You Know You're Getting Noticed When Someone Steals Your Work

by Rich Handley

Last year, eBay auctions were brought to my attention regarding puzzles made from the covers to my first two books, Timeline of the Planet of the Apes and Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes.

Both book covers were created by brilliant Argentinian artist Pat Carbajal, who has since continued to work on our other projects, the next of which will be A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon. To see his work gracing the covers of these haphazardly constructed puzzle boxes was upsetting.

On the one hand, I, Pat and Hasslein Books co-creator Paul Giachetti felt violated, as we'd not sanctioned these puzzles being made from our work. Plus, the covers were VERY badly reproduced on the boxes, doing no credit at all to Pat's vibrant and detailed artwork (see the actual covers below the puzzles). And yet, at the same time... neither book was officially sanctioned by Twentieth Century Fox in the first place, so really, what ground did we have to complain? Both Apes volumes are unauthorized and unlicensed, so the misappropriation of their covers wasn't something we could legally pursue.

In the end, we looked at it this way: The fact that someone liked the covers enough to steal them was a compliment of sorts, as it meant we'd done our job right. But at the same time, whether or not the books were licensed or authorized, the bottom line was that Pat's art had been pilfered, and that made us angry. Luckily, the fake puzzle seller was also in Argentina, so Pat was able to get the auctions removed simply by contacting that person threateningly. Still, I have to admit... I wish I'd bid on those auctions. Although they weren't sanctioned by us, the idea of having puzzles based on the book covers WAS admittedly pretty cool.