Kathryn H. Kidd

Patricia Kathryn Helms Kidd (April 3, 1950 – December 14, 2015)[1] was an American author. Many of her books concern The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). She co-wrote some of these with her husband, Clark L. Kidd, and also co-wrote a novel with Orson Scott Card.

Life and career

Kidd was born in New Orleans and raised in Mandeville, Louisiana. She graduated from Brigham Young University, where she met her husband, and was baptized in the LDS Church.[1][2] Raised a Protestant, Kidd is quoted as converting because she wanted a patriarchal blessing, but couldn't receive one unless she was a baptized Church member. Upon graduation, Kidd reported for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. At the same time, Orson Scott Card was an assistant editor for the popular LDS magazine The Ensign and Kidd and Card became good friends. Card was a witness at the Kidd's wedding. Kidd and her husband moved to Virginia in 1987. She was subsequently associate and managing editor of Meridian magazine until 2008, after which she continued writing for it and also for Nauvoo Times.[1] She died on December 14, 2015.[1][3]

Publications

Kidd wrote and co-wrote with her husband several non-fiction books of practical advice geared toward fellow members of the LDS Church. These include titles such as Ward Activities for the Clueless, Food Storage for the Clueless, On My Own and Clueless: An LDS Guide to Independent Life, and A Parent's Survival Guide to the Internet. The Kidds jointly authored A Convert's Guide to Mormon Life, which won an Association of Mormon Letters Award for devotional literature.[1][4] They also collaborated on a large number of articles for Meridian.

Kidd also wrote a few comedic novels about life among members of the church, including Paradise Vue and Return to Paradise, and children's books such as The Innkeeper's Daughter.

Kidd was a longtime friend of Orson Scott Card; her novel Paradise Vue was the first publication of his Hatrack River Publications[1] and she was his co-author on Lovelock,[5] the first part of a proposed trilogy.

Lovelock
Main article: Lovelock (novel)

Lovelock is a speculative science fiction novel co-written by both Kidd and Orson Scott Card. The novel is narrated by a scientist who takes the name of real scientist James Lovelock. The novel examines the Gaia Hypothesis through the lens of Lovelock, who is a genetically-enhanced capuchin monkey.[1] Lovelock the monkey is assigned to examine the lives of several humans on board the Mayflower spacecraft, and in the process becomes more humanized and rebellious.[6]

The second installment, Rasputin, was planned but never published after Kathryn H. Kidd died on December 14, 2015.[1]

Paradise Vue

Paradise Vue takes place in an LDS ward congregation. Beneath their perfectionist facade, the Church members in Kidd's novel exhibit cruel, dark, and obsessive tendencies. The novel is a comedic LDS fiction piece.[1]

References
  1. Andrew Hall, "In Memoriam: Kathryn H. Kidd", Dawning of a Brighter Day, Association of Mormon Letters, December 17, 2015.
  2. adherents.com entry on the Kidds
  3. According to "Remembering Kathy Kidd", Meridian magazine, December 16, 2015, she died on December 15.
  4. Deseret Book link on A Convert's Guide to Mormon Life
  5. Orson Scott Card and Kathy H. Kidd, Lovelock, New York: TOR/Tom Doherty, 1994, ISBN 9780312857325.
  6. Cassada, Jackie. Library Journal, 6/15/1994, Vol. 119 Issue 11, p99, 1/8p. (Book Review) Reviews the novel `Lovelock,' by Orson Scott Card and Kathryn H. Kidd.
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