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…

via Entertainment Weekly