Stumbling On a Cobra

Books are intellectual property. They are copyrighted and protected by the law (at least nominally) so that writers can be compensated at least a bit for their efforts in producing them.

I've been fortunate with my books. They've been professionally published by two major publishers. There are contracts in place and you would be amazed at what options are enumerated in the documents. I've had books done in MP3 format, CD, mass-market and trade paperback and even translated into foreign languages, like Finnish!

So, I was neither surprised nor bothered by having a Facebook friend forward me this picture:

Yep, that would be my name on the "Phantom Pilot in Vietnam". The French edition apparently will be released by Altipresse on March of this year. It's already listed for pre-publication sales at several web sites including a handful of European language Amazon portals. Price is pretty respectable. Roughly 24 Euros or 33 Canadian dollars.

I checked with my publisher, St. Martin's Press. They were unaware, but that's not unusual since the contract is held by my agent in New York City, Trident Media Communications. But, my agent had no knowledge either.

I checked to make sure this wasn't a typo. One web page had the author as "Tuomas Rasimus" who turns out to be a Finnish PhD specializing in Greek Stoic Philosophy. Doesn't sound like a Phantom pilot to me. Most of the links I found had "Ed Rasimus" as the writer. I verified with a French-speaking associate that the book is indeed, Palace Cobra.

We contacted Altipresse and they said, "ooops, we made a mistake", but they want to make an offer for publication rights. I suspect that the mistake was thinking that they wouldn't get caught. With a March 1 release date and apparently the translation work already done, their hand is deep in the cookie jar and I'm hoping their offer reflects the gravity of their misstep.

So, for those of you seeking to own a French version of Palace Cobra, you may be able to find one on Amazon.DE or Amazon.FR later this Spring. And you can say you know "the rest of the story."