Patricia Kathryn Helms Kidd (April 3, 1950 – December 14, 2015)Andrew Hall "In Memoriam: Kathryn H. Kidd" Dawning of a Brighter Day, Association of Mormon Letters, December 17, 2015. was an American author. Many of her books concern
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...
(LDS Church). She co-wrote some of her works with her husband, Clark L. Kidd, and also co-wrote a novel with
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for bo ...
Mandeville, Louisiana
Mandeville is a city in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. Its population was 11,560 at the 2010 U.S. census, and 13,192 at the 2020 United States census. Mandeville is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, south of Interst ...
. She graduated from
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
and was baptized in the
LDS Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...
. Raised a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, Kidd is quoted as converting because she wanted a
patriarchal blessing
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a patriarchal blessing (also called an evangelist's blessing) is an ordinance administered by the laying on of hands, with accompanying words of promise, counsel, and lifelong guidance intended solely for the re ...
, but couldn't receive one unless she was a baptized member of the LDS faith. Upon receiving her bachelor's degree, Kidd reported for the ''
Deseret News
The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...
'' in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
. At the same time, Orson Scott Card was an assistant editor for the popular LDS magazine '' The Ensign;'' Kidd and Card became good friends. Card was a witness at Kathryn (Kathy) and Clark Kidd's wedding. The couple worked with Card on a project for
Compute!
''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET c ...
Books. Clark programmed the games in a series while Kathy wrote the directions.Card, Orson Scott. Forward. ''Paradise Vue,'' by Kathryn H. Kidd, 1989, pp. viii-xv. The couple 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''. She died on December 14, 2015.
Publications
Kidd wrote and co-wrote with her husband several
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...
books of practical advice geared toward fellow members of the
LDS Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...
. 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. They also collaborated on a large number of articles for ''
Meridian
Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to
Science
* Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon
* ...
''.
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. In 1989, Card started up a Mormon publishing company with his wife and brother, called "Hatrack River Publications." Card approached Kidd to provide a novel that fit the company's themes. Kidd's novel ''Paradise Vue'' became its first publication. Other collaboration with Card included co-authoring '' Lovelock'', the first part of a proposed
trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wo ...
.
Lovelock
''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
James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sy ...
. The novel examines the
Gaia Hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps ...
through the lens of Lovelock, who is a genetically-enhanced
capuchin monkey
The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the " organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some tropical fores ...
. 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.
Kidd passed away before the second installment, ''Rasputin,'' could be published.
Paradise Vue
''Paradise Vue'' takes place in an LDS ward congregation. Beneath their perfectionist façade, the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Ch ...
members in Kidd's novel exhibit cruel, dark, and obsessive tendencies. The novel is a comedic
LDS fiction
LDS may refer to:
Organizations
* LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, US Religion
* Latter Day Saint movement (LDS movement), a collection of independent church groups
**The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest group within th ...
* ''Paradise Vue'' (Hatrack River Publications, 1989)
* ''Return to Paradise'' (Hatrack River, 1997)
For the Clueless series
* ''Food Storage for the Clueless'' (Bookcraft, 2002)
* ''Ward Activities for the Clueless'' (Bookcraft, 2001)
* ''On My Own and Clueless: an LDS Guide to Independent Life'' (Bookcraft, 2000)
Standalone fiction
* ''The Alphabet Year'' (Hatrack River, 1991)
* ''The Wise Men of Bountiful: a Story for Children'' (Cedar Fort, 2005)
* ''The Innkeeper's Daughter'' (Hatrack River, 1990)
* ''A Convert's Guide to Mormon Life'' (Bookcraft, 1998)
* ''52 Weeks of Recipes for Students, Missionaries, and Nervous Cooks'' (Deseret Book, 2007)
* ''A Parent's Survival Guide to the Internet'' (Bookcraft, 1999)
Manuals
* ''Compute!'s IBM PC and PCjr Games for Kids'' (Compute! Publications, 1984)
(All works were retrieved from the
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and s ...