The Seaboard Review of Books: Monday, June 15, 2026
June 15, 2026
In this issue:
There is No Decent Place to Stand by Jeremiah Prenn (Fiction)
The Book of Maggie by Stephanie Wyeld (Fiction)
A Change in Plans by Mike Martin (Fiction)
Louis J. Robichaud: A Man for the Moment by Donald J. Savoie (Non-Fiction)
Renoviction and Resistance in the Capitalist City by Cole Webber and Philip Zigman (Non-Fiction)
The Volcano’s High Held Snow Note: Poems by Tim Lilburn (Poetry)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
There is No Decent Place to Stand by Jeremiah Prenn
Amidst the swirling and hallucinogenic first-person narratives that make up Jeremiah Prenn’s immersive novel There is No Decent Place to Stand (Galleon Books, 2026), a world of dubiously loyal friendships bound by paranoia, treachery, and fear slowly emerges. The locale is the small European nation of Bunolle, where the currency is the bolle and has the…
The Book of Maggie by Stephanie Wyeld
As Western societies face renewed appeals to traditional values — in politics, in religion, in public policy — Stephanie Wyeld’s debut novel arrives as an almost uncomfortably pressing work of literary witness. The Book of Maggie opens and closes with a pastor being shot at a pro-choice rally inspired by the overturning of
A Change in Plans by Mike Martin
In A Change of Plans, we return to Grand Bank, Newfoundland, to a new adventure with Sgt. Winston Windflower. As a light mystery, the novel provides dramatic tension without resorting to graphic detail, although the events that unfold are quite believable. Followers of the
Non-Fiction
Louis J. Robichaud: A Man for the Moment by Donald J. Savoie
Louis J. Robichaud is everywhere in New Brunswick if you know where to look. I grew up in Moncton, and his presence was in everything, from the way our health system had evolved, to the high school nearby that bore his name. Donald J. Savoie, a long-noted scholar in Canadian politics and friend of Robichaud, has referred to Acadians of his generation as…
Renoviction and Resistance in the Capitalist City by Cole Webber and Philip Zigman
Some years ago, one of our local political candidates posted an article about renovictions to their social media, declaring themselves shocked—shocked!—to learn of this practice. Personally, I was a bit shocked that any political hopeful would not have heard of renovictions, though to be fair, the term wasn’t really applicable in our jurisdiction at the…
Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller
In Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation, Sheila Weller sketches out the lives and careers of three impactful female singers. The book includes historical information as well as comments from individuals who were close to the singers. In addition to depicting the career trajectories of King, Mitchell, and Simon, Weller examines their accomplishments and struggles in the context of societal and cultural changes.
When I was a teenager, a close friend got me started playing the guitar, and it was some of these singers whose tunes I first learned. Girls Like Us reveals the background behind some songs, including Simon’s “You’re So Vain”. Weller also discusses other high-profile figures like James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, and Graham Nash who were connected at different times to the profiled singers. The famous Woodstock concert is also briefly discussed.
The book is formatted in time periods, depicting the ups and downs of each singer’s life and career in turn. I admit to sometimes getting a bit lost as to who we were talking about as the narrative flipped to the next person, but was a logical way to format the book, and the small amount of disorientation wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
At one point while I was reading Girls Like Us, I found myself singing (admittedly off-key) some songs mentioned while driving the back roads of Norfolk County. The book brought back memories as well as a deeper appreciation of the artists’ works. Girls Like Us is a revealing and informative blast from the past that pays tribute to three influential women. (Lisa Timpf)
Contributor News
Seaboard Review contributor Lisa Timpf, along with fellow SF Canada members Paula Johanson and Colleen Anderson, will be co-editing an anthology of speculative fiction and poetry related to sports. With the working title Slapshots in Space and Magical Marathons, the anthology, to be published by Tyche Books, will accept submissions from July 1 to August 31 2026. For those who want to get a start on their submissions, guidelines are now available on Tyche Books’ site, https://tychebooks.com/submissions/.
