All Black Cats Are Not Alike

By Amy Goldwasser and Peter Arkle

“Filled with true-life tales and stunning hand-drawn portraits . . . a loving tribute to feline eccentricity and charm.” —Real Simple

This “brilliant” illustrated book (New York Magazine) dives whiskers first into the unique personality, charisma, and character of fifty real all-black cats.

From Alfie, who has no tolerance for wet humans or being ignored, to Sashi, who enjoys freeze-dried chicken by candlelight and full-on body rubs, each cat comes to life through a lovingly hand-drawn portrait and quick-witted profile. Delightfully quirky and utterly charming, this motley crew of black cats will win over anyone with a dry sense of humor.

“So fun and sweet.” —Paul Feig, film director and author of Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence

“This book . . . is the pick of the litter.” —US Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781452158846

Book preview

Chronicle Edition text and illustrations

© 2016 by Amy Goldwasser and Peter Arkle

Studio Goldsparkle Edition text and illustrations

© 2015 by Amy Goldwasser and Peter Arkle

Design by Martin Perrin, Perrin Studio

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-5871-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4521-5884-6 (epub, mobi)

Chronicle Books LLC

680 Second Street

San Francisco, California 94107

AllBlackCats.com

Contents

7 Foreword

7 A Q&A with Mimi Goldsparkle

11 Introduction

11 A Human Perspective by Studio Goldsparkle

Plates

18 Master

20 Lucky

22 Bad Cat

24 Princess (of Long Island)

26 Blackness/BatWing

28 Darkness

30 Church

32 Nox

34 Fergus

36 Penelope Kitten

38 Sashi

40 Coco

42 Vincent

44 Hugh

46 Sonny

48 Salem (the Younger)

50 Salem (the Elder)

52 Koa

54 Ronaldo

56 Toet

58 Kim

60 The Count

62 Hampton

64 Puzzles

66 Mimi

68 Wookie

70 Requiem

72 Lucy/Lucifer War Machine

74 Cleo

76 Alfie

78 Cassie

80 AC/DC

82 Ringo

84 Spencer

86 Tzipi

88 Yoshi

90 Pumaa

92 Monty

94 Reginald

96 Harold

98 Abby

100 Tug

102 Fester

104 Fig

106 Tino

108 Raymond

110 Roxy

112 Panther/Panth

114 Rashid/Dr. Startlepants

116 Vano

119 Acknowledgments – People

120 Acknowledgments – Cats

121 About the Author

Foreword

A Q&A with Mimi Goldsparkle

The (round) face of this book, Mimi Goldsparkle was born somewhere near Hudson, New York, circa 2005. Goldsparkle rose to fame after landing the lead in a short film (The Pop Star) for the Modkat Litter Box. She currently lives in downtown Manhattan, where she has two people, Amy Goldwasser and Peter Arkle (aka Studio Goldsparkle), and avoids an angry, stripy velociraptor of a cat, May Mayday Goldsparkle.

In a rare sit-down, the performer turned author and advocate for the All Black Cat (note: singular) talks about her journey and her first literary endeavor.

When were you happiest?

When that other cat (and the other cat before that cat) didn’t live here and it was just me.

What is your greatest fear?

Not being able to provide for myself.

What is your earliest memory?

Nipples.

What is the trait