Richard Kemick spends a summer in Alberta’s Bible Belt where it may be easier to find God than a vegetarian meal. There, he confronts age-old questions about belief with near-miraculous freshness, honesty and humor. A deeply personal investigation of the blurred border between faith and imagination.” – Marcello Di Cinto

On a whim, armchair-atheist Richard Kelly Kemick joins the 100-plus cast of The Canadian Badlands Passion Play, North America’s largest production of its kind and one of the main tourist attractions in Alberta. By the time closing night is over, Kemick has a story to tell. From the controversial choice of casting to the bizarre life in rehearsal, this glorious behind-the-scenes look at one of Canada’s strangest theatrical spectacles also confronts the role of religion in contemporary life and the void left by its absence for non-believers.

In the tradition of tragic luminaries such as David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Goldstein, and David Sedaris, I Am Herod gives its congregation of readers unparalleled access to the players of the Passion: there’s Judas, who wears a leather jacket even when it’s 30˚C; the Chief Sadducee, who is ostracized for his fanaticism; Pilate, the only actor who swears; the Holy Spirit, who is breaking ground as the role’s first female actor; and the understudy Christ, the previous year’s real-deal Christ who was demoted to backup and now performs illicit one-man shows backstage.

GET THE BOOK

Shelf Life Books | Calgary Public Library | Audible

Taddle Creek is smart and funny and insightful and sensitive. It’s a lot of other things as well.”-Seth

 Taddle Creek called it a day in the fall of 2022, after 25 years and 50 issues. So many memories… But memories are ephemeral and don’t look so hot on a bookshelf. Solution: The Taddle Creek Book!

Now you can remember your favourite magazine forever, with this 370-page hardcover collection of fiction, poetry, features, and comics (not to mention a grammar rant or two), featuring 32 pages of colour comics, a cover by Hartley Lin, and original endpapers by Matthew Daley.

The Taddle Creek Book contains 70 pieces by almost as many authors, including Suzanne Alyssa Andrew, Sonja Ahlers, Gary Barwin, Cedar Bowers, Chris Chambers, Evie Christie, Michael Christie, Kevin Connolly, Lynn Crosbie, Andrew Daley, Peter Darbyshire, John Degen, Alfred Holden, Jasper Jubenvill, Richard Kelly Kemick, Dave Lapp, Hartley Lin, Derek McCormack, Joe Ollmann, Stuart Ross, Noah Van Sciver, Walter Scott, Fiona Smyth, R. M. Vaughan, Maurice Vellekoop, Emily Pohl-Weary, Adrienne Weiss, Jessica Westhead, Lindsay Zier-Vogel, and many more of your favourites from the magazine’s pages. Plus: a forward by Taddle Creek!

BE CURIOUSER

• Check out Richard Kelly Kemick’s Podcast: Natural Life
• A non-believers hilarious, affectionate account of a summer embedded in the Badlands Passion Play. –Calgary Herald
• I am Herod. –Alberta Views
• One Last Trip Down Taddle Creek. –Broken Pencil