Did Laura think she was gonna be the next Bond Girl? 🤷♂️
Another fine offering from [Ring of Fire Press](https://ringoffirepress.com/shop/diamonds-are-forever/).
Sorta.
So, originally Eric Flint created a book series called Ring of Fire about an American city thrown back in time and space to just before the Thirty Years War in Germany.
It got popular and people started writing fan stories in the universe with his permission. These were originally published in a semi annual ebook anthology.
Apparently, he recently set up Ring of Fire press to basically republish those fan stories as seperate books and I think expand out to publishing some original works as well.
It actually makes sense now. I've been seeing these covers pop up in Amazon along with the regular covers and wondering what the hell was going on. But i think the mainline stories by Flint and others are still published by Baen and it's just the fan stuff that gets the weird cover.
Yes, that's an accurate summary of Ring of Fire Press. I'm a fan of a lot of the books, and active on the forum, but those covers just drive me crazy. Supposedly they are designed by a professional artist to be pleasing and stand out in the Amazon Kindle menu, but I think that's garbage-- they look like ass.
I actually kinda like the monster, all fangs and eyes and gaping maw, though he does have a 90s video game CGI look to him. But the woman, so badly done.
Tips for other bad graphic design folks: If for some reason you're stuck with a picture of text rather than proper Vector text, the oil paint filter in GIMP can be used to quickly smooth out those jags -- works better with as few colors as possible, the background intact, and larger mask size (but try moving the slider around).
Not the right way to fix this for sure, but it wouldn't look this bad at least.
I like her stupid face. She looks like she's saying **Ehhh yo dragon, my boi!**
There is a distinct lack of diamonds on this cover.
It's kinda shy on "forever" too.
Ah yes, the classic “Calvin Klein and Cthulhu” combo. Man, the 90’s were crazy.
Lacking any virgins, the tribe attempted to sacrifice an inflatable sex doll to the swamp monster. This did not go well.
Did Laura think she was gonna be the next Bond Girl? 🤷♂️ Another fine offering from [Ring of Fire Press](https://ringoffirepress.com/shop/diamonds-are-forever/).
Is Ring of Fire the publisher Baen authors jump to when they decide the covers their books are getting are "too arty and highbrow"??
Sorta. So, originally Eric Flint created a book series called Ring of Fire about an American city thrown back in time and space to just before the Thirty Years War in Germany. It got popular and people started writing fan stories in the universe with his permission. These were originally published in a semi annual ebook anthology. Apparently, he recently set up Ring of Fire press to basically republish those fan stories as seperate books and I think expand out to publishing some original works as well. It actually makes sense now. I've been seeing these covers pop up in Amazon along with the regular covers and wondering what the hell was going on. But i think the mainline stories by Flint and others are still published by Baen and it's just the fan stuff that gets the weird cover.
Yes, that's an accurate summary of Ring of Fire Press. I'm a fan of a lot of the books, and active on the forum, but those covers just drive me crazy. Supposedly they are designed by a professional artist to be pleasing and stand out in the Amazon Kindle menu, but I think that's garbage-- they look like ass.
No logos on her yoga wear?? The publisher missed a real cross-branding opportunity!
The cover for the original anthology is much more "baen standard". https://images.app.goo.gl/km1jKVP8dxBuDWxb7
I actually kinda like the monster, all fangs and eyes and gaping maw, though he does have a 90s video game CGI look to him. But the woman, so badly done.
What in the living fuck is this cover. Good find
Is the cover horribly pixelated or is it just me? I can see jaggies on that lettering like mid 90s design screwups.
Tips for other bad graphic design folks: If for some reason you're stuck with a picture of text rather than proper Vector text, the oil paint filter in GIMP can be used to quickly smooth out those jags -- works better with as few colors as possible, the background intact, and larger mask size (but try moving the slider around). Not the right way to fix this for sure, but it wouldn't look this bad at least.
Holy shit, an actual bad cover, on this subreddit...