The Seaboard Review of Books: May 26th, 2025
Volume 2, Issue 21
Hello and Happy Monday!
Can you believe it’s already the last Monday of May? This month just flew by! Up here in Northeastern New Brunswick, it feels like the seasons are running a little late—we’ve only just wrapped up what felt like our “April showers.” The rain did wonders for the greenery, though, and the moment the sun came out, you could hear lawnmowers everywhere as folks rushed to tame their rapidly growing grass.
We’ve got some great reads in this issue, including Accidental Villain, the latest historical fiction from Linden MacIntyre, and the award-winning Your Presence is Mandatory, reviewed by Olga Stein. We’re excited to welcome Olga as one of the newest contributors to TSR—glad to have you on board!
She’s joined by a number of other recent additions to our writing team, like Melanie Jackson, Robin McGrath, Elana Wolff, Dawn Macdonald, and more with upcoming reviews in the works. More voices mean more reviews and fresh perspectives, which we hope adds even more value to your reading experience.
We are also rolling out a new feature: Audio Poems! The inaugural reading is by our own John Oughton, who is reading one of his poems. If you would like to contribute a reading from your own or another’s work, please reach out!
Review of the Week
An Accidental Villain by Linden MacIntyre
How does a man go from a distinguished career as a general in the First World War who was mentioned in dispatches for gallantry multiple times, to the chief of a notoriously brutal police death squad in Ireland? From there, to languishing in obscurity in a remote British colony? That is the question Linden MacIntyre asks in his new biography of Major-Ge…
Other Reviews
Fiction
Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk
Had a novel like Your Presence is Mandatory surfaced in the Former Soviet Union 20+ years ago, its author would’ve been harassed and intimidated by the ‘morality’ wing of Vladimir Putin’s regime. Any author wishing to address frankly and factually soldiers’ and veterans’ dire circumstances during and after the Great Patriotic War while Stalin was alive,…
Amaranthine Chevrolet by Dennis E Bolen
In Amaranthine Chevrolet, Dennis E Bolen takes the readers along for the ride while 15-year-old Robin drives from Saskatchewan across the country in a 1942 Chevy, destination: Vancouver, and home. This half-baked kid plans to traverse hundreds of kilometres and provinces using back roads and tracks, avoiding arrest over the sketchy provenance of his sw…
Non-Fiction
Indigenous Rights in One Minute by Bruce McIvor
In Indigenous Rights in One Minute: What You Need to Know to Talk Reconciliation, Bruce McIvor offers basic but broad-ranging information about Indigenous rights and relevant legislation in Canada. McIvor, a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, is well positioned to write a book of this nature.
Alphabet Soup: A Memoir in Letters by A. Gregory Frankson
When I first glanced through Alphabet Soup: A Memoir in Letters, I found myself flipping pages, trying to decode the logic behind the sequence of the sections. Why did the book begin with I? Why did R appear halfway through, and not after Q? It was only after reading the first couple of pages that I realized the order itself was a gesture—non-linear, de…
Poetry
Audio Poems: "Historical Photos: Palace of purification"
A new feature here at TSR is “Audio Poems”, poems read by the poet (or another contributor). Here's an audio version of John’s poem “Historical Photos: Palace of purification”. It's from his newest book, The Universe and All That (Ekstasis Editions). The photo is of part of the RC Harris Water Filtration Plant, taken by John.
Michael Greenstein Reviews:
As Good A Place As Any by Rebecca Pãpucaru
Rebecca Pãpucaru’s debut novel, As Good a Place as Any, follows her teenage protagonist Paulina, who comes of age after she leaves Chile in 1973 for Toronto. The novel is divided into three “Acts” and an “Interlude,” which highlight the drama of this play within a novel. Despite its political problems, Chile always remains home for Paulina and her broth…
Hot Takes: Brief Notes on Books Present & Past
(Note: clicking on the underlined link takes you to the book’s publisher page or Amazon.ca for more information or for purchasing purposes)
This Marlowe by Michelle Butler Hallett (Goose Lane, 2016)
This Marlowe by Michelle Butler Hallett is a spellbinding account of the last months of the life of English playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was brutally murdered under mysterious circumstances at the age of twenty-nine on May 30, 1593. The historical record suggests (without much in the way of proof) that Marlowe was an agent working for the English government who took on assignments on the European mainland, where tensions had arisen between Protestant and Catholic factions. The novel accepts Marlowe’s role in international espionage as fact and fleshes out the scant official record with sufficient incident and dialogue to make for high drama.
In Butler Hallett's telling, Christopher Marlowe is a cocky rebel. Openly homosexual and ungodly in an age when being just one or the other would be enough to place him at odds with prevailing morals and civil and religious authorities, he does not bother to conceal his defiance. He often provokes those in a position to do him harm. The slow burning story is suspenseful and richly atmospheric, but it asks a lot of the reader. It deploys a sizeable cast of characters whose motivations are sometimes hazy, and it speaks in a voice that will sound alien to our modern ears. But This Marlowe is a marvellous and masterful novel. Taking up the challenge it presents is more than worth the effort. (Contributed by Ian Colford)
Who Killed Ty Conn?
I recently read The Wake by Linden MacIntyre, and found it so compelling that when I came across a copy of Who Killed Ty Conn, written by MacIntyre and Theresa Burke, I immediately bought it. I wasn't disappointed. MacIntyre's style and Burke's research blended beautifully, but I had a personal reason for my interest in their subject. Ty Conn was born to a fifteen-year-old girl who gave him up for adoption to a psychiatrist and his wife, who already had two children. The adoption failed, and as a boy of eleven he got caught in an endless round of foster homes, failed adoptive placement, juvenile detention, and finally a maximum security prison with a sentence of 47 years. He also had a prison break, and his death.
My siblings and I had 36 children between us, seven of whom were adopted. All of these seven children were badly impacted by being given or taken away from their birth parents. Most of the adoptees managed to overcome their problems, but two of them didn't. Both died young. What becomes clear in Ty Conn's history is that despite being good-looking, sociable, intelligent, and non-violent, the circumstances of his life were such that he didn't stand a chance of a normal life from day one. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has had interaction with the legal system or adoption. It is one of the most depressing books I've ever read, but it is beautifully written and it gave me insights into situations I had only vaguely understood before. (Robin McGrath)
Book News
If you would like to have your book event (or any other bookish news) shared in our Monday emails, please contact us at theseaboardreview@gmail.com! (Click on the image gallery to enlarge)
For folks out Toronto way, once a month The Caledonian Pub at 856 College St is home to Drunk Fiction, an irreverent night of readings, where readers, listeners, authors and those who love them can gather, drink and nosh! May 27 is Dennis E Bolen touring his new book amaranthine chevrolet, along with Marianne Miller, Aviva Rubin and Sydney Hegele. Check in at https://emilyweedon.com/drunk-fiction for more info!
Congratulations to Dawn Macdonald!
Dawn (whose review of a collection of early A.F. Moritz’ poems appears next issue), has won the 2025 Canadian First Book Prize for her own poetry collection, Northerny.
Dawn MacDonald grew up in a cabin in Whitehorse with no electricity. Her childhood living in the North and “off the grid” takes centre stage in her latest poetry collection, Northerny.
Heather is Afloat & Writing!
Yes, Heather McBriarty, a TSR co-admin and author, is back onboard “Kismet 2.0” and is busy writing her next non-fiction book regarding the First World War. For more information about Heather and her recent trip to Europe to visit WWI memorial sites, see her blog, heathermcbriartyauthor.ca
TSR Subscriber Count
We now have 396 402 subscribers! That number includes our paying subscribers (thank you!) as well as our free ones. Being a paid subscriber (for as little as $5/month) allows us to give out honorariums to our team of contributors, which keeps them dedicated to writing reviews of books we think are worthy of your time. Click the button to see all the Substack options.
Other support options:
Ko-fi: you can choose from one-time donations to a $5/month membership.
Patreon: memberships from $3/month on up.
PayPal.me/theseaboardreview For one-time payments.
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
TSR’s Social Media Links
