There's been this ongoing trend with ebooks that I had been hoping would die away, but, alas, it looks like it's going as strong as ever. I'm talking about ebook boxed sets.

You've seen these, no doubt. They try to create a three-dimensional boxed set look. Do they succeed, or do they just look ridiculous?

Well, personally, I think they look stupid.

Here are a few, just to give you an idea. Please note that I'm not disparaging these authors and their books, but simply using their boxed sets as an example of, well, how stupid this trend looks.

And they get even sillier the more books you add:

This trend has become so popular that even major publishers have gotten in on the action:

Not all, thank God. Here's a major publisher that, despite selling its soul for all the money in the world, at least has the sense to make a reasonable ebook cover.

See, that makes sense to me. It doesn't look at all ridiculous. I actually like the idea of bundling several ebooks together. I mean, why not? I did it with my ebook Two Shot, which combines The Serial Killer's Wife and No Shelter. If you can put three novels together and mark a few bucks off the retail price of all three combined, it's a win for everyone involved. But that disgusting boxed set look? No thanks.

Here are several other ebook covers -- more straight up covers -- that bundle several ebooks together that make a lot more sense to me.