The Seaboard Review of Books: Monday Edition
May 4, 2026
In this issue:
The Instrument Must Not Matter (Fiction)
The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon (Fiction)
A House Full of Strangers: Stories by Diana Stevan (Fiction, Short Fiction)
Briarwood by Natalie Hyde (Children’s Fiction)
Fugue Body by Bridget Huh (Poetry)
When the Game Changes by Evanka Osmak (Non-Fiction)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
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Fiction
The Instrument Must Not Matter by Christine Fischer Guy
The Instrument Must Not Matter is an intricate and engrossing coming-of-age story in which the musical development of the main character, Lila Rys, matters as much as her personal trajectory. A promising young pianist, Lila travels from her home in Toronto to New York City to study with the famed teacher George Vrubel. Her family supports the move finan…
The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
In The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances, Glenn Dixon imagines a near future in which the house is listening. As Harold reads To Kill a Mockingbird to his dying wife, Edie, even the household machines seem to absorb Harper Lee’s lesson about seeing the world through another person’s eyes. After Edie’s death, a robot vacuum renames herself ‘Scout’ aft…
A House Full of Strangers: Stories by Diana Stevan
Back in the mid-eighties, I was a rooming house resident on two different occasions, in two very different places, the first in a small Ontario town, the other in West-End Toronto. Each time was only for a few months, but it was a singular experience for a young man out on his own for the first time.
Non-Fiction
When the Game Changes by Evanka Osmak
Sometimes the memoirs of famous people keep us at arm’s length. Reading Patrick Stewart’s Making It So fulfilled my curiosity in Stewart’s life and, in particular, his experiences in the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation
Children’s Books
Briarwood by Natalie Hyde
It’s fun to think about magic. A snap of the fingers, a twitch of the nose—goal achieved.
Call for Submissions
Exciting news: Saturday Shorts, our new short fiction section, is really coming together! We’re excited to be publishing “Riot at Legion No. 9” by the critically acclaimed Sarah Mintz, author of NORMA and handwringers, on Saturday, May 23, 2026!
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