Majd, Kam

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MAJD, Kam

PERSONAL:

Male. Born in Iran; married; wife's name Lori; children: two daughters. Ethnicity: "Iranian." Education: Attended University of Texas at Arlington. Hobbies and other interests: Kenpo karate.

ADDRESSES:

Home—California. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Dell Publishing, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Pilot and author. Commercial airline pilot for more than twenty-five years.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Edgar Allen Poe Award nominee for best first novel by an American author, Mystery Writers of America, 2003, for High Wire.

WRITINGS:

High Wire, Dell (New York, NY), 2002.

High Impact, Dell (New York, NY), 2003.

High Wire and High Impact have been translated into German and Japanese.

SIDELIGHTS:

Airline pilot turned novelist Kam Majd is the author of the suspense thrillers High Wire and High Impact. High Wire introduces Kate Gallagher, Jet-East Airlines' first woman pilot, who faces disciplinary measures after she performs an emergency crash landing during which several people are killed. With the help of investigator Michael O'Rourke, Gallagher learns that the crash was actually the result of sabotage to her plane, and that even more flights could be threatened. "Majd writes with an assured hand, creating a strong female protagonist who will hold the reader's attention and sympathy throughout," noted a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. "Drawing on his training and experience as an airline pilot," explained Dawn Goldsmith on the Crescent Blues Web site, Majd "paints a realistic view of aviation careers and lifestyles. He shows the fragile and unpredictable control pilots hold over the technology, and ultimately life and death." According to School Library Journal contributor Lynn Nutwell, in High Wire Majd creates interesting villains, "but it is through his skilled presentation of high-tech details of GPS, satellites, simulators, aircraft flight parameters, and computerized interfaces that he will captivate his readership."

Gallagher returns as the feisty protagonist of High Impact. In the work, Gallagher and her six-year-old daughter Molly are preparing to board a plane when Molly bumps into Evan Blake, a man with unusual powers. Just as Blake's flight loses power and plunges into the ocean, he sends a psychic message to Molly, who soon falls into unconsciousness. As Gallagher searches for answers to her daughter's illness, she discovers that Blake was once a "remote viewer," a psychic spy trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, and his death was intended to bury a long-hidden secret now held by Molly. "Fans of action-packed thrillers that use psychic abilities in a realistic manner" will enjoy High Impact, noted Harriet Klausner on the Best Reviews Web site.