I Met My Cover Model

In July, I went to San Diego for the annual conference of the Romance Writers of America. I attended sessions on the craft of writing, the business of promotion, and opportunities in publishing. I hung out with friends at the pool bar, watched a 19th-century fashion show, and attended the Hamilton sing-a-long.

I also watched a faux romance cover shoot. With the guy who’s been on three of my covers:

Imperial Warriors Cover ReginaKammer_TheGeneralsWife200 The Pleasure Device 2013 cover

His name is Julian Christian. I had suspected he might be the model in attendance since the session presenters were Kim Killion and Jennifer Jakes of The Killion Group, Inc. — the company which supplied all of the photos in the above covers (and created the cover for The General’s Wife). Plus I happen to know Julian is San Diego-based.

I got to the conference room early, wanting to get a seat in the front. The room slowly filled with tittering, excited authors. And then the presenters arrived. With Julian:
Julian ArrivesHe got up on the stage to begin the mock photo shoot:
Julian PosesThen he took his shirt off:
Julian StripsAnd when Julian took his shirt off, there was swooning, gasps, and sighs.
Julian ShirtlessHe posed as he would during a real cover shoot: Brooding,
Julian Broodingshooting,
Julian Shootingcrouching (this drew breathy exclamations from the audience and a bemused look from Julian)
Julian CrouchesAnd then Jennifer Jakes walked around the room looking for a willing participant for a romantic suspense shot. As if we all weren’t willing…
The young woman was chosen — it happened to be her birthday! They did a romantic suspense pose:
Romantic SuspenseThen Kim and Jennifer explained how they get male and female models to feel comfortable around each other so they can enact a romantic clinch like this
ClinchAnother willing participant was sought from the audience for a historical or Amish romance cover. The volunteer author donned historical garb. Julian put a shirt on and played the dashing hero:
AmishThen there was a costume change:
Costume Changefor a Scottish historical cover:
ScottishAnother volunteer got to participate in a rather intimate historical pose:
HistoricalAfter all the posing and the question and answer session, the authors lined up to get their pictures taken with Julian. Of course, I had to meet him
Me Julian By Kimberley(Thank you to Kimberly Anne Hoffman for taking the photo!)
then get my photo taken in a mock romance cover pose
The Author Meets Julian(thank you to Tricia Linden for taking the photo!)
Then historical romance author Sherry Ewing joined us for a threesome
Me Julian Sherry By KimberleyI mean, we all just posed together! (Thank you to Kimberly Anne Hoffman for taking the photo!)

It was fun, and Julian was a good sport with all the fawning, swooning female authors. He’s super nice. I’m really glad I got the chance to meet the man on my covers!

p.s. if anyone knows who any of the author volunteers were, please let me know in the comments!

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About Regina (for Kammerotica blog)

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and an award-winning, international best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, Loose Id, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.