Finding Serenity: Anti-heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly is a compilation of essays edited by Jane Espenson

Jane Espenson

Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...

 with Glenn Yeffeth. The book was released in late 2004 following the cancellation of the television show Firefly

Firefly (TV series)

Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

. Jane Espenson was a writer for the show and the book contains a series of essays that discuss the show from a variety of viewpoints, some scholarly, others with a comedic note.

As well as answering unresolved plotlines and character arcs, the compilation includes insight into the filming of each episode with actress Jewel Staite

Jewel Staite

Jewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...

 (who played the role of Kaylee Frye on the show) providing a commentary on each of the episodes produced. Due to Fireflys early demise it left viewers with unanswered questions and a certain sense of loss. The essays attempt to resolve the unanswered questions brought up in the show, ranging from the origin of the Reavers

Reaver (Firefly)

Reavers are a group of humans in the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic...

, the multi-racial casting, and the use of the Chinese language. Some essays are existentialist, seeking to define what freedom meant for each member of the crew, a theme that Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...

 seemed to be exploring. Others focus on the changing nature of sexual relationships in Whedon's vision of the future.

It was followed by Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe in November 2007 by the same editor, including contributions by actor Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion is a Canadian actor, currently starring as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle. He is also known for his portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity.He has acted in traditionally distributed...

 (Malcolm Reynolds

Malcolm Reynolds

Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and main protagonist in the Firefly franchise. Reynolds is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Reynolds is the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity...

 in the series) and science-fiction author Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

.