Fantasy Book Covers

Is it just me, or do a lot of fantasy book covers look like soft core porn?

Dreity said:

Your post made me laugh out loud, but I think as a whole we're actually moving away from the chicks in chainmail bikinis thing, if that's what you mean. It could just be my sub-genre, but I'm seeing less women in suggestive poses and more more comically grim covers that give a vibe like, "You cannot handle the darkness contained within these pages...because it is the darkness within my soul!!!"

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This is good to know.

I was at the library, randomly picking books from the fantasy shelves, and I realized that every single one of them had a big breasted woman, a buff man with long, free flowing hair, and a lot of skin!!!

My MC is short, fat, balding, and middle aged! I don't think he'll be able to compete!

Even in The Hobbit movie all the dwarves are good looking. Apparently there's no room in marketing for buckteeth and crossed eyes.

Dreity said:

Depending on the library, they could just have a really dated fantasy section. One of the things I miss about my hometown was the up-to-the-minute selection of books they had in every genre. Did you happen to look at the release dates of the books you saw?

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No. So you're probably right.

I don't mean to sound like a prude... which I am But some of the covers I wouldn't want my two eight year old boys see! I can just imagine them saying, "Who's that!!! And why does she have a metal bra???"

Smiling Ted said:

Wow...it really does sound like fantasy from the '70s - the Frazetta special. You should check out ebooks for more recent covers.

The most overtly sexual fantasy covers I've seen recently have been urban fantasy that featured an athletic woman's abdomen, usually with tattoos.

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I love the cover of your book. Bright. Attention-grabbing. It makes me think "fantasy."

eqb said:

SFF covers continue to put women into overly sexualized, unrealistic poses. It sucks. It's sexist. And the argument that "it sells" is made by straight white old men in Sales.

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I agree, completely.

But don't they do that to men as well?

I'm trying to think of any male main characters in fantasy who weren't the burly man type. Frodo and Bilbo come to mind. Harry Potter maybe another. But again, he was a kid.

I think another issue is that there are very few people of color as main characters in fantasy.

Mr Flibble said:

I'm starting to think I'm looking at a completely different set of books...

All the guys are burly?

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Manly men!!! Big men! With big muscles! And big hair!!!

Again, they're probably older books. It just made me laugh. They all looked like hard rock stars from the 1980s.

Evidently they're no skinny wimps in fantasy worlds!!

eqb said:

No. The men are posed as how men would like to see themselves. (Powerful and sexy and strong.) The women are posed as fantasy objects for men. (Sex bait.) It's all the male gaze.

See here for examples of how male poses differ from women's on covers.

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Very, VERY funny, Eqb. Brilliantly funny. Honestly. I love it.

I tried to post a comment on your blog, but couldn't find a way to do it. I'll have to start following you.

Really good stuff.

And you're probably right about how men want to be seen. As a beta-male, I feel a bit uncomfortable with the whole tanned, muscled expectation put on us. But you're right...I think most men WANT to be like that. Whereas women probably don't want to be the helpless object being won.

Thanks for making me laugh and think!

Buffysquirrel said:

It's some years ago now, and of course I don't recall *where* I read it, but I do remember reading somewhere about how male movie actors are now much more muscled (or buff if you prefer) than twenty years ago. If you compare Clark Gable and Bruce Willis, you can certainly see it.

And of course you're expected to believe a woman who looks twenty is the mother of a teenager.

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Female actors have also changed. Somebody was saying the other day that Marilyn Monroe would be considered overweight nowadays.

And then there's athletes. Babe Ruth was very fat. I'm not sure if you see many baseball players built like him now...although I don't follow baseball anymore.

Times do change. I just wonder if "typical looking" people are ever in vogue. Has there ever been an era where the average person was the hot one?