Does everybody remember that unauthorized biography of Steve we discussed a couple of weeks ago? Alan Deutschmann's The Second Coming of Steve Jobs isn't even scheduled to hit the shelves for another month, but it's already kicking up more than its share of dust. First there were the mouth-watering previews in the press, which revealed that the book delves into such engrossing material as our Once And Present King's former suicidal leanings and space-travel aspirations. Then came word that Steve himself had declined to be involved in the book's production in any way, and even referred to the bio as a "hatchet job"-- so you know it's going to be good. Stop pouring, because our drama cup is full.

Whoops... on second thought, our cup runneth over. According to MacCentral, the pre-release excitement continues, as the book falls prey to a couple of problems that "some experts are calling 'mysterious.'" (We haven't a clue as to who these "experts" on hatchet-job obstacles are, but we're willing to take their word for it.) For one thing, apparently some doubt has arisen regarding the book's cover photo, which shows a halo-sporting Steve sitting cross-legged and cradling an iMac. Random House reportedly bought the rights to use the image from Corbis Sygma, but unfortunately, it sounds like Corbis Sygma never secured the rights from the actual photographer, Moshe Brakha, who claims that the photo is being used without his permission. The result? Random House is telling stores and web sites to ditch any and all images they may have of the original cover photo, presumably while its graphic folks whip up a last-minute replacement cover from scratch. Consequently, the book's release might even be delayed slightly, thus causing us drama fiends no small amount of mental distress as we go a few extra days without our scheduled dose of Steve-dirt. (Anyone up for a class action suit?)

But wait, there's more... In addition to the photo disaster, Vanity Fair magazine has abruptly nixed its original plans to include tasty snippets from the bio in an upcoming issue. The official reason given is "lack of space," though since the magazine already paid for the right to publish the excerpts, one would think that scrounging a few empty column inches shouldn't be so tough. We mean, come on-- surely a mag whose latest issue features an in-depth article on Puff Daddy can find something less important than Steve to cut. Priorities, people!

What makes these tribulations so interesting, though, is the suggestion that Steve is somehow behind them all. The author himself is quoted as saying, "Steve Jobs does not like the book and doesn't want the book published. It really looks to me as it Steve Jobs is trying to cause problems for this book." Now, while we imagine that a well-developed sense of paranoia would be a positive boon to an author of a sleazy tell-all biography, we've been trying to figure out just how Steve would have pulled this off. Arranging Vanity Fair to "run out of space" might not be so tough; we'll know for sure if the October issue boasts a six-page Apple ad right where a book excerpt might fit nicely. But rigging the cover photo licensing debacle? That would take some serious skill-- and, come to think of it, a time machine. And if Steve had mastery over the fourth dimension, one would assume he wouldn't screw around by engineering Random House's use of an unlicensed photo; he'd probably just whack Deutschmann and prevent the book from ever being written at all. Still, points for subtlety, and all that.