help needed

I'm finally cracking into chapter 3 of Cowgirls but I need a smidgen of help. Like Buffy and Angel before it, Firefly seems to have some strong fanon (i.e. non-canonical events, backstory, etc which is none-the-less treated as if it were canon). So Mal was always raised by his mother and the farmhands. What I need is a guide to the most common fanon. I need to know the ideas which, whilst as illegitimate as any other fanfic ideas, are generally seen as highly plausible and taken at some level to be 'true'.

This is on account of the fact I need more on Zoe's probable background.

Can anyone suggest some good places to look?

6,110 / 8,000 (76.25%)

award nom time: The Strawberries

The Strawberries, the Firefly fanfic/fadvid awards are open for nominations until 31st January.

self-pimpage alert!
It's Wrong to Wish on Space Hardware is valid for this award. It could go under Pre-Movie - Romance - Canon.

On the other hand, if you love some of the Firefly fics I've recced over the last few months, go ahead and nominate them instead. I won't be hurt. Much.

fic rec: Insomnia Ain't Always a Bad Thing

Insomnia Ain't Always a Bad Thing
by corellianjedi
Firefly, post-movie. Mal and Inara talk late at night about mothers, teddy bears, and each other. Very light angst and fluffy in a gentle way (i.e. not sickeningly fluffy). Aw.

Easy, Tiger

I've been a cover pixie for Bam's wonderful It's Not Porn, I Swear site for a little while. When I am trolling around the local charity shops, I make for the bins of Mills & Boon paperbacks and buy any whose covers strike me as snark-bait, then I scan them and send them over for Bam to be all editor-like about them. Yesterday was my first Saturday troll for a couple of weeks and to my delight some people had clearly donated a ton of books in a New Year clean-out as there were lots of new ones. I have a thing for the 70s/80s designs which are often either very orange, very alarming in their depictions of apparently rohypnolled heroines, or both. So my eye was caught by one cover because it was orange and in the 70s design. Then I looked closer, as something in the corner caught my eye.

Click for a closer look just at the corner. It's on the cover of a book called 'Tiger Man', published in 1981.

coat me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians

Which Buffy Girl Are You? Find out @ She's Crafty

fic rec: How the West Was Won (And Where It Got Us)

How the West Was Won (And Where It Got Us)
by macha

Wonderful elegaic piece of pre-series Firefly fic, with Mal and Zoe in the aftermath of the battle of Serenity Valley. Good Mal and Zoe interaction is hard to find, but macha nails both voices just right.

fic rec: In the Bleak Midwinter

In the Bleak Midwinter by Annakovsky
Buffyverse, post-Chosen. Xander and Dawn and a broken baby Jesus. Great Christmas story with perfect characterisation. Not in the least bit fluffy but it still leaves a warm something inside.

fic rec :: Dinosaur Envy (PG)

Dinosaur Envy
by What Works.
A brilliant Firefly fic from Wash's POV.

I'm a-catching up with my fanfic reading today, so expect a bundle of recs. I'm also reading a Civil War era novel, on account of my firefly boxset being on loan and me needing to get Zoe's voice right for the next chapter of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. I sort of want to get the whole story done before the winter break is over.