The Seaboard Review of Books
Issue Date: Monday, July 13, 2026
July is Ice Cream Month!
In this issue:
One Day, Hard and Clear by Anne Baldo (Fiction)
Excerpt: The View From Stansberry Lookout by James Gaitis (Fiction)
Salman Rushdie’s The Eleventh Hour (Fiction)
The Burrowing Owls of the Prairie Grasslands, by Deborah Hodge, illustrated by Karen Reczuch (Non-Fiction, Children)
Shallow River of Tears: Canada’s Stalled Paths to Reconciliation by Andrew R. Basso and Andrea M.L. Perrella (Non-Fiction)
Colour Fielding by Penn Kemp (Poetry)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
One Day, Hard and Clear by Anne Baldo
One Day, Hard and Clear is the emotionally resonant debut novel from Anne Baldo, author of the dazzling short fiction collection Morse Code for Romantics (Porcupine’s Quill, 2023). A mature work that demonstrates significant growth in Baldo’s art, in some respects the novel seems to echo—could even be said to continue—the story collection, as if the aut…
Non-Fiction
The Burrowing Owls of the Prairie Grasslands by Deborah Hodge, illustrated by Karen Reczuch
Head tipped sideways, the white-flecked brown owl looks straight at you. “What’s up?” his bright, curious golden eyes seem to inquire.
Shallow River of Tears: Canada’s Stalled Paths to Reconciliation by Andrew R. Basso and Andrea M.L. Perrella
It’s been over a decade since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its ninety-four calls to action, and so far we’ve done thirteen. At this rate it’ll take a lifetime, so what’s up with that? Why has reconciliation stalled?
Poetry
Colour Fielding by Penn Kemp
In the wake of being honoured in 2025 with the League of Canadian Poets’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the ever-prolific Penn Kemp (still at the peak of her powers) completed Colour Fielding (Silver Bow Publishing) a poetic exercise in memoir and in responding to, and writing about, visual art and artists, and their intersection with the written word.
Michael Greenstein Reviews
June’s Saturday Short
Verona, Summer by M. G. Turner
In recent days a fancy has crept upon my vision which I at first tried to cast onto a canvas of immense size, but after much struggle, I saw was a simpler, and indeed shorter, story. That story concerns a private fantasy in which the work of the two greatest poets is co-mingled: that is to say, the talents of Dante…
Always so informative. It's nice to see Penn Kemp's work here. A prompt to try once more to order a copy through my local bookstore. (My first try was a little early.)