Sunday, April 26, 2009

Costumes and Cover Models - a quick wrap-up of the 2009 Romantic Times Convention

Now that I'm home from the Romantic Times Conference, I wanted to share a few of the highlights. (I wish I had more photos for you, but most of them were taken with my friend Janice's camera, and we took so many that she hasn't had time to upload them all yet!) Here's a few, though:

Here I am with my friends Janice Lynn and Mona Risk before the craziness of the conference truly began. (Don't we look well-behaved?) I have to give a special shout-out to Mona's husband, Sam, who is quite literally one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet (and quite debonair, too, I might add!)

Right after this photo was taken, we ran into cover model Jimi Gaskin, who was kind enough to guest blog with us last year on my group blog, Writers At Play. Jimi was absolutely one of the sweetest and most wholesome of the Mr. Romance competitors (the poor guy blushes every time you pay him a compliment, and believe me, he got LOTS of compliments!) We ran into him several times during the conference, and couldn't resist getting a few photos of him in Spartan gear at the "Gods of Midnight" party!

And speaking of the Gods of Midnight party, Janice and I had an absolutely fabulous time there playing "Musical Cover Models", which is pretty much the equivalent of Musical Chairs, only there were Spartans sitting in the chairs (I say "we", but I was just the official photographer that evening, while Janice did her best to sample every warriors' lap!) Here she is in Rodney Chatman's lap (Mr. Romance 2006), and here she is on the right with Jeremy Rivenburg (who won 3rd runner-up in the Mr. Romance competition). But the photo that she forced me to stay up until after 1:00 in the morning to get (seriously!) was this one of her below with Mr. Romance 2002, Jimmy Thomas. I must admit that it was well worth the wait, as I honestly think he was by far the best-looking guy there! (considering that my main man, Andrei Claude, did not attend this year.) Wah!

(Still, it was hard to be disappointed when you're in a room full of gorgeous men wearing little but gladiator outfits.) LOL

And then there were the other costume parties, which we enjoyed immensely. Here we are below at the Seelie and UnSeelie Faery ball. Janice was a good fairy (which made her a Seelie), while I was the bad fairy in the pink and black (which made me an UnSeelie).I'm not sure which one of us had more fun, but I think it was me, because let's face it... ghouls just wanna have fun! :-) Even my wings looked evil, didn't they? Janice's wings were black which made them nearly impossible to photograph in the dark room, and her dress was a flowy brown confection. Check out the wings tattooed on her face! Trust me, she was every inch the feminine, delicate fairy girl!

LuckilLuckily for me, handsome elf and Legolas look-alike, legendary cover model C.J. Hollenbach, didn't seem to mind hanging out with a bad fairy! Yes, that is C.J.'s real hair, which is long and blonde. He was absolutely adorable, and such a gentleman (a hunky, muscular, gorgeous gentleman!) Here I am on the right with author J.A. Konrath, whose wings were rather... um... tiny, and strapped on with green duct tape. LOL Luckily, his sense of humor was huge!

The following night was the Vampire Ball, and I had tremendous fun dressing up as a vampire Goth chick, and having absolutely no one recognize me! (Hey, I'm a Halloween kind of girl - what can I say??) I wish I had the photos of Janice and me together, because she looked absolutely gorgeous. Sadly, all I have on my camera was this close-up of her shoes (notice the zipper up the heel). My friends and "shoe-a-holics" Tawny and Anna would've been eating their hearts out over those babies!



Anyway, a fabulous time was had by all, and I just couldn't wait to share. Which of these photos is your favorite? Which of these guys do you think is the cutest?

4 comments:

Jeff Strand said...

Though I have little insight to offer on the question of which of the models was the cutest, I can say that it was great to meet you at RT, and I'm looking forward to reading YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I HAUNT! So we both survived our first RT, although I'm sure I was more scared than you were...

Terri Garey said...

Hi Jeff! I must admit, you did look pretty scared when I came up to you in my vampire Goth attire and forced you to pose for a picture! :-) And as far as cover models go, are you sure you had no opinion of the guy who escorted you onto the stage at the Ellora's Cave party? I thought I saw a little chemistry there...

(p.s. - I'll send you copies of the photos as soon as my friend Janice gets them uploaded from her camera, and please give my regards to your wife)

Anonymous said...

Terri I think the one with the shirt on standing by you was a total hottie! I think you said his name is Jimi Gaskin? You can tell he is built and I was saying OH CRAP TAKE THE SHIRT OFF! :) But it does no good screaming to a picture on the computer! :)
I also have a question for you. do you have out or have a book coming out titled "If you got it haunt it"?

Pam

Terri Garey said...

Hi, Pam! Yes, Jimi Gaskin is totally sweet and totally cute (did you notice those dimples?)

If You Got It, Haunt It was the original title for You're the One That I Haunt (what can I say, my editor liked the other title better!) I still think it's a great title, and I used the line itself in the book. :-)

Thanks for stopping by!