Romantic Times Rewind: July 2000 Ads & Features

In this week’s podcast episode, we’re looking at the glorious ads and features for the July 2000 issue of RT Magazine.

Thank you to Mari for this issue!

You can also find all the RTRW content at our category page for Romantic Times Rewind.

If you want to listen and follow along with this entry, we have more detail in the audio, but you can click play and listen and read and absorb all the visual goodness:

This month’s cover is for Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest, which is not a great book cover. Amanda and I degree the color palate is “depression.”

Romantic Times July 2000. The cover is a pencil and ink illustration of Daughter of the Forest, which is mostly grey scale and some amber, with a woman in a grey gown holding her hands up to the side with her eyes closed

There are also a bunch of pages missing from this issue – oops! We’ll have to go to Portobello Road for the missing pages, right?

Eglantine Price from Bedknobs and Broomsticks riding a flying broom, wearing a WWII helmet, and holding a sword aloft as she flies off to fight Nazis

This was an era of stepbacks and incredible cover art. Get ready!

A very supportive sleeveless top is in order for this scene:

Night Raven - a man with shoulder length wavy hair and no shirt and some blue beaded necklaces with a blonde woman in front on horseback with a very buxom décolletage and the horse is staring right at the reader.

The ad has the full illustration where the horse is looking RIGHT AT YOU.

The full ad has the entire illustration where the horse is staring right at the reader

Highland Lovesong also has pretty impressive cover art:

John DeSalvo and a truly impressive mullet nearly to his shoulder blades is shirtless of course in a kilt and is looking down at a woman with red hair. he seems to be peeling the gown off her shoulders. Behind them are some rocks and water and a castle

But the ad has the entire oil painting – where they appear to have mirrored the mountains on the top left there?

The full art includes the couple about to kiss and behind her to the left is a lake, some purple flowers, the back of her gown, aand a mountain that appears to have been mirrored from the middle so the left and right are identical

I love cover art, and I especially love the whole painting where there’s just nature and stuff to make room for the cover copy.

Ahem. LOOK AT THIS WATCH!!!!!!!

YOU CAN GET ONE! The Romance Swatch! Tormented Souls is written in script on the face, and the top band is a couple rmbacing in mostly shades of purple, orange, and yellow, and the words read when passion is the only choice the lower band is a woman in an off the shoulder white dress and long wavy hair and the text reads the new romantic novel by - and the last name is cut off

There are a few on eBay for between $40 and $60!

Remember how Swatch was The Coolest? I had rubber screen protector bands that I’d twist over the watch face. And the plastic watchband became the most disgusting thing, and there were so many to choose from?

I cannot believe I didn’t know this existed until now.

Speaking of cannot believe: did you know Harlequin once gave away a brand new VW Bug in a contest in which folks had to write a 200 words or less short story?

A whole car! For a 200 word short story! To celebrate the NEWLY DESIGNED WEBSITE.

I am telling you, the 2000s were a wild time.

There was a lot of travel talk in this issue, with Kathryn Falk promoting Lady Barrow Tours, with trips to Italy

Lady Barrow Tours include New Year's Eve in Iceland, two trips to Italy that cost 2000-2200, and a 10 night trip to England with a special event celebrating Barbara Cartland's 100th

Look at the prices – $2000 – $2200 for 10/11 night trips?!

Do you recognize this author?

A black and white photo of Patricia Cabot, aka Meg Cabot. She's wearing a turtleneck sweater and has long shoulder length wavy hair

That’s Meg Cabot!

Then we got to a multi-page spread about Steve Sandalis, aka The Topaz Man, featuring a full page of list of titles featuring Steve on the cover, with a lot of incredible snapshots.

An illustration from Cassie Edwards' Wild Abandon, featuring a white woman in an off the shoulder gown kneeling in front of Steve, who is entirely nude. He has no pants on.

To quote Amanda, “He has no pants on!”

The collections of covers at the bottom of this multi page spread are incredible.

Some stepback illlustration of shirtless Steve, pllus Silver Deceptions by Deborah Martins, another stepback of Steve in a fur diaper bikini bottom, Rebel Wind b Leeanne Gryson, and Dreamspun Christmas The Sky Pirate - big puffy white shirt and long hair! Touch the Night with him standing shirtless and extending his hand to the reader. A stepback of naked Steve in what looks like fire water, like the water is orange and on fire, another stepback of him embracing a woman in some water naked from the back, and Wild Hawk - which features Steve shirtless in jeans. Five more covers including a stepback, with Steve wearing no shirts. In one he's wearing an eyepatch.

This was the era of the stepback, so let’s take a closer look at two of them.

The stepback image of Heather Graham's Lord of the Wolves. He's got long blond hair, he's mostly naked with fur boots and a fur diaper with a wide belt. Over his shoulder is a circle with a woman who looks annoyed.

That is the stepback for Lord of the Wolves by Heather Graham. The cover is rather understated given what’s inside:

Lord of the Wolves in gold with the author name in gold against. red filigree background, with an image of a gold wolf statue with gems in its back

It’s just…look at that art. Covers and stepbacks do not look like this any more.

a larger version of the fur diaper stepback

And then there’s this one, where they appear to be bathing in fire?

Here’s a larger pic from the eBay listing:

Steve Sandalis is very naked with long hair rinsing his forearm in some water. There's a red haired woman, also naked, behind him, and the water and backdrop looks like they are bathing in a volcano. EVERYTHING is orange and red

PLEASE DO NOT BATHE NAKED IN THE VOLCANO. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

The cover is a foil image of a white lily, and this fire bathing naked shiny duo is behind the cover.

Also – he is very smooth down there, if you know what I mean, and I think that you do.

Sometimes the stepback was in the ad!

Candice Proctor's The Last Knight.has a lute and some flowers on the cover, but behind the book cover is the stepback - John DeSalvo holding a sword, with the lute behind him, and a MULLET

I give that mullet an 8 out of 10.

When the page from Love Spell is in black and white, of course I go hunt down the covers.

The Black Rose by Jan Zimlich features a white muscular man who looks kind of like Ricky Martin reclining on dark silver sating sheets and holding a black rose

Attention, fans of Elyse’s Bachelor and Bachelorette recaps: THAT is the ROSE GOD, right?!

And The Wild Swans is an incredible cover:

A photograph of a blonde woman with curly hair wearing a deep v neck purple shiny gown with a swan in the background. There's pink and teal and yellow and gold and it's very opulent

Look at that. You’d never know it was that incredible in black and white.

This ad gave us a lot to discuss:

an illustration of a man with a very lumpy face holding a gun? and it says INCA IS COMING August 2000 for morgan's mercenaries heart of the warrior by Lindsay mckenna

If that’s Inca, can he stay away? Because I’m very creeped out. I’d rather he not come.

This event at the RT Convention sounds truly unhinged and I am SO sorry I missed it:

LOOK at all the stuff going on in this one day event! Strolling minstrels! Swing lessons! Tarot card and past life regression sessions!

Wow, we missed a party.

There’s also an appearance from EXTREME TROY!

A shirtless and shiny extreme troy wearing leather pants and a gold belt and chain smiling as he stands on a rock with some violently red clouds behind him.

I’m now regularly sending this image to Amanda with different captions.

So, folks, those are the Ads & Features from July 2000!

Remember, if you join the Patreon, you’ll get access to the entire issue as a PDF.

Do you miss stepbacks? Ebulliently colorful cover art? Did you have the Romance Swatch?!

What do you think? Do you remember any of these books?

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