A.R.R - What first brought the subject of cover art to your attention, and why did you decide to make it the focus of a book?

J.MT. - I’ve made a career out of writing about pop culture, so I am always in used book stores and thrift stores looking for stuff for my various projects. I came across some romance paperbacks at a thrift store that looked much different than what I grew up with in the 1980s (I am 31). I knew many (mostly men) collected vintage paperbacks, many for their covers, and I thought the romance paperbacks looked just as beautiful.

A.R.R - How did you research this very large field – and were people (e.g. colleagues, publishers, etc.) surprised by your choice of subject?

J.MT. - It was hard researching this book as not much has been written on the subject of romance cover art, vintage at least. A lot is written about the cover art of the vintage paperbacks in general. My publishers I work with publish books on popular culture, so they were quite receptive.

A.R.R - Was assembling this book easier or harder than you expected?

J.MT. - It wasn’t hard. I had started collecting some of these books before I came up with the idea to pitch it to my publisher. I became obsessed with finding more and more titles, and eventually had enough to do a book. It was not hard. There are so many beautiful covers, and great titles.

A.R.R - Were there any discoveries along the way that surprised you about the romance novel scene?

J.MT. - I had no idea how popular the nurse romances were. I couldn’t believe all the variations, such as Hootenanny Nurse, Everglades Nurse, Jungle Nurse, etc.

A.R.R - I learned from your book that it was really around the 1940’s that more efficient production techniques allowed the inexpensive mass-market “Pocket” books to catch on! Do you think there might be any correlation between the amazing strides made by women towards self-sufficiency during the war years and the arrival of romances, clearly targeted at women?

J.MT. - I think by the 1940s women had more spending power, especially in the 1950s. Even if they weren’t working Americans' standard of living rose so that we could afford such entertainment on a regular basis.

A.R.R - There are several quite striking points that caught my attention as I read your book; firstly, do you think that the goal of the cover artist has changed? Are they trying to sell more books today or still trying to distinguish between publishers?

J.MT. - I think now the goal is to sell more books. Although that has always been a goal. It seems to me that in the beginning it was more about distinguishing genres as paperbacks were so new, the publishers didn’t want a Western lover to mistakenly pick up a romance.

A.R.R - Obviously the creative techniques become more sophisticated as the technology improves – would you think it fair to call older covers “art” in comparison to today’s’ “computer generated graphics”?

J.MT. - I think computer-generated graphics are still art, but in a traditional sense, yes the “illustrated covers” required traditional artistic ability. But I think in 50 years we will look at the computer-generated graphics as really special, too.

A.R.R - Did the early cover process involve live models, photographs and so forth, or do you know if they were mostly painted scenes suggested by the book or the publisher?

J.MT. - They did both, for the most part I think they took from a scene in the book, but many illustrators relied on certain models.

A.R.R - It’s easy to see that the early covers featured women very prominently. Do you know of any reason why it should have been women then, and men now?

J.MT. - I think as women were allowed to talk about sex more openly, more sex was shown, and it was best embodied in a good-looking man than a woman. If romance covers featured the sexy woman prominently men might mistakenly pick it up.

A.R.R - In your book you mention that the covers of romance novels serve as a guide to societal conditions at the time, especially for women. Can you expand on that a little?

J.MT. - This is most evident in how by the 1960s and 1970s heroines were featured as the boss more often. In the 1940s and 1950s, the heroines may have been career women, but they were more likely to be secretaries or nurses, for example.

A.R.R - Based on your research for this book, would you expect there to be a difference in cover art between say, romance and science fiction, or romance and murder mystery? Other than the subject matter, that is.

J.MT. - I think the romance covers appear, well, I hate to put it so simply, but romantic. There is a dreamy quality, a sense that the woman is in love, not about to have visitors from another planet or about to be killed, those covers tend to feature women who appear fearful.

A.R.R - During the time you were working on this book, did you find a favorite cover, or artist, and if so, why?

J.MT. - I think my favorites are the early Dell covers. They seem to have a soft, dreamy, pleasant quality. I also like the early Harlequins, because they seem to really celebrate romance. As a romance publisher I think they really knew how to appeal to women.

A.R.R - And, apropos of the previous question, what kind of cover art catches your attention, personally?

J.MT. - I like to see that a story is being told. I like the details.

A.R.R - Do you read just for fun, and if so, do you have a favorite genre? (We can handle it if you’re not a big romance fan yourself [grin].)

J.MT. - I did this book because I loved the covers. I don’t read romance, in part because I feel if I started to, I wouldn’t be able to stop. I think the genre is great, and I hope it remains strong.

A.R.R - And finally, can you tell us what your next project will be?