The sense that I’m getting is the gargoyle cover is the most popular of the original three both from the comments I’ve seen on this blog and from running them by people I know, who don’t read the blog. So I did some tweaks over the weekend on the gargoyle covers and this is what I’ve come up with so far.
I fiddled around with some filters and made the gargoyle and rusty reptiles a little more vibrant, which I like better than the original. The cover on the far right is the same one from the original post but with said filters applied. Dave of Faith & Steel, when he was commenting on the original covers, wrote that he was “ambivalent” on the framing of the original picture. I thought about what he said and decided it would be fun to get rid of the framing and see how it looked.
I’m not sure which one I currently like the best, but the one on the left, where I took out the stone background, does seem like I could put a small block of text in the middle right area. Perhaps a list of some of the authors or something like that. I don’t know if I will do that, assuming I go with that design, but it is something to think about.
If anyone has any further ideas or observations about the covers, I welcome your comments.*
I kind of have gargoyles on the brain now. I’ve been trying to think of some good short stories that I’ve read featuring gargoyles and I have to admit that nothing comes to mind. I even went back through my reading diary, where I’ve been keeping track of my reading since 2010 — nothing there either.
I did find a couple of things on Amazon. The first is a short story called “The Beast Within” by D.F. Holland, that I was able to download for free. I’ll probably read that tonight. The second is a collection by Clark Ashton Smith called The Maker of Gargoyles and Other Stories. Some of the reviewers say it isn’t his best work, but I am considering picking up the e-book anyway since I’m a fan of Smith. Especially his poetry.
My next steps with the anthology are to continue work on the new website and to put together some writer’s guidelines. Speaking of guidelines, I’ll have to remember to mention that I’d love to read some gargoyle stories. Hope everyone is doing well.
* Thank you to everyone who responded thus far. I value and appreciate your opinions.
** Photo of “Gargoyles Magdalen College Oxford England” by Chris Creagh. I made no changes. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribuion-Share Alike 3.0.
Ann's Immaterium 
Down to tough decision time- three good designs to select from! Looking forward to a few gargoyle stories
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed! I’m leaning toward the black background. I’m hoping to get some good gargoyle stories to look at, that’s for sure. I figure with one on the cover I have to (and want to) include at least one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the one with the darker background too. Now I want to write a gargoyle story 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m coming around to liking the dark background one too. I’ve been tinkering with it a little more this morning, but I think I’m going to set it aside for a couple of weeks and come back and look at it with fresh eyes in early June.
There certainly seem to be a general shortage of good gargoyle short stories out there or maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Who knows, maybe this little anthology will help toward ameliorating that shortage. I’m working on the writer’s guidelines today and I think I’m going to put gargoyles in my list of “would like to see.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Very cool! It always takes me a couple versions of tinkering and switching back and forth before I’m happy with any of my covers. I haven’t found much gargoyle fiction either. This definitely needs to be rectified 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Out of the three covers I like the one on the left, the darker background adds a greater contrast and makes the gargoyle stand out more
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, Dave, I appreciate your opinion. One thing that I do like about the darker background is I might be able to put a bit more text, perhaps some of the author names in that spot near the middle on the left. I haven’t tried it yet to see how it looks but I think that doing that wouldn’t work so well on the stone background.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really like the one in the middle! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
So far I haven’t been able to decide between the two, though with the middle one I do like how the rest came out on the stone.
LikeLiked by 1 person