Firefly

Look out, Ashton & Demi, you’ve got competition for the title of Coolest Cougar Courtship! Having already conquered the hearts, minds and loins of thousands of sci-fi and soap opera fans, Nathan Fillion, the latest addition to ABC’s Desperate Housewives prime-time sudser, appears to be dipping his toe, among other things, into the literary world with his hot and heavy romance with 19th century novelist, Jane Austen.

Miss Austen, or as she prefers to be known these days, J.Aus. (sounds like “Joss”), may be nearly 200 years older than her new boytoy, but that age difference appears to be no impediment for the happy couple. After all, Fillion’s fans from his One Life to Live days know very well that Nate’s got a taste for mature women. Not to mention the fact that Miss Austen has clearly been spending some time with Ms. Moore’s “personal trainer” (*cough*plastic surgeon*cough*).

Some have Mal-icously suggested that this is just a cheap publicity stunt by Fillion to promote Kids Need to Read, a children’s literacy project on which he’s collaborating with PJ Haarsma, author of the sci-fi novel, The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1. But Joss (sounds like “Joss”) Whedon insists that it’s the real deal. He tells us that lovebirds have been inseparable since meeting recently in England where Fillion was filming footage to be included in Hero: The Future of Gods, Icons and Heroes, Martin Firrell’s latest public art project.

They appear to come from totally different worlds (and centuries), but they actually have more in common than one might expect. Miss Austen is a bona fide Hollywood “go to” girl, her six novels having been translated to film and television no fewer than 30 times. And more recently, she’s also proving to be something of a crossover sensation with her online advice column aimed at sci-fi geeks, Ask Miss Austen. And Fillion, born to a family of English teachers, has long been a lover of letters. Back in his early days as OLTL’s Stinky Joey the Sandwich Boy, he told Soap Opera Weekly that he was an avid writer and that “I have a pen fetish. I have four nice fountain pens, and I love the scratch of pen on paper. I always write with black ink, and it’s got to be a wet, flowing ink, something nice and smooth.” In addition to penning children’s stories for his nieces, he’s recently drawn attention for his controversial attempt to take credit for writing someone else’s Western flick (allegations that the actor fervently denies).

Associates of the couple are delighted by the budding romance. Sir Walter Scott, an early fan of Miss Austen’s work, says “He’s no Mr. Darcy, but it’ll be nice to finally see those nasty incestuous lesbian rumors put to bed.” And James Gunn, writer and director of Fillion’s slug-fest, Slither, says, “Nate’s always been a freak, so it’s no surprise to see him banging a 230-year-old broad. But at least now maybe he’ll stop raping me.”