Willow: I don’t have time to write my follow up post on reviews until the weekend but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you Jim Haines post about the use of women on fantasy covers. It’s incredibly amusing but highlights how women are posed to give the illusion of strength and courage.
Striking a Pose (Women and Fantasy Covers)
A while back, we had a discussion on the blog about the cover art for my princess novels. For the most part, I really like these covers, but they’re not perfect.
Now I could talk about the way women are posed in cover art … or I could show you. I opted for the latter, in part because it helped me to understand it better. I expected posing like Danielle to feel a little weird and unnatural. I did not expect immediate, physical pain from trying (rather unsuccessfully) to do the hip thing she’s got going on.
I recruited my wife to take the pictures, which she kindly did with a minimum of laughter.
Being me, I naturally couldn’t stop there. I headed over to Amazon and grabbed a sampling of book covers, primarily urban fantasy, and spent the evening doing a photoshoot. Click on if you want to see the results (or if you just really want to see a shot of topless Jim).
// For your amusement and food for thought, follow the link to see more: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/01/striking-a-pose/
Willow H. Wood 