The Seaboard Review of Books: Monday Edition
March 16, 2026
In this issue:
Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby (Short Fiction)
The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane by Steve Schlam (Fiction)
Alias O. Henry by Ben Yagoda (Fiction)
Seventy-Two Seasons: A Memoir About Noticing by M.A.C. Farrant (Non-Fiction)
Screaming Obscenities at the Sky by Christian McPherson (Poetry)
New-Fangled Rose by Sue Sinclair (Poetry)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby
Alison Gadsby’s debut Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive (Guernica Editions, 2026) is a linked story collection, since the same characters populate most of the stories. Then there is the speculative (some might say sci-fi) aspect to the world that these people live in. The first indication of that is in the opening story, The Deal with Roger. Mirab…
The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane by Steve Schlam
I found The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane a hard book to finish, and therefore also a challenge to review. Schlam, an American actor, writes some fine prose in his first published novel, and takes risky experiments with the novel’s conception and style. The first 34 pages are a stream-of-conscious blur, with no set-up, framing, or backstory to help the r…
Alias O. Henry by Ben Yagoda
O. Henry (the alias of William Sydney Porter) is well-known for his short stories with a twist at the end, which The Gift of the Magi so well emphasizes. Porter, a man with a colourful past– and one he was careful to keep under wraps– landed in New York City in 1902 and wrote his short stories for magazines, which were hitting their stride in popularity…
Non-Fiction
Seventy-Two Seasons: A Memoir About Noticing by M.A.C. Farrant
“Now you have the chance to see more clearly, beyond yourself and other people, to a place where some unexpected wisdom might engulf you, flush your cheeks, cause you to experience excitement and calm at the same time, which is the warmth that happiness brings when it floods your body.”
Poetry
Screaming Obscenities at the Sky by Christian McPherson
Screaming Obscenities at the Sky by Christian McPherson is its own little beastie of a book. From the outside or the inside, you know you’re meeting something different with the hand lettering reminiscent of 70s self-help or recipes. No impartial objective Times New Roman power differential between writer and reader. From the cover, and colophon, you al…
Subscribe to Canada's oldest continuously published literary magazine and help sustain us into the future! A subscription to The Fiddlehead brings you issues packed with new work from the best of emerging and established writers in Canada and the world. Previous work that has appeared in The Fiddlehead has won National Magazine Awards, has been shortlisted for the Journey Prize, and has appeared in Biblioasis' Best Canadian anthologies. Click the image above to learn more!
Kings of Their Own Ocean is a dizzying world tour of the bluefin tuna fisheries. Pinchin dives into the mega fish's history (in ancient Greece!), biology, markets, politics, the very human personalities of its most outspoken advocates, and a fish called Amelia. Through her narrative I learned that the "Moonies", who I associate with mass weddings and rightwing politics, made a fortune in big tuna and supplying Japanese restaurants with delicious sushi ingredients.
Having spent some time interviewing Cape Breton fishermen, I know that fish conservation is a heated topic. Fistfights have erupted, boats have been burnt. Pinchin's conservationists tear apart one another's writings at times, resorting to personal attacks on blogs. Their personal stories carry the narrative, which is at the same time deeply embedded with the importance and difficulty of international cooperation around a shared and finite resource. This is what I appreciate most about her story, the humanization of scientists, environmental advocates, fishermen, and consumers. It is humans that are destroying the environment, but also humans that must learn to be its stewards. (Contributed by Chris Benjamin)
The Seaboard Review of Books is proud to be a sponsor of The New Brunswick Book Awards!