Judging a book by its cover is generally frowned upon, but the same cannot be said for ebooks. Especially when they are ebooks called Young Tales of the Old Cosmos, and the cover is a picture of three moons with human expressions best described as “Buh?”, “Hmm” and “Ooh”. When they’re that, you can frankly judge yourselves blind.

This is something the anonymous creator of Kindle Cover Disasters has exploited to great effect. His site cherry-picks the most spectacularly egregious real-life ebook covers, and holds them aloft for all to see. Covers such as The Pig’s Head Part 1 by Demetri Paul (an illuminati mountain with a giant moose head coming out of it), The Hunger by Doug Dandridge (a low-res cityscape containing a mouth, a bat, a syringe and a knife) and Arrival of the Overlords: Novel 2 – Invasion Planet Earth by Franklin Eddy (literally just a photo of a woman’s face).

“It is the hubris of it that people get a kick out of,” claims the creator. “The devil-may-care attitude of an author, who, with zero arts training, says to themselves: ‘How hard can it be?’” He points to But … You’re a Horse by David Bussell as his own personal favourite, a winning pulpy Mills & Boonish image of a passionate embrace between a wench and a horse.

But much more indicative of the site are The Hound Riders of P’toonig’ai by Scoots McCoy, a closeup of a pet dog; and BIRTH CONTROL IS SINFUL IN THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES and also ROBBING GOD OF PRIESTHOOD CHILDREN!! by Ms Eliyzabeth Yanne Strong-Anderson, a blurry image of the ticked-off author.

Despite all the objectively bad artwork on Kindle Cover Disasters, the creator claims that it is all meant to be affectionate. “I’m for creativity. Give me a choice between the mundane or a beautiful mess and I’ll take The Hound Riders of P’toonig’ai every time.”

More than anything, though, Kindle Cover Disasters is a celebration of integrity. These authors and artists won’t be moderated by popular tastes. They know what they want and, by God, they’re going to give it to us. And, given the ebook origins of 50 Shades of Grey, perhaps one of them will emerge as the next literary sensation. If people one day start flocking to the big-screen adaptation of Mystery, Murder, and Love Laced Within a Bouquet of Lies by Roberta L Smith, remember where you saw it first.