It’s not every day that your cake decorator gets in a wrangle with the legal division at your publishing company.
The question was whether my girlfriends Could or Could Not get a book cover scanned onto the frosting of a surprise cake for the author of said book. The baker works for a large corporation that shall remain nameless in case frosting images of book covers ARE illegal. Long story short: Jenny V. had to call my publisher–or actually Pyr’s parent company, Prometheus–and ask them to call the baker in Wenatchee Washington and give permission to use the cover image of Bright of the Sky. Not all Jenny’s persuasions made the slightest difference to the scrupulous baker, not even: WE’RE GOING TO EAT THE COVER, LIKE, RIGHT AWAY. I was mortified to hear about the call to Prometheus until Jenny told me that the person (whose name she has now forgotten), laughed and said she would be happy to call. And she did, right away. (Although, how did the cake lady know it wasn’t my aunt Cynthia in Ohio calling?)
I can now say I’ve eaten my book, which is more than most of you can claim, I”ll bet. (It was delicious.)