Short Fiction from Alistair MacLeod and Pratap Reddy, Book Banning, True Crime & More!
Volume 2, Issue 29 of The Seaboard Review of Books, August 4, 2025
In this issue:
Michael Greenstein reviews Island: The Collected Stories, 1968-2014 by Alistair MacLeod
Anatomy of a Cover-up, reviewed by John Oughton
Pamela Sinclair reviews Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick
The Race to the Starting Line (Excerpt)
On Book Banning by Ira Wells, reviewed by Lisa Timpf
James reviews Remaindered People & Other Stories by Pratap Reddy
Enraptured Space is reviewed by Dawn Macdonald
Review of the Week
Remaindered People & Other Stories by Pratap Reddy
In the “About the Author” page at the back of Pratap Reddy’s latest collection of short fiction, it states: “He is currently working on a book of verse and a novel tentatively titled Praful’s Errands, both of which — he’s happy to add — stay clear of the topic of immigration.”
Fiction
Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick
Chadwick’s debut novel, Dark Like Under, will be a nostalgic read for Gen Xers. Set in a small, socially stratified English town in the 1980s, a group of upper-grade secondary school students learn of the sudden death of one of their teachers – Mr. Ardennes. In keeping with the times, a normal school day follows the announcement, and the students head t…
Non-Fiction
On Book Banning by Ira Wells
In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the number of requests to remove certain books from library shelves because of their content, particularly south of the border. This heightens the timeliness of Ira Wells’ On Book Banning, Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy
Anatomy of a Cover-up: The Truth about the RCMP and the Nova Scotia Massacres by Paul Palango
“The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” – attributed to Finlay Peter Dunne. Paul Palango’s new book, Anatomy of a Cover-up, a follow-up to his best-selling 22 Murders, reminds us how important – and rare – good investigative journalism is, the kind that uncovers facts and stories that governments, corporations,…
Poetry
Enraptured Space: Gender, Class and Ecology in the Work of Paula Meehan by Kathryn J. Kirkpatrick
In Enraptured Space, poet and literary scholar Kathryn J. Kirkpatrick offers a fascinating and at times frustrating analysis of the work of Irish poet Paula Meehan. Kirkpatrick is doing something quite cool here; she eschews the usual format of the dry, pseudo-objective, passive voice academic text and instead chooses to engage directly with Meehan thro…
Michael Greenstein Reviews:
Island: The Collected Stories, 1968-2014 by Alistair MacLeod
Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant have long overshadowed Alistair MacLeod, yet the resonance and aura of his short stories affirm him as a master of the genre. In Island: The Collected Stories 1968-2014 he demonstrates that mastery over several decades. Pared-down titles such as “Island,” “The Boat,” and “Vision” pinpoint the specifics of his short stories …
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)
The Marigold by Andrew F Sullivan
A literary horror that peers into the heart of darkness with a weighty voice, The Marigold delves into a future Toronto where a mysterious mould wreaks havoc as surely as the rot of greedy building developers have spread across the city like a plague. Sullivan’s observations detailing the march of city and empire building are spot on, skewering mealy-mouthed development types, ultrarich developers, absolutely nailing the lack of humanity involved with slapping up tiny condo boxes to inter humanity.
With a sprawling cast of characters, voices and locations, The Marigold serves up JG Ballard’s Highrise vibes and a creepy, intelligent urban overdevelopment version of Stranger Things in a wildly original and dank novel. For those that can hardly bear living in Toronto, and perhaps all those who don’t and have no wish to, maybe Sullivan has hit on something that can unify most Canadians? For those who like some think with their horror, The Marigold hits a sweet spot of ick, creep, dread, shrieking Cassandra-like about where we are headed. (Emily Weedon)
The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj
In tiny, dilapidated Mayaro, Trinidad, Samuel has spent much of his sixteen years speculating about the splendid life his father is leading in Canada. But when his mother dies and his father sends for him, Samuel learns that the splendours he imagined are just that: imaginary. Faced with a surly parent who has no interest in his present or his future, who seems to do nothing all day and who subsists on a disability pension in subsidized housing, Samuel realizes that he must adapt to this perplexing new environment and make his way unaided. Toronto becomes his big adventure: a training ground for the life that lies ahead. Maharaj's perceptive observations of this “other” Canada, seen from an outsider's perspective, are entertaining, often hilarious, and always compelling. The Amazing Absorbing Boy is destined to become a classic of immigrant literature. (Ian Colford)
Cross-post from Dawn Macdonald’s Reviews of Books I Got for Free or Cheap
Book News
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Emily Weedon’s Drunk Fiction
The Seaboard Review of Books is sponsoring “Drunk Fiction”! One of the books for sale at the event will be free for a lucky attendee. Mark your calendars for August 26yh! The Caledonian is at 856 College Street in Toronto. Drink responsibly, read voraciously!
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Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Alistair MacLeod was recommended to me years ago and I love his work! Thank you for reminding me to read him again!