Squawk Radio
Friday, September 23, 2005
TERESA SINGS "THANKS FOR THE MAMMARIES!"
We love it when our publishers keep our books in print forever but as some of you dear readers may have noticed, the reprinted versions frequently lose some of their lovely bells and whistles--like the metallic foil titles and gorgeous original stepback art. All of Christina's talk of nipples made me want to pull out some of my old stepback art on this sleepy Saturday morning and relive the mammaries...um...the memories!
This was the original stepback art for HEATHER AND VELVET, one of the last covers Fabio posed for before going off to "write" (cough...cough...) his own romances. The incomparable artist Steve Assel did the impossible--he made Fabio look like a Mensa candidate! (And I hope you'll notice my heroine's strategically placed hand. And the fact that unlike Christina's heroines, she only has 2 of them.)
No visible nipples here but out of all of my stepbacks, I always wish I'd bought this Pino painting from TOUCH OF ENCHANTMENT to hang on my office wall. I love it because it's not only sexy, but very tender and it perfectly conveys the time travel atmosphere of the book. Notice how the New York skyline morphs into the medieval castle. And they finally got a heroine with short hair right!
Believe it or not, the male model from this stepback from A WHISPER OF ROSES is not Fabio. (Although his mammaries are equally impressive.) I always loved this cover because it put the woman in the dominant position--something you don't see very often! This was another Steve Assel cover. He was known for his incredible skill in drawing hands and for his use of light. (And for the tasteful way he could make a man's kilt ride up while he was being manhandled by a saucy wench.)
We love it when our publishers keep our books in print forever but as some of you dear readers may have noticed, the reprinted versions frequently lose some of their lovely bells and whistles--like the metallic foil titles and gorgeous original stepback art. All of Christina's talk of nipples made me want to pull out some of my old stepback art on this sleepy Saturday morning and relive the mammaries...um...the memories!
This was the original stepback art for HEATHER AND VELVET, one of the last covers Fabio posed for before going off to "write" (cough...cough...) his own romances. The incomparable artist Steve Assel did the impossible--he made Fabio look like a Mensa candidate! (And I hope you'll notice my heroine's strategically placed hand. And the fact that unlike Christina's heroines, she only has 2 of them.)No visible nipples here but out of all of my stepbacks, I always wish I'd bought this Pino painting from TOUCH OF ENCHANTMENT to hang on my office wall. I love it because it's not only sexy, but very tender and it perfectly conveys the time travel atmosphere of the book. Notice how the New York skyline morphs into the medieval castle. And they finally got a heroine with short hair right! Believe it or not, the male model from this stepback from A WHISPER OF ROSES is not Fabio. (Although his mammaries are equally impressive.) I always loved this cover because it put the woman in the dominant position--something you don't see very often! This was another Steve Assel cover. He was known for his incredible skill in drawing hands and for his use of light. (And for the tasteful way he could make a man's kilt ride up while he was being manhandled by a saucy wench.) As I'm sure you've noticed, although many of our heroes are written with chest hair, most are neatly shorn for the cover art. I've been told that this is because it's very difficult to portray a hero with chest hair without making him look like Robin Williams and because most of the cover models shave their chests.
So today I leave you with this deep, philosophical question: When it comes to men and their chest hair...do you prefer them furry or bare???
Teresa Medeiros, 5:28 PM
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