The Seaboard Review of Books September 17, 2025
Volume 2, Issue 37 of The Seaboard Review of Books, September 17, 2025
In this issue:
Letters from the Afterlife: The Post-Holocaust Correspondence of Chava Rosenfarb and Zenia Larsson by Goldie Morgantaler
The Arrows of Fealty by Jill MacLean
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura
Blinders: A Crime Thriller by Ida Linehan Young
The Arrows of Fealty by Jill MacLean
“A campaign in France that began too late in the season, a rebellion in London that paralyzed king and Commons, and a young serf named Haukyn caught up in both: therein lie the seeds of The Arrows of Fealty. Haukyn is a serf who owes fealty to the lord of the manor and whose life is tied to the soil, yet he craves adventure beyond the boundary stones of…
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura
You can only participate in a bridge between the living world and the afterlife once. Who do you choose?
Blinders: A Crime Thriller by Ida Linehan Young
Ida Linehan Young is one of my favourite Newfoundland authors, and until recently had penned historical fiction novels set in Newfoundland. She recently published her first foray into speculative fiction with The Room Upstairs (Flanker, 2023) and now she has taken some furtive steps in the crime thriller genre with
Michael Greenstein Reviews
Letters from the Afterlife: The Post-Holocaust Correspondence of Chava Rosenfarb and Zenia Larsson by Goldie Morgantaler
There is an afterglow to Letters from the Afterlife thanks to Goldie Morgantaler’s careful editing of her mother’s correspondence and equally luminous translations by Krzysztof Majer and Sylvia Söderlind from Polish and Swedish. Indeed, this book is dedicated to all literary translators everywhere who “throw open the doors to a wider world so that the r…
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. Support your local bookseller or independent publisher if you can.)
Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed is described as Lovecraft Country meets All the Birds in the Sky. This novel combines cosmic horror with the story of two childhood friends who may (or may not) love one another as they travel the world to stop Them from breaking through. Sounds improbable, you say? It does, until you realize that one of the two teen protagonists is a wunderkind who has single-handedly cured disease, helped stop plastic pollution and runaway climate change, and practically put an end to poverty. Johnny (Joanna) is all that and a bag of chips, but she’s got secrets. When her latest invention, a functioning fusion reactor that promises to provide the world’s energy needs, “calls” to Them, Johnny destroys her invention and all its blueprints, sends her friend Nick’s family into hiding, and sets off on a journey with Nick to close the gate between this world and Theirs.
As Johnny’s secrets come to light, Nick questions everything and must confront the person he thought was his best friend. Even victory is a tragedy in this one, folks. (Contributed by Melanie Marttila)
News:
More Drunk Fiction info at Emily Weedon’s website: https://emilyweedon.com/drunk-fiction (We continue to sponsor the Drunk Fiction event at the Caledonian Pub in Toronto)
On Sept. 18, at 7;30pm Atlantic time, John Oughton is giving a free Zoom reading of recent poetry, written since his latest book The Universe and All That came out. Those interested should message John for the link. (joughton1[at]gmail.com)
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Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief