Crad Kilodney, 1948-2014

"Not only Joyce, but it reminded me of Acker's work," Trav is saying. "Has anyone read by the way, Crad Kilodney's Lightning Struck My Dick? It's amazing, amazing."

"What does that mean?" I ask her.

"Figure it out," she whispers.

                                  -- Bret Easton Ellis, "The Rules of Attraction" 

We are heartbroken to learn this morning that our old friend Crad Kilodney has passed away. We've written about our admiration for Crad and our friendship in other places, and at the moment we're too upset to say much more.

We'll just say that for over 35 years we always spoke of him and to him under a different name, his real name, which he wished kept secret, and we mourn that person as well as the truly one-of-a-kind writer and provocateur Crad Kilodney.

Yesterday The Crad Kilodney Literary Foundation came online to preserve and promote his literature.

Other links: Crad Kilodney - Wikipedia * Crad Kilodney - Facebook * Cult Literary Figure Crad Kilodney Dies - The National/Canadian Broadcasting Company * Crad Kilodney Papers - Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library, University of Toronto * Crad Kilodney - New Writings * Such a Nice Guy: The Legendary Crad Kilodney - Bookslut * Some Thoughts on Crad Kilodney * Author Crad Kilodney Was a Cranky and Courageous Fixture on Toronto Streets - Toronto Star * Whatever Happened to Crad Kilodney * Crad Kilodney - Beautiful Desolation * Crad Kilodney (1948-2014) * About Crad Kilodney’s Archives * Crad Kilodney Ramble - Anatomy of Melancholy * Crad and I - Bloggamooga * Girl on the Subway by Crad Kilodney - That Shakespearean Rag * Some Things That Crad Kilodney Should Know Now That He is Dead - a remembrance - Donna Lypchuk *

Se fe el Crad * Crad Kilodney: CanLit Original * Les Voyages Hauts en Couleur de Crad Kilodney - L'Express * Crad Kilodney's Word on the Street - Eye Weekly * Yonge Street in Fiction - Toronto Public Library * A Eulogy for a Man I Did Not Know - The Anarchist * Souvenir de Crad Kilodney - Journal Documentaire * Crad Kilodney (1948-2014) R.I.P. - Black Scat Books * Crad Kilodney Was Innocent (Lyrics by Armed & Hammered, Music by Exploited) * Crad Kilodney - video by Tristan Baker * The Dusty Bookcase: L'enfer c'est les autres: Crad Kilodney, 1948-2014 * A connoisseur of the bizarre, Crad Kilodney railed against hypocrisy of the world - Globe & Mail * Crad Kilodney: 1948-2014 - BoingBoing * Mentions of Crad's work in The New York Times and The Washington Post

Many thanks to Lorette C. Luzajic

Above all, we treasured our early friendship with Crad for his human-ness. Here's an excerpt from a letter he wrote us on January 18, 1979:

Yes, I liked reading about myself in the Excalibur review, mainly because it’s still new to me – that is, reading about myself. But I think I’d feel terrible if I got panned. Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that being inoffensive is as important as being talented. I don’t want to be a target for anyone, and I’m very careful of what other people will think of me. I come off as being extremely shy and grateful for the slightest praise. I don’t bad-mouth people behind their backs, and I would never intentionally make an enemy . . . My ego is the source of all my problems. I constantly have to shift between extremes. On some days I’m terribly vain; on others, I have an inferiority complex. When I act too self-effacing, I feel stupid, and when I get carried away by my pride, I feel guilty.

"Me too, me too!" we wrote when transcribing this excerpt in 1979. We'll miss Crad Kilodney more than we ever thought we would.