Elise Logan was kind enough to send me a snapshot collection of some of the finest covers among her library of old skool romance. Among the many, many amazing covers?
Fabio.
According to Elise, this is her secret shame. Well, it’s not so much a secret any more, since I’m telling The Whole Internet.
Behold: the Fabster:
Yeah, yeah, that’s not a big deal. Many people own this book. Heck, *I* own that book.
But you know what they say about romance. And Fabio. It’s what’s inside that counts.
Elise’s mother waited in line for THREE HOURS for the following:
That right there is a personalized autographed copy of Fabio’s Pirate. Seriously, I’d never let anyone touch that. Especially if they smoked.
Why?
Check out what Rose found for me: Fabio doesn’t like smoking!
If there’s a signed Fabio Doesn’t Want You to Smoke poster floating around, well, forget fine art and the Michael Crichton collection. That would be literary pop art at its very finest.
This rocks, but I’m also confused . . .
Smokin’ hot photo telling us not to smoke?
Talk about sending mixed messages! 🙂
Thanks for the Fabio photos! I met him at RT/Pittsburgh in 2008 when he was a special guest at SOS Military Mixer. He was taller than I expected and still very handsome. Fabio had a special twinkle in his eye! He waited to take a picture with every fan, all 100 of them. Cathy Maxwell, a Navy Vet, took charge to line up the fans ranging from young to old. He even posed with the ROTC Color Guard who didn’t quite know who he was … but Fabio remains an icon in the hearts of romance fans!
I had Pirate, but donated it to the library about ten years ago. Last I looked, it was still there! Maybe I should check to see that no one has defaced it by ripping out the mantitty…
Fabio never did it for me. Maybe I just don’t like guys who are prettier than me? Or maybe I did believe it wasn’t butter?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA.
I have to add that my mom was at the very end of the line for that autograph. The “To you alone” is printed in the book, but the gold paint pen autograph? yeah, that’s allllll mine, baby.
I will now go drown my shame in buckets and buckets of new books.
I never found Fabio remotely hot, but he was so ubiquitous on romance covers for years that I credit him for teaching me to ignore the cover art and love the books inside regardless. So thanks, Fabio! 🙂
I have a stack of Fabio-guilded books. Yes, I did save them for the covers. *lick*
Hahahha that’s great. The Fabster is all about the fans and you have to love that about him.
I admit to getting a bit misty-eyed over the covers of yesteryear. Now, if someone would only post the old Harlequin covers from the mid to late 70’s I’d be set. They were so pulpishly good.
Ha! Ok, I’ll admit I was confused for a minute there. “But my copy says ‘For You Alone!’ Is she suggesting that dedication was less than sincere? Is Fabio two-timing us?”
The gold pen definitely wins, though.
Yumminess, well from the face down! lol..
wonder what he’s doin now…
I won’t judge you, Elise! I confess to having been guilty of lining all a dozen of my old skools up at a time to compare the brunette, blonde and redhead heroes with a magnifying glass and a squinty eye, trying to determine whether the cover model was simply Fabio with a dye job.
I’m convinced all Johanna Lindsay’s heroines married the same man, different coloring.
If only I’d had this Fabio ORIGINAL as a control subject…
I thought the little comment at the top of the book said “the busiest man in the world” until I checked it… 🙂
I think the only time Fabio did it for me was when he admitted he had a crush on Whoopi Goldberg because he wanted a woman “as real as her” in regards to her personality. Looks alone – he ain’t all that.
I have the same signed copy of Pirate… it’s prized I tell you, prized.
What?!
.
Complete with gold paint pen? but… but mine is made out to me! (though you can’t see it under the little tag. Can’t have y’all knowing my super-secret true identity.)
I’m going to have to pout now. *snicker*
I have not one but two VHS copies of the straight-to-video movie he did, a trio of short romances. In one he’s a pirate, the third is a contemp. Can’t remember the other one…must dig it out and reminisce.
Had such fun with friends having girls’ night watching that video! We also showed it on a big screen at one of the conferences at my old Florida RWA chapter. Hilarious!
Different name, I’m sure. 😀 (Though sadly, not addressed to me – I bought it off Amazon for a bit of a steal)
Fabio is so hideously ugly. For decades his image on the cover of a romance book as completely ruined the sexy inside for me, because you’re really not supposed to flinch in disgust when the writer describes lip-locking scenes.
But the fact that he was anti-smoking, and willing to go poster-boy for it, suddenly makes him slightly sexy. Which is kind of freaking me out, because finding him revolting has been a staple of my life for like forever…
Jessi, SNORT! thanks for the belly laugh.
About ten years ago Fabio was a guest of honor at a dinner I attended. Naturally I grabbed a photo shot with him. WAY tall, he wrapped his muscular arm covered in Armani linen around my shoulders, bent to my brow, and murmured, “You smell good.”
Ladies, that man knew his stuff.
My mother still has that photo hanging in her kitchen.
Oh, and bookwench, I never found him attractive. But an icon is an icon… 🙂
I went to a RomCon in Chicago way back in the very early 90’s when I was like 14 or 15. I was then working at a used bookstore (under the counter) that was 90% romances. The boss lady took me with her and we stood in line FOREVER to see him. I was flabbergasted. :0) My girly parts that hadn’t jumped fully on the boys-are-yummy bandwagon got all fired up.
BTW, I had the life-size promotional cutout of that Pirate cover that was shipped with the books when it first came out. It adorned my wall until I moved out of my parents house at 18. :0) I wonder what happened to that thing.
I forget how awesome he can be
. And that signature is to die for “for you alone” wow. Good beefcake!, good. Have a cookie.
I read a few of the Fabio books. I even owned Pirate but gave it away. Sorry, but he just doesn’t do it for me. And I usually like pirate stories.
Now, if you want a good pirate tale, check out Teresa Medeiros’s ‘Thief of Hearts’. Captain Doom. Yum.
He was always one of my fave cover models. What a great memento!
OK, I have to jump on the “I never got the Fabio thing” bandwagon, but if this happened to me…
I’d be all over that like white on rice. That’s HAWT!!
Still, I can’t stand the long-haired hero. My favorite cut is the roman gladiator cut, or possibly the Julius Caeser. Do not confuse the Julius with the Claudius Caeser, very different things.
Hee! I found Pirate in the break room at work one day and about died laughing at the back cover blurb; it was nearly as turgid as Fabio’s… dagger. The bangle-bracelet size of his hoop earring cracked me up, too.
And about that signature… compensating for anything with that emphatic ‘F’, Fabio?
Not really my type, but he’s super freaken smart (speaks something insane like eight languages) and he played the cult leader in Bubbleboy. What’s not to love?
Ok, I have to share this: my local RWA chapter has a life-sized cardboard cutout of Fabio that gets passed around as a good luck charm. When the current holder sells her first book, she passes him on to someone she thinks is close but needs a little magic . . . and I gotta tell you: he works.
Omg, Kalen, this is hilarious!!! And really wonderful.
It’s not a secret shame for me—I have been a BIG fan of Fabio’s forever! And I only started reading romance novels because I saw one with his cover on my Mom’s dresser. Not only is he gorgeous, he’s a very nice man who gives time to his fans and he clearly enjoys his life. I have all his books, as “author” and as model, and his picture is on my cell phone.
When I find a Fabio cover romance novel, I BUY IT! I want more of them. Color me jealous!
I think I willfully “forgot” that Fabio wrote romance novels. Are his book(s) any good?
I didn’t really read romance when Fabio was on all those covers. (totally immersed in my SF/F at the time), but I can never forget the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” ads. Never thought of him as hot at the time.
But when I saw him at RT two years ago, I have to say, not only is he taller than I thought, but he’s better looking in person. By far.
I can now fully admit to a slight crush, a little after his heyday, I know.
That depends… do you like B movies? They’re along that line, so bad they’re good.
I remember the first Fabio cover I ever saw, the Laura Kinsale Prince of Midnight book which was also my first Laura Kinsale. At the time men were *never* featured on the cover. And the character was a very flawed hero, and he had and loved horses another passion of mine. I fell and fell hard.
And sure, now he’s seen as more of a caricature. But from all accounts he seems to be a genuinely nice man who is very accommodating to his fans and intelligent to boot. Sure, he’s used his looks to his advantage. What’s awful about that? It’s like my Mom once said of Dolly Parton; she laughs all the way to the bank.
holy bejeesus…
:: head explodes from teh yummy ::
I blew that cover of Pirate up for a game that I played for my 40th earlier this year. Instead of pin the tail on the donkey – pin the manboobs on Fabio! Not only did we have fun, but I have a permanent reminder in the form of a one metre tall poster of the great man.
I love Fabio.
Alright ladies, I couldn’t help but Google him and found this for you –
http://www.fabioifc.com/
It has galleries of all his book covers!
They had that poster up in my high school nurse’s office. I’ll admit, I’ve never been a Fabio fan, and that poster is the only thing that ever tempted me to start smoking!