My pal Russ Colchamiro – one of my colleagues in Crazy 8 Press – is editing our summer anthology this year. It’s called Love, Murder & Mayhem, and his only requirement for us at the outset was that every story has all three components: love, murder, and mayhem.

He also mentioned that he could use a superhero story. And since I’m leaning in that direction anyway these days, I came up with one. About a whole team of superheroes, actually–a close-knit team that does all kinds of good in the world. What in real life could I bring to such a story? Well, lately I’ve been thinking about the Beatles, an early influence on me. I remember how cool I felt back in the sixties listening to “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” or “I Saw Her Standing There” or – God help me – “Norwegian Wood.” If the Fab Four had stayed together, who knows what kind of music they could have made. But of course, they didn’t stay together–according to some sources because of John Lennon’s soulmate, Yoko Ono, who pulled him away from the other Beatles and ultimately broke up the group. Hmm…what if someone like Yoko had been brought into the inner circle of a superhero team? What if… Yeah. The story is called “The Responders”. It’s short and sweet, like a Paul McCartney ballad, and I hope you like it. Love, Murder & Mayhem from Crazy 8 Press will be on sale both in print and digital formats in July. Stay tuned for updates! Michael Jan Friedman is the author of more than 70 books of fiction and non-fiction, about half of them set in the Star Trek universe. Eleven of his titles, including the autobiography Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Ghost Hunting (written with SyFy’s Ghost Hunters), have appeared on The New York Times’ primary bestseller list. Mike has also worked in network and cable television, radio, magazine publishing, and comic books. He co-wrote the story for the acclaimed second-season Star Trek: Voyager episode “Resistance,” which guest-starred Joel Grey. Mike is a founder of Crazy 8 Press. Currently, he’s working on a sequel to the young adult fantasy I Am The Salamander, which he released in 2014,= and an original short story collection. His website is MichaelJanFriedman.net. As always, Mike advises readers that no matter how many Friedmans they know, he is probably not related to any of them. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @friedmanMJ.