The Seaboard Review of Books
Volume 3, Issue 2 of The Seaboard Review of Books, January 12, 2026
In this issue:
Billy Crawford’s Double Play by Brad Smith (Fiction)
Black Creek by Susan Grundy (Fiction)
Mrs. Walford by Brenda Tyedmers (Fiction)
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community by Maggie Helwig (Non-Fiction)
Ordinary Moving: A Memoir in Verse by Penn Kemp (Poetry, Memoir)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
Billy Crawford’s Double Play by Brad Smith
Think Robert Redford in The Natural. As Roy Hobbs, Redford is older than the other players on his baseball team but, of course, heart-meltingly the handsomest. And, with a spiritual element going for him, also the best hitter. Roy just has to swat the ball and off it soars, over the field and stands to smash the lights of the Wrigley Field scoreboard. G…
Black Creek by Susan Grundy
The impact of generational trauma, even on those who are far removed from the people and place in question, is the focus of Susan Grundy’s Black Creek. The book focuses on Kate Stong Smythe, an architect based in Montreal, who after her mother dies, is plagued with visions of Stong family women, a real-life family who once called the Black Creek area of…
Mrs Walford by Brenda Tyedmers
A knotted shoelace can be an annoyance. As in, “now, how did that happen”? Nevertheless, the knot needs to be teased out so you can carry on. It takes persistence, but the reward is the solving of the puzzling knot. The same can be said for the story contained between the covers of
Non-Fiction
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community by Maggie Helwig
Across Canada, people are facing unprecedented challenges that arise from poverty and addiction. A steadily growing number of cities are crying out for an end to homeless encampments, declaring states of emergency, an end to the occupation of city property, and for a dispersal of vulnerable peoples. The marginalized and disenfranchised inhabit city prop…
Poetry
Ordinary Moving: A Memoir in Verse by Penn Kemp
Coming to Ordinary Moving as a reviewer seems at first a daunting task. So rich, so densely packed, exuberant to the point of words tripping on one another, how can a mere review begin to do justice to this work? On the other hand, how could one resist? The title of the book already says something about its appeal and its accessibility. A poem does…
New, Old and Notable: Volume 2, Issue 1
New, Old & Notable is a recurring column by Gordon Phinn in which he concisely reviews several books from the past and present. Links will take you to the publisher’s page for more information.
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
A tale of subterfuge and intrigue set in the hills and farmland inspired by the Vézère valley in France. Kushner lampoons all classes, all creeds with her apolitical, and possibly amoral main character. A true cipher, Sadie Smith is a spy for our time, a realpolitic speck of force moving between the wheels of agricultural corporations, the government, small farmers, ecoactivists, and revolutionaries. Kushner absolutely nails the idealism and ineffectiveness of movements like the hippies, showing how excellent intentions almost inevitably run off course due to power struggles and inertia. In other words, human nature.
This is a story that reads as easily as pulp fiction, but that carries the heft of big ideas and has a sweep of time. Kushner maps human activity against a much bigger span than the now we live in, contrasting humans with the vanished Neanderthals. The politics of those Sadie hunts seem farcical, especially when contrasted with the lyrical thoughts of the mysterious Bruno, who inspired radicals and then shambled off to live alone with stars and voices and thoughts. Kushner’s work is fast, rife with hilarious apt observations and devastatingly satirical. Notable for an especially fierce takedown of French author Michel Houellebecq. Food for the brain and the soul, not to be missed. (Contributed by Emily Weedon)
Contributor News
Lisa Timpf recently had a couple of pieces published in Little Old Lady Comedy, “Must-See Additions to the Bowl Game Season,” (https://www.littleoldladycomedy.com/all-works/kgnsbhovby6o5zc5sd2cpypnt37zdh) and “Welcome to Spin Class,” (https://www.littleoldladycomedy.com/all-works/r8bgjt0kf9w8j45xng1d7whwkv0dhy)
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