What do you mean? It seems like the author was publishing it for free online already; how would one steal that work and prevent him from publishing?
"The third part never got written. We had a contract signed to publish them and they'd been prepared, copy-edited and put into paperback novel format (I actually have the author's preprints) when a . . . . person . . . . stole the copy and published it himself as a torrent. As a result, the whole deal fell through and nobody will touch an already-published work. So, without any possibility of generating return, I ditched the project. There's no chance of going back to it now."
I once saw a more detailed story about the guy who stole the copy and alleged reasons for doing it, but I can't find it right now.
[0] - http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=29&t...
[0] - http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=29 - full text of Armageddon and Pantheocide available there; the author decided to abandon the series because someone stole his work to destroy his ability to publish it.