Black Cat Scribbles Vol 1
MG Spear (author)
August 4, 2019
Reviewed by Elaine Pascale
Black Cat Scribbles Vol 1 was not what I had expected when I was made aware of the photo/story theme. I expected an anthology with several authors, as opposed to a single-author collection. While the collection is ambitious, it might have been more captivating as a group effort.
The stories in Black Cat Scribbles take a minimalist approach. They skate on the surface of emotion and expression due to their brevity and the author’s style. I really enjoyed “Toilet Paper,” which had some nice irony; “Dark of Night,” as it was very tense; “Revenge,” as the minimalism works really well here; and “The Battle of Glosser,” which contained a disturbing ritual that made me think of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” The other stories could have benefitted from less minimalism so that the point is not lost on the reader, and/or, as previously said, it would have been refreshing as a multi-author collection.
Black Cat Scribbles Vol 1 is a quick read, and the images are interesting. It is the sort of thoughtful book that is meant for reading during a commute or in short spurts so that a reader can mull over each offering before moving on.
