Kyle, Barbara J. (Stephen Kyle, Pseudonym)

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KYLE, Barbara J. (Stephen Kyle, pseudonym)

PERSONAL: Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hobbies and other interests: Sailing.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—P.O. Box 988, Shelburne, Ontario L0N 1S0, Canada; fax: 519-925-2003. Agent—Al Zuckerman, Writers House, 21 West 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected]; bj. [email protected].

CAREER: Writer, actress. Actor in television films and series, including 444 Days (miniseries), Turner Broadcasting; High Hopes; The Campbells, Disney Channel; The Undergrads; and A Matter of Sex. Roles in more than twenty stage productions in the United States and Canada

AWARDS, HONORS: Dorothy Shoemaker prize, 1989, for "Night Shoot"; Canada Council Explorations Program grant to write first novel.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

A Dangerous Temptation, Onyx (New York, NY), 1994.

A Dangerous Devotion (sequel to A Dangerous Temptation), Onyx (New York, NY), 1995.

(As Stephen Kyle) Beyond Recall, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2000.

(As Stephen Kyle) After Shock, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2002.

(As Stephen Kyle) The Experiment, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Sabatoeur, novel.

SIDELIGHTS: Barbara J. Kyle is a writer who first enjoyed a successful career as an actress on stage and in many television series and films. One of her roles was as Rosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter, in a Turner Broadcasting production titled 444 Days.

Kyle began writing fiction in the late 1980s. Her first two books, A Dangerous Temptation and its sequel, A Dangerous Devotion, are historical romances. Kyle then wrote several books under the pseudonym Stephen Kyle, in an entirely different genre.

Beyond Recall is a thriller in which terrorists threaten to annihilate the women of the United States with a bioengineered plague unless a multibillion-dollar fund is established for the education of Third World women. The goal is to teach them birth control methods as a way to limit population growth and raise the standard of living in their countries. The bioweapon is created by Dr. Rachel Lesage, called Artemis, a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist who will stop at nothing to save mankind. She releases the virus in a Brazilian jungle to prove its effectiveness, with dire results.

After Shock is another technothriller that finds Alaska-based physicist Mike Ryder creating a breakthrough with a high-frequency beam that promises to revolutionize worldwide communications. Unknown to him, his father-in-law plans to use it for a military purpose. The general convinces his daughter to help him as he becomes the sponsor of the project so that his scientists will have access to Mike's work. Mike's former girlfriend and the mother of his child is Native American activist Dana James, who fights for the lands from which the military would remove them. When the military application turns deadly, Mike and his father-in-law join forces to save the northern hemisphere. Publishers Weekly contributor Jeff Zaleski noted Kyle's "insightful portrayal of the Native American culture and [her] sensitive exploration of the relationship between Mike and his son."

The Experiment opens in a 1945 Nazi concentration camp where doctor Viktor Schiller has experimented on Jewish women with the intention of bettering mankind. However, the gene he thought would pass the memories and knowledge from mother to child has also mutated to cause the children of these women to be born without consciences. Schiller is successful in destroying the women before the Americans occupy the camp, with the exception of one, a gypsy whose surviving daughter and her son now live in the United States. Schiller, who took the identity of a Jewish doctor and fled to New York, is now a successful neurosurgeon. He is intent to destroy both Alana Marks and her teenage son to stop the transfer of the gene, a plan made difficult because his own son is romantically involved with Alana. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that Kyle "keeps the cinematic action scenes and nail-biting suspense rolling throughout."