[Spotlight Post] Michael Jan Friedman
We’ve made it to FRIDAY! Woo hoo! That now means SPOTLIGHT POST time. Today I choose Micheal Jan Friedman. Freidman was one of the featured speakers last weekend at Helio-Con 1. I didn’t get to spend much time with him, but I’m glad I made the effort.
[asa]B000FC0ORC[/asa]
Michael Jan Friedman is best known for his media tie-in work and movie novelizations. That’s how I knew him. He wrote for all the Star Trek universes. I still had a couple of the early books because I used those novelizations to help me learn craft back in the day. And I couldn’t keep up with all the books over time, but his I remember. Why? Because it’s through the Star Trek books I learned the lesson of “Getting it Right” vs. “Getting a Paycheck” – Freidman was always on the “Getting it Right” side.
[asa]0615567010[/asa]
Seeing his name on the guest list for Helio-Con was one of the reasons I signed up to be a vendor at Helio-Con. I wanted to meet this author as well as support a new event. Friedman was one of the influences from those lines of books that helped me become the writer I am today. And, yes, I know he’s so much more than his Star Trek novels.
[asa]0615758843[/asa]
In fact, I’m kicking myself for not getting back to his table when I had lulls to pick up at least one of his independent novels. He has a couple I really am intrigued by. One is – because I met Kevin Sorbo and have also dabbled a little in Greek Mythology (a very little – check out my story up at 4StarStories.com) – Fight the Gods . The other is an Aztec Alternate Universe Noir Mystery called Aztlan: The Maztla Colhua Mysteries.
We were only able to talk briefly before everything got started, but he was an open and friendly guy. We talked some about publishing and writing, and about stuff in general. He currently works with a co-operative group called Crazy 8 Press – Peter David is also part of this group – to get books out to the reading world that maybe traditional publishers might not understand or know how to market.
So, check him out if you haven’t already. And if you get a chance to come to shows like this and talk with some of your favorite authors, do it. We need to know that people love and appreciate what we do as much as we need to do it.