Shiny New Banner MIA
We were in the process of revamping the website, improving member participation, and making the fan club way more cool, but life keeps getting in the way. Like many of our plans, the banner has fallen by the wayside. Much sadness is being had by all.
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Serenity Found Member Review(s)
Espenson begins the book with an introduction in which she describes four personal "Moments of Serenity," which I am all for, since 'behind the scenes' stories always make me feel just a little bit like I could have been there - like I could have participated in the magic. She then goes on to discuss the reasons she believes the show maintains its overwhelming fan devotion. If one were to ask me, I'd gladly ramble on and on about fascinating, well-rounded (and pretty darned hot) characters having adventures with cows and blue-handed guys and whores. I'd talk about the ship, and the big damn heroes, and the funny, and the fine hats. Espenson, being a professional writer, manages to efficiently sum up her reasons in a few pages, and, while her explanations contain fewer adjectives like "awesome" than mine, they are right on the money. In particular she gives us all credit for being intelligent (well, actually she says Joss gives us credit for being intelligent, but she still mentions it) which is a great way to start a book.
My favorite essays [and I'm showing my shallow side here] were the funny ones. While many of the essays contain humor, one stands out as exceptionally funny, and is, as a result, my favorite essay in the book. In Curse Your Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal, Lani Diane Rich tells wonderful (and milk out of the nose funny) stories about watching Firefly with her husband and the arguments that followed. Honestly, I would have bought the book just for this essay.
If you, too, are a fan of the 'behind the scenes' anecdotes, you'll want to check out Nathan Fillion's essay, I, Malcolm. Fillion talks about what it was like to be Mal; his love of the character, his castmates, and the show is the thread that weaves his essay together. Fillion is a fine and humorous writer, and his voice is always welcome in my reading material. In addition to Fillion's submission, Loni Peristere, Visual Effects Supervisor on Firefly and Serenity (as well as Buffy and Angel), includes a fascinating essay on creating the effects for Whedon.
As a fan of all of the genres Whedon welds together in his storytelling, I was thrilled to see several essays, including Catching Up with the Future by Orson Scott Card and Mars Needs Women by Maggie Burns, that explore the genre of science fiction and how Firefly fits, and doesn't fit, the expectations of sci-fi fans. Orson Scott Card states, "The writer of this series . . . had understood what science fiction is for and how it's done, and he had created something new." (p. 11) I so wanted to leap up and shout "Yes! That's it! That's it exactly!" though that might have been bad form, as I was at work at the time. In describing Firefly's place in the sci-fi genre, these essays define some of the reasons Firefly is so extraordinary.
Other essays delve a little deeper and provide some insightful commentary on the show from different perspectives. The feminists get a say in Girls, Guns, Gags by Natalie Haynes and River Tam and the Weaponized Women of the Whedonverse by Michael Marano. P. Gardner Goldsmith discusses the Firefly 'verse from a Libertarian perspective in Freedom in an Unfree World [being a Libertarian, myself, I found this essay particularly enlightening]. The Good Book (Eric Green), looks at the role of Shepard Book and faith in Firefly, and A Tale of Two Heroes (Shanna Swendson) and Mal Contents (Alex Beldsoe) focus on heroism. Although I doubt every reader is likely to agree with every point made (I didn't), all of these essays are well-written and thought-provoking.
So, if you're a Firefly fan (and if you've read this far, you probably are), and you're still not ready to let go (none of us are), pick up a copy of Serentiy Found. It's shiny!
Order Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe (Smart Pop series)
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