At the moment, there are a number of popular TV shows (Heroes and Medium among them) that feature protagonists with superhuman abilities while still being more character-driven than the usual superhero fare. These heroes, like so many of their web-slinging, mind-reading predecessors, are “ordinary” people burdened with the responsibility of saving humanity from itself.

Edmonton Journal cultural columnist Todd Babiak’s third novel, The Book of Stanley, explores similar thematic terrain. Sixty-two-year-old Stanley Moss is a retired Edmonton florist with terminal cancer. With only a few months to live, Stanley, much to the concern of his wife, Frieda, is suddenly and mysteriously imbued with extraordinary powers of strength and the ability to read and control minds. Meanwhile, others experience a mystical call to follow him to Banff. Maha, a 16-year-old Muslim girl in Montreal, has a vision of Stanley while she’s engaged in drunken public sex. Kal, a farm-league hockey player in Saskatchewan, is moved to change his life by a Rilke poem scrawled on a bathroom stall.

Originally serialized in the Edmonton Journal (as was Babiak’s second novel, 2006’s The Garneau Block), The Book of Stanley is a sharply written satirical epic, told in 82 mini-chapters. Babiak hilariously lambastes organized religion and pop spiritualism, but his biggest target is consumerism and its near-sacred role in Western culture. After it becomes apparent that Stanley is indeed some sort of deity or prophet, his disciples begin creating a new religion – “the Stan” – from scratch. Enter Tanya, a shallow entertainment executive. While her fellow disciples are concerned with their new religion’s tenets, she is more interested in how to sell it. To her, “the Stan” represents the biggest marketing challenge of her career. When Stanley expresses doubts about his suitability as a man-God, Tanya says, “We’ll work on that. Your brand.”

Stanley is whimsical and droll, offering up such oddities as mythical surly Sasquatches in purgatory and hauntings by a trendy tween-girl. In true serial fashion, the outlandish events keep mounting. And as with those aforementioned TV shows, the story of Stanley’s struggle with his new powers is irresistible.

[Note: The print version of this review contained incorrect information that has been corrected here.]