Firefly: The Gorramn Shiniest Language Guide and Dictionary in the 'Verse

by Monica Valentinelli

Insult your enemies in magnificent style and learn brand new declarations of love! This comprehensive Firefly language guide and phrasebook takes in both the history of language in the 'Verse and modern usage. Explore the cast's challenges with Mandarin, get the inside scoop from the show's language consultant, and learn everything from proverbs to put-downs! A must-have for all Browncoats.

Genres: Science Fiction, Reference, Fiction, Film, Media Tie In

158 pages, Hardcover

First published March 22, 2016

About the author

Monica Valentinelli is a writer, editor, and game developer who lurks in the dark. She writes both original and media tie-in fiction and works on games and comics, too. To date, she has over seven dozen creative credits with more on the way.

Monica is best known for her work related to the Firefly TV show by Joss Whedon. She was the lead writer and developer for the award-winning line of Firefly RPG books, and also wrote the Firefly: The Gorramn Shiniest Language Guide and Dictionary in the ‘Verse which was released from Titan Publishing in April 2016.

Published stories and games include “Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs” for Extreme Zombies, “The Dig” for the Lovecraft Zine, Dread Names, Red List for Vampire: the Masquerade, and Unknown Armies Third Edition. Monica also completed a successful Kickstarter campaign for a co-edited anthology titled Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling from Apex Book Company which will be released in December 2016. Her debut comic "Last /Man/ Zombie Standing" was published in 2013 as part of the Unfashioned Creatures: A Frankenstein Anthology from Red Stylo Media.

You can discover more of the author’s creative works through her website. Her books, comics, and games are available on Amazon.com, DriveThruFiction.com, DriveThruRPG.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and wherever books are sold.

Reviews

[Milan Pohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide has a lot to offer the fans of Firefly; it was a great pleasure to return to that beloved 'verse once again and discover some new fun facts about the show. However, in several ways, the book can be disappointing, as well.

[+] It contains some interesting pieces of information on Firefly that are not available anywhere else (which is not an easy feat to do since the companion books by the same publisher have covered the area pretty thoroughly). Most notably, some Chinese lines are translated for the first time (i.e. the public announcements in the Space Bazaar).
[+] It offers explanation of various little things that people talk about or that happen in the show, such as the various games played by the crew or origins of some less-than-common phrases. Many of the terms are widely known; but even the hardcore fans are bound to find something they might have missed or not known.
[+] The interview with Firefly translator Jenny Lynn was very fun to read. It offered a very in-depth perspective into the process behind translation of the Chinese lines and their appearance in the finished episodes.
[+] The book just looks very good and its cover finish feels great in your hand.
[+] If you do not own the companion books, you will appreciate dozens of behind-the-scenes photos and concept art.

[-] The book fails (not even attempts) to do a truly thorough analysis of the language used in the show (with the exception of Chinese). For in-depth treatises on code switching, language of companions etc. one has to go back to some of the essays included in "Finding Serenity", "Serenity Found" or "Investigating Firefly and Serenity".
[-] The book covers only the show, not the movie, comics and other materials, despite the fact that all sources are connected and form a single continuity. The author tries to explain this by licensing issues; however, this explanation feels a bit off in 2016 because the rights have been back to Fox for a couple of years now (see imprint in the most current reprints of Serenity comics, for example, or the Firefly board game which uses elements from the series, movie and comics, as well).
[-] Niska's Czech line from War Stories is not mentioned at all (it just says he has an "Eastern European" accent which is wrong since the Czech Republic is actually in the Central Europe). There are also some misspelings such as "Kaywinnet" instead of "Kaywinnit" (see the official script) or "Ammon" (Duul) instead of "Amnon". This should not happen in a book that concentrates on language, vocabulary, names, etc.
[-] The most glaring oversight, however, is the "expanded" version of Ballad of Serenity. Not only is the text wrongly attributed to Sonny Rhodes (who is not the writer but the singer; the song was actually written by Joss himself) but it seems the "expanded" version was almost certainly done by a fan nicknamed Darkeyes at Fireflyfans.net (see http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.as... ). However, this is not mentioned in the book so the reader can get a wrong impression that this is actually an official long version of the song. Such work with sources is just sloppy.

All in all, I have certainly enjoyed reading the book, especially as it offered several bits of information not found anywere else. Despite its flaws, it still deserves a solid rating of 3 or 4 stars, depending on how familiar you are with the 'verse.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Firefly and all of there many curse words. What more could a fan ask for? Absolutely in love!

[K.C. Sivils · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for ALL Browncoats! This is a fun book filled with all the stuff geek fans of Firefly and Serenity just love!

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but if you don't want to read something that is pretty much a dictionary, it's not for you.

[Brecht Denijs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference guide for any Firefly fan, I particularly liked the episode language guide.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really awesome :) Well worth buying if you enjoyed the series.

I just had one issue, on page 122, it notes the following quote: "I am very smart. I went to the best medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months. 'Gifted' is the term" to being said by Simon in the episode Jaynestown. I could be wrong but I swear this is a quote from either episode "Serenity" or "The train job"? Sorry if this is incorrect.

Aside from this I loved this dictionary, made me start re-watching the series! I wrote a mid read review on my blog http://shelflifelibrarylover.blogspot...

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. I learned enough that I'm going to watch all the Firefly episodes again. There are even translations of the Mandarin used in the show for each episode. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that while the movie Serenity is mentioned throughout, the in depth focus of most of this book only applies to the TV show due to licensing issues.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think every fan of Firefly should have this book. So much detail about the language of the show. Plus dossiers on the major characters, and diagrams galore. Did you know the mei-mei means little sister? Or that pigu means butt? I need to hear how that's pronounced and then I can call people a butt without them knowing. Shiny!

[Ron Gastgeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung, that was a fun read.