European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Fabio and other men muscle their Way in of the men on the covers arc getting a piece of the action. San Diego May 1993it s the 11th annual romantic times Booklover fair and convention and about 1,000 published and aspiring writers and enthusiastic readers have gathered in a hotel decorated with Pink and White balloons and posters promoting the books Viking flame and Apache s desire All presided Over by the ubiquitous Falk. The first annual or Romance paperback Over Model contest is under Way a hunk Orama with Amateur models partially dressed As pirates knights tar Zan and other symbols of male virility parading be fore the ogling cheering crowd of mostly women. And the Winner in the under-40 category is. David Johnson 29, of Encinitas calif., a Chicken inspector for the department of agriculture. And the Winner in the 40-and-Over category is. James Fox 40, of Oceanside calif., a loan Consul Tant for a mortgage company. Johnson and Fox each will appear on the cover of a Zebra novel As one of their prizes but it s unlikely they la actively pursue a modelling career. The real Battle of the beefcake is big time stuff. Dig As in Fabio. Strolling among his panting fans like a proud Indian Warrior his Blond mane swaying from Side to Side this italian bodybuilder is the reigning Monarch of the Macho set his 48mnch Chest and 18-Inch biceps displayed on the covers of hundreds of Romance novels More than 1,000, his agent says. Already a regular on to talk shows he has a Lead ing role in a new to series called Acapulco . He got a $100,000 Advance to write three Romance novels for Avon and has a 900 phone num Ber to dispense advice about Romance. He s Market ing a Calendar a poster and a life size likeness and his first record was released this summer. Was there a Fabio before Fabio no and there won t be one after him either says Kathryn Falk publisher of romantic times Magazine. He s bigger than life. He s an icon a presence. He has a mystique but what about the Topaz Man Steve Sandalis the one on the covers of All those Topaz novels in a to interview he s seen spread out Bare Ches Ted on a Beach looking into the camera and saying they re looking for someone who can be masculine yet sensitive and vulnerable. That s he s Sweet the boy next door and there will be others like him Falk says but Fabio is one of a kind. He was the first and that puts him in a category of his but wait there s Tye Damon the one Falk Wear ing her Romance consultant hat recently lined up to be a Star Model and spokesman for Zebra. He s absolutely unbelievably gorgeous she says. Incredible he s 6-foot-3 and has that Brood ing thing. And he can write he can speak. He s very Well versed and he comes from a Good Back in her Flower Garden Falk talks of female fantasies and Romance. They want their fantasies to come True. They would like to see their fantasies in reality and that s what these cover models but who Are these women those who read a Romance novel a Day a lot of them live in Small towns that end in Villa " she says. I think people who read a lot usually live in a situation where there s not a lot of outside stimulus. They re not travelling two hours to work and they Don t have 32 movie Heaters in the neighbourhood to go to and their friends Are not say ing let s go try the new restaurant. And a lot of them Are women like me women just love Romance. I love sitting in my pretty Gar Den with a Good looking Man. David Langford Kalian bodybuilder Calendar boy and to actor Fabio is the leading cover Model for Romance novels. Dreams continued from Page 5 people. I was going to lose my Freedom then she read an article about women writers like Barbara Taylor Bradford Jackie Collins and Erica Jong and How much Money they were making. So i bought an old manual typewriter and i started to write a Book she says. Initially i thought probably the thing to do was write soft porn. But actually writing pornography was very tedious so i abandoned to support herself while writing she went to work for the writer Rebecca West who had an affair with . Wells. Since i refused to work on thursday and Friday she thought i was having an affair too Stainforth says. Stainforth s first Book Bird of Paradise was published by the British division of random House. In the United states Crown published it As Afara s Way. That was followed by indiscretion which be came scandalous desires in America. Two subsequent books were Well received in eng land but could t find a publisher in the United states including her latest the Wilder Side of life set in Las vegas. She has just finished the first draft of the first novel of a new two Book contract. Stainforth prides herself on her research which has included learning to Fly an air plane jumping out of an air plane learning to sail and playing poker. I dress like those i m going to see because we re All basically tribal she says although i will have to say i was not Able to match the vulgarity of and then there Are women like Debra Dier whose first historical Romance novel surrender the dream is to be followed by her second Shadow of the storm the Story of a Northern Man and a South Ern woman who fall in love following the civil War. Dier graduated from College with a degree in in formation systems management and worked several years in the data processing Field. In the end it was my husband a Man who fully believes in chasing dreams who convinced me to give up that Safe Job and to write full time she says perhaps growing up in Niagara Falls that Honey Moon capital was one reason i became an incurable romantic. Am i out of touch with reality maybe. But i know some dreams do come Page g sunday february 13, 199-1
