The Seaboard Review of Books
Issue Date: Monday, August 3, 2026
In this issue:
The Bright Afters by Sadie McCarney (Fiction/Poetry)
Last Time Around: Essays, Reviews, Interviews by Steven Moore (Non-Fiction)
A Storied Life: To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie (Non-Fiction)
Black Beans and Diamonds: Brazil in the Work of Elizabeth Bishop by Regina Przybycien (Non-Fiction, Poetry)
Fake Gnus by Leslie Helakoski (Children’s)
The Alice Zorn Interview
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
The Bright Afters by Sadie McCarney
In the fictional town of West Nowhere, Nova Scotia, a gay teenager is stabbed in a high school washroom. The event forms a focal point by which queer belonging, trauma, anger, and small-town culture are revealed. Although The Bright Afters has a narrative effect, it is not narrative poetry. Instead, through a collection of images and impressions, an org…
Non-Fiction
Last Time Around: Essays, Reviews, Interviews by Steven Moore
The acclaimed U.S. literary critic and editor Steven Moore helped shepherd into print works by Carole Maso, Rikki Ducornet, and David Foster Wallace, among others, and trumpeted the importance of Marguerite Young, William Gaddis, Cynthia Buchanan, and W.M. Spackman. In
A Storied Life: To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie
When I picked up Jon Tattrie’s To Leave a Warrior Behind: The Life and Stories of Charles R. Saunders, the Man Who Rewrote Fantasy, I wondered why a white Canadian journalist and author was writing a biography of an African American fantasy author. Tattrie was concerned about the optics of this himself and decided to hang a lampshade on it.
Michael Greenstein Reviews
Children’s Books
Fake Gnus by Leslie Helakoski
For kids, a good breakfast is like a good book: so enjoyable the young eaters/readers don’t realize the healthy benefits they’re getting. With breakfast, this might involve whole wheat or multigrain bread. Since wily Mom slathered the bread with dee-lish blueberry jam, junior doesn’t notice the bread’s nutritional denseness.
Interview
The Alice Zorn Interview
Sharon Berg: Alice, I was impressed by the range of storylines in Mind the Gap. You explore a variety of characters in their particular situations: Claudia who is lovingly adopted in Canada but remains curious about her Mexican birth mother; city boy Ian who tries to rediscover his purpose with acquaintance Zeb in rural Gaspé after his wife leaves him; …
