Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. In this week’s edition of Waiting on Wednesday, I check in on the latest upcoming tie-in novel to the epic science fiction television show Firefly, with Firefly: The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove.

Over the last year or so there has been a sudden and intriguing uptake in new Firefly related media. Not only has Boom! Comics created a whole new series of Firefly comics, but Titan Books has also introduced a collection of enjoyable Firefly novels which I have really been enjoying. This series of Firefly novels has already produced two great books, Big Damn Hero and The Magnificent Nine, both of which have been written by Lovegrove. A third novel, Generations, was also advertised for late 2019, although it has since been knocked back to October of this year. Before Generations comes out later this year, a new Firefly novel from Lovegrove is set for release in April. Lovegrove’s upcoming Firefly novel, The Ghost Machine, is an intriguing-sounding book that seems set to dive into the deepest, darkest corners of the various minds of Serenity’s crew.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The fourth original novel tying into the critically acclaimed and much-missed Firefly series from creator Joss Whedon.

Mal and the crew take receipt of a sealed crate which they are being paid to transport to Badger, no questions asked. Yet once their cargo is safely stowed aboard, River insists Mal should “space” it out of the airlock, for it contains, she insists, ghosts. With supplies running low, the crew desperately need another pay day, but soon find themselves paralysed by hallucinations of their deepest hopes and desires, so vivid they cannot be distinguished from reality. River is the only one unaffected, and desperately tries to awaken her crew mates, while the fantasies turn sour, and the ship begins to spin out of control.

I really like the concept that the plot of The Ghost Machine is apparently going to revolve around. Having some sort of item that results in an exploration of each of the crew’s most secret desires and hopes leaves a lot of room open for the author to do some significant character development and examinations for each of the amazing characters from the show. I look forward to seeing what sort of secrets and fantasies Lovegrove comes up for the various crew, and I imagine it’s going to be a combination of heartbreaking and humorous (can you imagine what sort of hopes and desires Jayne is going to have). It also seems like The Ghost Machine is going to be book that focuses pretty heavily on River Tam, one of the more fascinating characters on the show. Having River as the only sane person on the ship is going to make for an interesting ride, and I am curious about how she handles the situation.

Now, I am honestly going to enjoy anything Firefly related that I get my hands on, but The Ghost Machine sounds particularly fun and it looks like it is going to be another amazing entry in the franchise. Lovegrove has produced some excellent Firefly novels in the past, and this upcoming book should be another amazing outing from this fantastic author. Firefly: The Ghost Machine is already one of my most anticipated reads for the first half of 2020, and I will be grabbing a copy the moment it comes out.