Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

OK, hilarious. What confuses me, though… is—honestly? How do you fight demons and various other things in such tight pants? I have to say: seems like you’re adding unecessarily to the difficulty. To say nothing about the possible pop-out above the waist… is that for distraction? Like in, 10 Things I Hate About You?
Woo-hoo, lookie here, demon/vampire/zombie, yeah! and then you slice off their head? or whatever…

Why can’t we photoshop in the real world? *shoulders slump*
A sculpted back, muffin-top-less butt would be my fantasy…

I’m sure the montage of women dangling in an unnatural position while being held by a man would be good for historicals.

In all honesty though, the tats on the girl in 1:08 (right after the really fake looking angel tat on the back) looked pretty tasty to me.

Spamword: Find13.  Yes, I would find a woman with 13 tattoos attractive.

The Antidote: Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES.

A wizard with a big staff and a blaster rod and winged purple monkeys flinging incendiary poo.

Rock ON Mr. B !!!!!

Well, this is my second try for a post. grrr…

I can’t believe how many of those covers I own. So many of them look just alike- are they using one model and changing the outfits, I wonder? Sort of like a Barbie Doll?

Barbie Doll bookcovers. Now there is a thought.

A wizard with a big staff and a blaster rod and winged purple monkeys flinging incendiary poo.

That says it all…

The Antidote: Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES.

A wizard with a big staff and a blaster rod and winged purple monkeys flinging incendiary poo.

Rock ON Mr. B !!!!!

Hear, hear!  And Chris McGrath’s covers are things of beauty too.  (Love the Jared Padalecki-look-alike cover models.)  Also recommended—Rob Thurman.

The video actually made me look up a couple of titles. I don’t know if I’ll read them, but good covers do pull me in (I liked the P.C. Cast covers especially).

I wonder how many of those tattoos are part of the characters as written and how many are publisher additions—I know from reading the plot synopsis of Marjorie Liu’s The Iron Hunt (TBR!) that the full body tattoos are an integral part of the plot.

OK, hilarious. What confuses me, though… is—honestly? How do you fight demons and various other things in such tight pants?

Or mini/micro skirts!

I love these covers.  I own quite a few myself!  And I think the covers rock.  Girls with guns, women with weapons…yeah, I like ‘em.  Might watch the video again just to get a few titles I missed!

My first thought when I see all these tight leather pants?  Bring on the Monistat.

I’m impressed! That video was very well done but I kept having to pause it to get a good look at each cover. Yeah. I’m old and slow. Gimme a break. I’ve only had one cup of coffee. Interestingly, he has a book in his review pile that’s in my TBR pile - Fallen by Claire Delacriox.

karmelrio, you cracked me up! Monistat. *gigglesnort*

ev,  I wish I was technically savvy enough to do a YouTube of romance covers using Barbie, Ken and GI Joe! Duude! How awesome would that be. LOLLOL.

And last, Dresden is my hero. *heartthrob*

The scifi guy is trying to figure out when the trend started…I’m guessing it was heavily influenced by Buffy & Dark Angel television series.

As for how you fight in such tight pants - they are probably stretch for the easy slaying of demons.  I personally don’t get the itty-bitty skirts.

Word: small37 - yep those skirts are small.

@Lizzie, I’ve been puzzled by the Mercy Thompson covers for a while now. In the books she has one tattoo on her belly and ‘a few’ on her arms. Each cover gets more and more elaborate and in no way reflects the descriptions in the books.

Oh to have all those books on my bookshelf!! Saw a few I had but more that I don’t yet have.
Funny video.
And backs arent always sexy. I’m 4’10, there’s not enough back between my ass and my neck to be sexy LOL.

I personally don’t get the itty-bitty skirts.

They must be worn with matching underwear for the demon-fighting.  Unless it’s possible to kill a demon with a glimpse of vajayjay.  Maybe it is.  I’ve never tried it.

*dies*

They must be worn with matching underwear for the demon-fighting.  Unless it’s possible to kill a demon with a glimpse of vajayjay.  Maybe it is.  I’ve never tried it.

Oh the visuals that presented, Cat! Holy, flaming vajayjays, Buffy!

Cooterflash - activate!

Roslyn,

From what I have heard, the cover tattoos on the Mercy books are there to give you an idea of what the book is about. They’re not meant to be a representation of Mercy’s actual tattoos.

And seriously? Designed41 is my spam word I kid you not.

Hey, I saw one of my books on there!  Neato!

I do tend to snark covers (including my own), but I think it’s really important to remember that it’s the publishers who are trying to make all the books look exactly the same… not the authors.  If you’ve never gone through an art department process before, it’s not a pretty thing.  They will usually bring up two or three different books they want to make your book look like… this is the end result.  The obnoxious thing is that to some readers, a similar cover means the content inside is also exactly the same, or worse, that the content inside is a rip off of another author’s work.

eaeaea said on…

Why can’t we photoshop in the real world? *shoulders slump*
A sculpted back, muffin-top-less butt would be my fantasy…

I second that!  Where do I sign up?

They are really funny all piled up like that.  But I have to say, as a trend, it’s been a pretty successful one—or so I judge by the sheer number of tattooed, bare-backed women on my bookshelves!  I assume spinsterwitch is right when she links it to Buffy.  As a fan of that show, I moved right into this style of books with glee. 
I didn’t really get tired of the covers until Jenna Black’s The Devil Inside, when I realized that the pants were getting so low there was a danger of butt-crack on my covers.  Still loved the book, though.

They must be worn with matching underwear for the demon-fighting.  Unless it’s possible to kill a demon with a glimpse of vajayjay.  Maybe it is.  I’ve never tried it.

Erm. You can find images of women displaying their ladybits carved into lintels of medieval churches and other buildings, as human genitalia (you’ll see some peeners in the carvings, too) WERE considered protective against demons.

Oh, the joys of PBS! You can learn so many things on public television! :-D

Unless it’s possible to kill a demon with a glimpse of vajayjay.

It doesn’t seem to work on paparazzi, though, alas.

Just so you know I ain’t lying…. Sheela na Gig—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheela_na_Gig

(password: stop68—yeah, kids, stop 68! Go right on to 69!)

Sheela-na-gig? Also the name of a great PJ Harvey song!!!

“Look at these, my child-bear-ing hips!”

Now I understand better what it’s about. Thanks, Kaite!

Unless it’s possible to kill a demon with a glimpse of vajayjay.  Maybe it is.  I’ve never tried it.

Ever read the original story for “Rawhead Rex”?

Ah Anaquana, that makes perfectly good sense. I still haven’t a clue what ‘bone-crossed’ will be about, but the tattoos are definitely representative.

Speaking of cover art I just found out that Michael Whalen, who did many of the original covers for The Dragon Riders of Pern books, also did some of my favorite album covers. Like Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell.

I love cover art and could decorate with just that in my home. Some of it is just so damn good.

design18- I wish I could design 18 of anything

Unless it’s possible to kill a demon with a glimpse of vajayjay.

There is nothing the magic hoohaa can not accomplish! If it is capable of banishing a hero’s inner demons, who not actual physical demons?

It’s crazy how many of those covers look alike, but I like most of those books so ... meh.

That was a great vid! While LMAO I got some great reading recs too. Oh SciFi Guy, I heart you.

When he pointed out the undone jeans, I was at the very least grateful there were no undies flashing too. And when the arrow helpfully grows to point out all that stuff, priceless.

Jennifer Armintrout said:

If you’ve never gone through an art department process before, it’s not a pretty thing.

Oh, this is so true across the board in pretty much any creative field, process, fistfight, you name it.

Thanks for posting the link! 

Here’s my shout-out to SciFi Guy:  he’s a man who is so secure of his masculinity that he’s not afraid of books with girls on the cover.  Also, he’s got a terrific blog and really in-depth, smart reviews.

As for the covers, I’d happily swap out one for the borrring, blah cover of my second novel with one of these.  I think I’m going to give my heroine a lurid hootchie tattoo and some slutty piercings so I’ll get a cover that will attract some attention for my fourth novel.

I have to say I am overwhelmed by the response to my vid. Did it just for the fun. Thanks to everyone that dropped by and checked it out. And I have read everyone of those titles featured and yes a good many of those heroines do sport tattoos in the story so I guess a little exaggeration by the art department is to be expected. Any suggestions on missed covers or additions are welcome.

Thanks for the kind words Marta. You rock!

my spam word is develop69. maybe it’s trying to tell me something.

i love a sexy back, male or female.

I know these statues of the women and their extraordinary vajayjays- one of them was the magic statue in Jo Beverley’s Forbidden Magic.

I’d rather have more tattooed Barbies than oversized Mantitty. But thats just me… :)

you have to love tatoos they are so great. only if you have a few. when you get to many it is bad.

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