In its brief 14-episode run, 'Firefly' gave viewers as much chance of witnessing a horseback chase or train robbery as a laser gun and spacefight in any given episode. Snappy one-liners and silly hats were a constant, of course.

There are plenty of genre-crossover books, films, and games out there, but to do the job well, you have to do more than just smoosh a couple of 'in' concepts together, and hey presto, instant millions.

You tend to find the best in yourself as an artist when you're challenged.

There's a fairy story called the 'The Shoemaker and the Elves' where this old cobbler keeps leaving leather out overnight and wakes up the next day, and there's a new pair of shoes. Co-authoring is a little like that. You send off the manuscript to your partner, and a few days later, you check your email, and hey, there's more book in here!

With a far-future setting merging Chinese and American culture, 'Firefly' also saw high-tech futurism blended with the traditional Wild West.

Iron or glass? they’d asked. She was neither. She was steel.

Your mind will serve you better than any trinket under the suns... It is a weapon... and like any weapon, you need practice to be any good at wielding it.

The Luminatii aren’t a tool of law and order in the Itreyan capital, gentlefriend. They are a tool of the status quo.

A traitor’s just a patriot on the wrong side of winning.

Life is pain, and loss, and sacrifice.