{"data":{"id":"f8a53b73-324e-4bfb-8bde-585c718c656d","originKind":"SYNDICATED","title":"Todd Babiak offers his take on coming-of-age tale in What Gentlemen Do","summary":"It was watching his two young daughters step into adulthood, dealing with social media pressure and relentless algorithm aggression that inspired Todd Babiak to write a coming-of-age story.\n\nThe former Edmontonian’s newest book, What Gentlemen Do, focuses on a young man trying to navigate the world at a time when social pressures come from every direction. Babiak’s daughters, aged 18 and 20, offered him the inspiration, affording him a glimpse into the world of young people and the online world they navigate every day.\n\n“Watching them as a dad has been scary. The pressures they have been under, whether it’s a young woman trying to understand what beauty is and succeed in life now has its parallel with young men. In both cases, it’s so difficult,” says Babiak.\n\nIt was watching that pressure that led him to What Gentlemen Do and his protagonist, Whalen Gans. He’s a young man living in a non-descript small town, Walleye, listless and without much of a future. Everyone he knows rags on the small town and dreams of leaving for something better.\n\nGans comes from a relatively poor family, his already low prospects dampened by his meagre upbringing. He eventually comes to find an online group known as The Gentlemen who feed into his anxiety and anger about his place in the world, his difficulty finding a job and lack of a romantic partner.\n\nFor a nominal fee, Whalen can be a part of something bigger than himself, a movement that reassures him the problems in his life are because of immigrants, minorities, greedy politicians, and feminists. He keeps up with the social media channels and the podcasts, all spouting the same rhetoric. It’s a pretty straight comparison to the bro culture online, with influencers playing to the anxiety of young men, easily swayed with simple explanations and solutions to their problems while selling them useless pills and pointless garbage.\n\nBabiak currently lives in The Gold Cost, Australia, where he is the CEO of Brand Gold Coast. He grew up in Alberta and is a former writer and columnist with the Edmonton Journal and the author of eight previous books. The Garneau Block, based in Edmonton, was longlisted for the Giller Prize and was adapted for the stage.\n\nIt’s a different time, different experience than Babiak had growing up in the ‘90s. He got a taste of what young people face while doing research for this book, of social media and algorithms trying to catch and feed them the same content on a loop.\n\n“As I was researching the book and playing with it, I got deep into the algorithms,” says Babiak. “As soon as you start experiencing certain content to the end it starts feeding you more and more. I found the pressure of being a young person surrounded by that unique and special.”\n\nBut this isn’t a tale of doom and gloom, of racist rhetoric infecting the world and winning out. As a young man in his early 20s, Whalen has that most special ability of young people, self-discovery. While working through education options, he enters a philosophy class focused on Stoicism, a topic he takes to with enthusiasm.\n\nSome people find music, others get into old movies or old cars. Whalen finds something in the writing of Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca that truly speaks to him, that changes the direction of his life and how he looks at his own small part in the world, his relationships and the tiny place he calls home.\n\n“We all want to feel like the moment we are in is the most unique moment ever. Marcus Aurelius is going through the same thing,” says Babiak. “They are trying to sort it out themselves first. There are so many parallels.”\n\nOnline bro culture has started to delve into Stoicism, to repeat the lines and cherry pick quotes to fit their world view. But it was important for Babiak to have Whalen come to philosophy through a teacher, a mentor and outside of the internet quagmire he was already wrapped up in. “You can’t escape the internet through the internet,” as he puts it.\n\nHe’s currently writing a novel set in Tasmania, where he lived before The Gold Coast, a story with more of a crime element to it.\n\nRelated Taste of Edmonton 2026 roundup: The good, the bad and the messy according to our reviewers\n\nWilderness survival show to put northern Alberta on international stage in latest season\n\nBookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.\n\nYou can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.","url":"https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/edmonton-todd-babiak-what-gentlemen-do","imageUrl":"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/babiak-todd-2026_cr_luke-marsden-1-_304406291.jpeg","publishedAt":"2026-07-22T20:05:46.000Z","sourceLabel":"Edmonton Journal Music","tags":["Books","Entertainment","Local Arts"],"authorName":"Justin Bell","contentHtml":"\"Author

It was watching his two young daughters step into adulthood, dealing with social media pressure and relentless algorithm aggression that inspired Todd Babiak to write a coming-of-age story.

The former Edmontonian’s newest book, What Gentlemen Do, focuses on a young man trying to navigate the world at a time when social pressures come from every direction. Babiak’s daughters, aged 18 and 20, offered him the inspiration, affording him a glimpse into the world of young people and the online world they navigate every day.

“Watching them as a dad has been scary. The pressures they have been under, whether it’s a young woman trying to understand what beauty is and succeed in life now has its parallel with young men. In both cases, it’s so difficult,” says Babiak.

It was watching that pressure that led him to What Gentlemen Do and his protagonist, Whalen Gans. He’s a young man living in a non-descript small town, Walleye, listless and without much of a future. Everyone he knows rags on the small town and dreams of leaving for something better.

Gans comes from a relatively poor family, his already low prospects dampened by his meagre upbringing. He eventually comes to find an online group known as The Gentlemen who feed into his anxiety and anger about his place in the world, his difficulty finding a job and lack of a romantic partner.

\"

For a nominal fee, Whalen can be a part of something bigger than himself, a movement that reassures him the problems in his life are because of immigrants, minorities, greedy politicians, and feminists. He keeps up with the social media channels and the podcasts, all spouting the same rhetoric. It’s a pretty straight comparison to the bro culture online, with influencers playing to the anxiety of young men, easily swayed with simple explanations and solutions to their problems while selling them useless pills and pointless garbage.

Babiak currently lives in The Gold Cost, Australia, where he is the CEO of Brand Gold Coast. He grew up in Alberta and is a former writer and columnist with the Edmonton Journal and the author of eight previous books. The Garneau Block, based in Edmonton, was longlisted for the Giller Prize and was adapted for the stage.

It’s a different time, different experience than Babiak had growing up in the ‘90s. He got a taste of what young people face while doing research for this book, of social media and algorithms trying to catch and feed them the same content on a loop.

“As I was researching the book and playing with it, I got deep into the algorithms,” says Babiak. “As soon as you start experiencing certain content to the end it starts feeding you more and more. I found the pressure of being a young person surrounded by that unique and special.”

But this isn’t a tale of doom and gloom, of racist rhetoric infecting the world and winning out. As a young man in his early 20s, Whalen has that most special ability of young people, self-discovery. While working through education options, he enters a philosophy class focused on Stoicism, a topic he takes to with enthusiasm.

Some people find music, others get into old movies or old cars. Whalen finds something in the writing of Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca that truly speaks to him, that changes the direction of his life and how he looks at his own small part in the world, his relationships and the tiny place he calls home.

“We all want to feel like the moment we are in is the most unique moment ever. Marcus Aurelius is going through the same thing,” says Babiak. “They are trying to sort it out themselves first. There are so many parallels.”

Online bro culture has started to delve into Stoicism, to repeat the lines and cherry pick quotes to fit their world view. But it was important for Babiak to have Whalen come to philosophy through a teacher, a mentor and outside of the internet quagmire he was already wrapped up in. “You can’t escape the internet through the internet,” as he puts it.

He’s currently writing a novel set in Tasmania, where he lived before The Gold Coast, a story with more of a crime element to it.

Related

Bookmark our website and support our journalism:Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.

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