Firefly e-Bound (i.e. e-book (free as in beer))

[Heradel]

My Own Kind of Freedom
By Steven Brust
http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html

Was apparently written on spec back when Firefly was airing. Never got published for obvious reasons, so the author's released it as an e-book. So, for the fairly obvious reference — the Signal cannot be stopped, but it can and has been held up or a number of years.

[DKT]

That's cool.  I'd read about it on Scalzi's blog, but I hadn't realized it was written back when the show was still running.  I need to remember to download the thing at home so I can actually read it.  I wonder if it would ever get published as a TV show tie-in, like the ST or SW novels.  (I know Firefly didn't last anywhere near as long, but the fan community it's built is pretty unbelievable.)

I'm not as big of a Steve Brust fan as some other people are, but I can imagine him absolutely nailing this.

[Russell Nash]

I'm about 20 pages in and it's OK.  He doesn't seem to really have a feel for the characters.

[Listener]

I read it.  It really does read like fanfiction.  His grasp of Mal, Zoe, and Wash is pretty good, and his River is funny, but the story was a little confusing to me toward the end.  I think he tried to do too much with it and please everybody; a good fanfic writer (not an oxymoron) knows when to let certain characters sit in the background for a little while.

I've read worse.  I've read better (including a surprisingly-strong Jayne/River story, once upon a time).  But it was enjoyable enough to keep me interested.