The legendary absurdist writer Crad Kilodney passed away on April 14th.

I knew Crad back in the early days when he was hawking his outrageously titled books on the mean streets of Toronto.  You can imagine the reception he received with books like the one shown above. People were either completely indifferent or fist-shakingly hostile. But that never stopped him. With crazy courage he stood his ground for 17 years.  He produced 32 books of brilliant humor & satire.

I had the pleasure of collaborating with him on a few pieces (circa 1979) for Only Paper Today, an avant-garde Toronto newspaper.

He was often under the influence of Alphonse Allais, for he would interrupt his texts with hilarious asides and non sequiturs. One of my favorites appeared in the middle of a paragraph, sans parentheses: “Speed-readers go to hell.”

In 2012, I reprinted Crad’s story “Ed McBain Stole My Joke” in the first issue of BLACK SCAT REVIEW.

Sad that he left us, but he has left me laughing — that’s  the highest compliment I know.

Here’s a link to his obit  and below a short documentary about him made in 1992 at York University .

Crad Kilodney from Tristen Bakker on Vimeo.