This thread discusses the Content article:
Black Widow
I think I'll comment on this story as well.
Don't worry; it's not bad. My biggest criticism would be with the comma usage. They're overused. A few semi-colons would help as well. There are some other grammatical nitpicks, but the commas are the biggest problem. Go through and cut down on them. Shorter sentences would be acceptable.
On the whole, though, I like this story. It's short and delightfully surreal. You do seem to have confused black widow spiders with redback spiders, but that's not really the point of it. (I'm an Aussie; I've seen redbacks. They're nasty little buggers, but they're also native to this country and you wouldn't find them in pseudo-France.) The point is the creepiness of the imagery itself.
I mean, I'm assuming that a woman didn't actually turn into a little spider for no reason. The way the story reads gives me the impression that it's a nightmare Jaella has had. You could invoke Chaos or something, but explaining the transformation, like in Kafka's
Metamorphosis, takes away the horror of it. Fortunately, I could easily see a recent widow dreaming about being a black widow spider and widowing other women. It could also be the sort of waking nightmare or hallucination that a mental patient might have. WFRP in particular has talked about sanitariums in the Warhammer world (
Drachenfels also had some fun with the concept), and this sort of creepy insanity is just right for the setting.
In conclusion, I have rated it a
4. Well earned.