio of 12 arrangements for piano from show composer Greg Edmonson. 40 pages, no extras or intro, unfortunately. But you get 11 of his playful, haunting compositions in the combinations he created for the official soundtrack CD, scored for piano solo, along with Joss’ theme song:

– Firefly Main Title
– Cows/New Dress/My Crew
– Dying Ship/Naked Mal
– The Funeral
– Inara’s Suite
– Inside the Tam House
– Leaving/Caper/Spaceball
– Out of Gas/Empty Derelict
– River Tricks Early
– River’s Dance
– River’s Perception/Saffron
– Tears/River’s Eyes

There’s a great interview with Greg Edmonson at TrackSounds from a few years back, by the way. And a new one with Firefly Talk that mentions the sheet music, along with the Backup Bash and more.

Order it at Amazon or bug your local music store to get it. Request it for your school’s band class!

Finally on sale! Now you can eat like the crew (or, hopefully, better). Recipes were submitted by fans, Jewel Staite, fans, Greg Edmonson, fans, Niska, fans, and “Buffy” alums Claire Kramer and Camden Toy into a massive, 264 page book with artwork by (you guessed it) fans. 

The 250+ recipes were either favorites of the cast or inspired by the show, which should make for some interesting eating. Profits from the book go to Freedom from Hunger. Some samples:

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Gotta love it when the title tells you all you need to know. “The Existential Joss Whedon - Evil and Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Serenity”. Well, there you go.

This book by J. Michael Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb (224 pgs, softcover) looks at Joss’ themes of evil and human freedom as a continuation of Sartre, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky, only with more spin kicks.

Chapters cover such topics as Russian existentialism and vampire slayage; moral choices; ethics; faith and bad faith; constructing reality through existential choice; some limitations of science and technology; love and self-sacrifice; love, witchcraft, and vengeance; soul mates and moral responsibility; love and moral choice; forms of freedom; and Whedon as moral philosopher.

It ain’t cheap - averaging $35 - but it might be interesting. If you enjoyed the commentary on “Objects in Space,” you’ll definitely want to check this out.

While we wait for Joss and Dark Horse to whomp up some more Serenity comics, Browncoats do what they do best… make their own. Serenity Tales seeks to be a repository for fan comics and strips about the Big Damn Heroes. There are four comics up there now and more to come, along with (in the works) links to every Firefly reference in a web comic, ever.

Not the place for pinups, although there are some nice ones on the front page, they’re taking submissions and will host if you like. Browncoat artists? Take that fan fiction to the next level!

Out early, finally, Titan Books has given us a wonderful gift in the Firefly Companion.

Designed with the same style and attention to detail as their Serenity Companion, the Firefly Companion is utterly crammed with cool stuff. I was blown away. Let me see if I can get the idea across.

Since Firefly came out, I have read every article and interview I could find. I’ve read Joss and Tim’s reviews of each episode, I’ve heard the commentaries again and again, I’ve hovered around all the websites and just absorbed it all. And yet this book has something new for me on almost every page.

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As you may or may not know — and how could you not? — when Pocket Books announced last year they would be publishing two original Serenity novels a number of authors jumped at the chance and submitted their proposals. Keith R.A. DeCandido (author of the Serenity novelization) was one, and Jamie Chambers and Margaret Weis (creators of the Serenity RPG) put in another. Those submissions and others are still in a holding pattern with Pocket Books and Joss, for whatever reason, and the longer the delay the less chance we’ll ever get to read any new Serenity novels.

Except for one: Steven Brust’s, because he went and wrote his already and plans to get it out to the public one way or another.

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Coming soon from Titan Books, the Official Firefly Companion. Now listed at Amazon with a September 30 release date for the US and a June 23 release date for the UK, although neither of those have been confirmed. The description from the UK site includes:

“This official companion is just what the show’s fervent fans, the ‘Browncoats’, have been waiting for, with unseen photos, scripts, behind the scenes secrets, and exclusive input from the cast and crew, including of course creator Joss Whedon.”

The intriquing part for me? It’s labeled “Volume One.”

Preorder it at Amazon and get $7 off the cover price, or order it from Amazon.co.uk and save £5.78.

‘A Fairly Incomplete Collection of Songs Inspired by Firefly,” by Lux Lucre.

Over 70 filk songs about Firefly, the ‘Verse, and the fans around them by the original uber fan, the sadly missed Lux.

CafePress, 40 pages. Buy it at CafePress.

Don’t know anything about this yet, other than what the author’s page describes.

“It has an introduction to the world of Firefly and a general overview, a description of all the main characters, some history and background, and an explanation of the language and culture. Then each episode has a cast list, original airdate, a synopsis of the episode, followed by an indepth critique that comments upon themes, patterns, logic flaws, and other points of interest that are relevant and worth talking about. After that is a pointer list of interesting factoids about the episode - Chinese influences, Chinese translations, things to take note of, interesting behind-the-scenes facts, etc.”

More details after I read it. Lightning Rod Publishers, 202 pages. Buy it at Amazon.
You can also order a signed copy directly from the author, Mimi Noyes.

Sure, the cover says “Battlestar Galactica,” and so does, oh, 61 pages inside, along with stuff on Dr. Who and other science fiction entertainment. But there’s also 10 pages of Serenity goodness with photos and articles.

Buy it from Power Star Collectibles