When I got an email from Michael Jan Friedman asking if he could participate in our Indie Books column, I was a little surprised. Here’s a guy who has done all kinds of stuff. He’s written novels, episodes of Star Trek, comics…

But even though he has that platform, he’s an Indie, too. He and a number of other guys (including the likes of Peter David, a king among Hulk writers) created an Independent publishing imprint to house their new books called Crazy 8 press.

It’s a brilliant idea and I jumped at the chance to have him tell you about two of his books that Crazy 8 has put out.

So, without further ado, here’s Michael:

Being an author is still an out-of-body experience for me sometimes. I’ve written sixty-eight books, including science fiction, fantasy, media tie-ins, celebrity bios and so on. Go ahead, check it out–I’ll wait. You’ll find that eleven of those books made it to The New York Times primary bestseller list, and that I’ve also scripted an episode of Star Trek: Voyager and nearly two hundred comic book stories. But part of me–a big part–still wakes up in the morning and hopes like hell it’s not all a dream. I guess that’s good in a way. It keeps me humble. It keeps me hungry. It keeps me signing autographs at conventions after a more secure fellow would have snuck off to the bar. Most recently, it’s spurred me to co-found an indie publishing venture called Crazy 8 Press, which brings my work and that of four other science fiction and fantasy authors directly to the reader without the support of a traditional distribution chain. So, if there are five of us, why Crazy 8? Well, you see, that’s the crazy part.

I love the pathos and splendor of the Greek gods and have done so ever since second grade, when I discovered them in a school library book called Greek Myths by Olivia E. Coolidge. In fact, that book was largely responsible for my becoming the writer of nearly seventy novels (eleven of which made The New York bestseller list), almost two hundred comic books, and a first-season episode of Star Trek: Voyager. I also love the physical, fast-paced New York City street game of single-wall handball, and have done so ever since the summer I was eight years old, when the kids on my block began pounding a spaldeen against the sides of our parents’ brick houses. But it wasn’t until now that I combined my two loves into a novel that’s one part love story, one part adventure, one part urban fantasy, and one part ancient mystery, and is–appropriately enough–called Fight The Gods, now available for Kindle, Nook, and paperback readers from Crazy8Press.com.

You’ve heard the dire predictions that in 2012–the year that marked the end of the Aztec and Mayan calendars–the world was supposed to grind to a halt, and our little human civilization along with it. Of course, for the Aztecs, who were conquered by Hernan Cortes in 1521, the year 2012 was no longer a concern. But what if Cortes hadn’t conquered ol’ Moctezuma II? What if the Aztecs had gone on to expand their empire from one end of what we know as the Americas to the other? And what if, in 2012, someone decided to mark the Last Sun by commiting a series of grisly murders reminiscent of the Aztecs’ pagan sacrifices in ancient times? Okay, I thought, so I’ve got a 21st-century Aztec whodunit. Has anybody in the history of publishing ever come up with such a thing? Will anybody read it? Well, I thought, I’ve written almost 70 books for publishers like Simon and Schuster, Harper Collins, and Scholastic. I must have some idea what I’m doing–which is how I had the nerve to write Aztlan: The Last Sun, an e-novella now available for both Kindle and Nook from Crazy8Press.com.

And there you have it. I’m definitely going to be checking these out myself, and a whole bunch of their other books.

The Indie Books column continues to get more and more popular, so I’ve got some more great stuff coming at you soon. Keep checking back for updates!