Serenity Vol. 2 & 3

Vol 2 - Better Days

Following the example of the first book in the series, this one begins with a letter from one of Serenity's crew members: Adam Baldwin who played Jayne Cobb, the "Hero of Canton." It's nice to see his words, the excitement he had for the show and his characters, and his admiration for Joss Whedon. It's a great way to start a book.

Another day, another crime for the crew of Serenity, and another chance for things to go epically wrong. This chapter in the story focuses around two men hunting down the crew for very different reasons, one to get revenge on Mal and his crew for destroying something he created for a job, and an Alliance Special Ops guy looking to take in a former terrorist. Of course there is action, misunderstanding, chaos, and humor as the crew deals with this new problem.

Again, I loved the story!

Vol. 3 - The Shepherd's Tale

One of the biggest mysteries in the series has been Shepherd Book's past. How is it that the priest is so good at fighting, knows so much about the internal workings of the Alliance, feels such heavy guilt? Well, here is the glimpse into his past that fans have been waiting for. And it is everything I could have asked for and more.

Being a graphic novel, and I suspect it would have been the same if this story had been told in an episode, there is little space for a story to completely unfold, and Book's story goes way back in his life. But using a reverse timeline and focusing on pretty pivotal moments, this chapter gives us a ton of insight on Book! A great addiction to the story in my opinion.

In a change of protocol this chapter is ended with a letter to the reader. Instead of getting words from Chris Samnee, the man who played Book, we instead get Zack Whedon's take on this story line, the man who actually wrote it. And it lends the perfect parting words for this character and his story.

You're Never Weird On The Internet (almost)

June: Books written by celebrities.

When did I first become aware of Felicia Day? I don't even know. I remember seeing her on Eureka and recognizing her immediately, so I had to have seen Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog by then. I don't know if I saw the episodes of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer before or after I knew her name. But I know for a fact when I saw her on Supernatural I fangirl squealed and did a jumping dance in the middle of the living room because Felicia Day was so cool and on my new favorite show! I didn't get to watch her show The Guild when it first aired but I have since made up for that by watching it multiple times and mentioning it to all my friends. So basically it's like I've always been aware of Felicia Day, even though she has only been an actress since 2001. Maybe it's like Joss Whedon said in his intro: "She's something more than a self-made woman - I sometimes think she's not a human woman, that she willed herself into existence, before willing the world to make a place for this new, unfathomable creation." Felicia Day willed herself into my life, and it has been glorious ever since.

In her memoir Felicia tells the incredible tale of how she grew up home-schooled, managed to start college at age 16, and obtained two Real Degrees while never getting her GED. Than she moved to LA with the feeling that she was just meant to be an actress. And it seemed that anything she wanted to do, she put her mind to, and rocked it.
Only, it didn't keep happening that way.
While most of the world sees Felicia Day as this incredibly bubbly, happy, bright person who is not only beautiful but is also a gamer, which is just awesome, people don't suspect the underlying anxious, over-worked, neurotic that hides behind the games she played until she had pushed most of the world out.

And this is why I love Felicia Day. On top of the fact that I always love her bigger characters, I started to catch glimpses of the real Day sometime after she stared in Eureka and what I saw fascinated me. I'm not a major gamer, but I love to sit and loose myself in some Zelda when I can. I spent most of my teen years behind a computer screen in RPG chatrooms because I could be better than who I was IRL. I am addicted to stories because they are the easiest way for me to loose myself (and reading is something that people will encourage). And with all the convention panels I was getting to watch on YouTube, I started to see someone that I could relate to. And she was awesome!

Reading this book I got a closer look at Felicia Day than I ever had before. She opens her soul for the readers and welcomes them in to follow her journey through not only her childhood and move to LA, but the tough years including the two she spent literally addicted to WoW and then later when depression and anxiety got a hold of her so bad that her health took a turn for the worse. Day does not sugarcoat how hard things got for her, and I love that, because people that go through the same need to see that other have it just as bad. And her making her way out of it and doing something incredible, gives the rest of us real hope.

When I saw that Felicia Day wrote a memoir I got so excited, because she is awesome and I love to read about peoples' lives, how they got to where they are, and what they take from that experience. I got so much more in this book. I got to see hope that even though I am incredibly anxious and what people think of my work terrifies me, I can still put it out there, because I made a think #LookIt.

I really encourage everyone to read this one. It's full of laughter and sweet stories and awkward moments. And then it's full of truth and honesty. For the gamers, the women, the socially awkward creative people. Everyone feeling like maybe their passion is just too weird. Everyone that overthinks things to the point of insomnia. Here is a book written by a woman that gets it. And says that it is ok to be like that, you can make something of it, you just got to try. So give the book a read, and tell me what you think about it!

Serenity: Those Left Behind

Well, I found this little surprise at our local library and of course had to pick it up. As a huge fan of the show (and Fillion and Whedon in general) I was happy to have yet another reason to return to the story. After all, I just rewatched the show and movie a couple weeks back and was starting to feel the familiar ache of loss.

So here we have a short graphic novel looking into that time between the ending of the show and the start of the movie. In classic Whedon fashion it helps explain why Inara and Shepard Book are not on the ship at the start of Serenity without having to explain anything at all!

The story was too short, much like an episode of Firefly, but also like the show it is filled with sharp witty comments and near death moments. Although, I feel obliged to point out that a comic does not have the same punch as a show, this comes close with a few surprises and new escapes.

And bonus, there is a letter from Nathan Fillion to start off the story recounting his love of comics and superheros that led him to eagerly sign up for the role of Malcolm Reynolds.

So if you like the show, find this little bit more and get some more story on Mal and the crew. I will be looking forward to finding the others in the series to continue this story line and get my fix!