“ME
JANE”
When Tor’s art department presented me with Mark Summers’s
amazing cover art, I was a bit thrown.
All earlier concepts had included Tarzan, and here he was nowhere to be
found except in the subtitle. Yet my gut reaction to the image had been
overwhelmingly positive. “Yes!” I
thought, this was the Jane I’d written – at least as she’d evolved during the
course of the book, from a dignified, if tomboyish Edwardian young lady into a
woman who could survive in an African jungle, hunting, fighting, and brachiating
through the liana. In short, a “fit mate” for Tarzan.
Here, staring out at me from my book cover, was a powerful,
feline female who looked as though if anyone messed with her ape man she would
snatch him bald. I liked that. In the next months when things got hairy, as
they always do in the run-up to publishing a book, I’d find myself gazing at
the cover, and it would always cheer me up.
I was proud that this was the image that would introduce the world to my
novel. I started taking strength from this rendition of Jane Porter. I was slowly being moved by her fierceness
and fearlessness.
And it was a good thing, too, because 2012 was Tarzan’s 100th
anniversary year, and through my close association with the Edgar Rice Burroughs
estate, I was invited to be a panelist at Comic-Con. I’d been a public speaker
for fifteen years, but nothing I’d experienced could prepare me for what I knew
this convention would be.
In prepping for it I was suddenly using the image in myriad
ways – postcards, book plates and a large poster – to support my panel and a
book signing at the Tor Books booth.
Everywhere I looked, there was Jane staring back at me, defying me to
“woman-up” and face the mobs and strange creatures of the high-tech jungle in
San Diego.
The sight of her everywhere buoyed me, excited me, made me
consider crazy things. On a shopping
expedition for my Comic-Con wardrobe I found myself eying a little tee-shirt
dress of a quite beautiful leopard pattern. With Jane whispering in my ear I
grabbed it off the rack and took it home. My husband, Max, watched that night
as I took the scissors to it, cutting out one arm and a jagged pelt-like hem. When I put it on with black pants and a stone
necklace it looked kind of cool. But all
my friends warned me – “Do not wear that thing to Comic-Con. You’ll look like an idiot!” They drowned out Jane’s voice…and I chickened
out. However, I packed it up and brought
it with me anyway.
I spent my first morning at SDCC2012 handing out postcards
and signing book plates. The sight of a
pretty young woman who’d taken a card from me strongly evoked the spirit of
Jane and with a sudden burst of courage I blurted out, “Would you put on a Jane
outfit and help me promote my book?!”
 |
| HEIDI HILLIKERR in the Jane dress at the book signing |
My jungle instincts had proven true. Heidi Hilliker (Facebook.com/HeidiHilliker) was
not in costume now, but on Saturday she was going to transform herself into her
favorite heroine, Wonder Woman. But
sure, she was game to be Jane for an hour.
In the ladies room I whipped out the dress. She looked sensational in it! At the book
signing she held up my poster proudly, attracting many admiring stares. I
cursed myself for not being brave enough to wear the tog myself.
Once Comic-Con was behind us, the Fates provided me with one
more chance to prove my strength and daring.
Steve Brown, the publisher of a wonderful Southern California arts and
entertainment magazine, The Sun Runner, was intrigued by JANE and the story of how
– with the help of Max, a 35-year veteran yoga teacher, and much-beloved figure
in our community – I had come to write it. Steve, a pretty out-there guy himself, suggested
we pose as Tarzan and Jane for the cover of the “Desert Writers Issue” of his
magazine.
 |
| THE SUN RUNNER MAGAZINE cover |
Again, friends cautioned us against it. But this time the
spirits of Jane and the ape man punched through and cried, “Go for it!” I fashioned Max a nifty little loincloth for
his still incredible seventy-year-old body, and put on my outfit. At the 29 Palm Inn oasis, hiding the
unfortunate parts of my anatomy with a giant palm frond, we took deep breaths
and went native. Here’s the result.
About the Author
ROBIN MAXWELL is the national bestselling author of eight historical fiction novels featuring powerful women, including Signora da Vinci and the award-winning Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, now in its twenty-fourth printing. She lives in the high desert of California with her husband, yogi Max Thomas.
http://www.robinmaxwell.com/
Follow the rest of the tour here: http://www.hfvirtualbooktours.com/2012/09/robin-maxwell-on-tour-for-jane-woman.html
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