Monday, August 11, 2008

Guest Blogger: Cathy Clamp

The winner of Cathy's giveaway is: Ruth Schaller! Major congrats, Ruth. Send me your snail mail contact info and I'll pass it along to Cathy. Thanks so much to everyone who participated! Stay tuned . . .

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE . . . OR IS IT?

Hi, all!

I’m Cathy Clamp, and I write paranormal romances with my co-author C.T. Adams. We presently have two series with Tor Books -- the first is Tales of the Sazi, about shapeshifters who live in our current world, hidden in plain sight. The second is a trilogy about a whole different kind of vampires called The Thrall. The final book of the trilogy, Touch of Darkness, hit the shelves this month, so feel free to take a look if you’re interested. We also have a brand new stand-alone world coming soon . . . with a brand new pen name. It’ll be released in February, 2009. It’s called Magic’s Design and you’ll see the author as “Cat Adams.” This is a combination of Cathy Clamp and C.T. Adams! What’s nice is that the new books will be shelved right next to the old ones, in case you have a collection on your keeper shelf. (And if you don’t, why not?! Hee!) It’s available for pre-order now on Amazon and should be available for ordering in your local book stores in a month or two. You can visit us on the web at:
http://www.ciecatrunpubs.com

Or, visit our Amazon Profile, at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3L3AGDPVW68Z5/102-4524817-4263303

But this isn’t just a promo post. Today I was asked to talk about “anything paranormal.” Of course, that’s a pretty broad subject, but an interesting thought struck me recently and I figured I’d share it with you all. Lately I’ve been enjoying a series on the History Channel called MonsterQuest. Now, for those who have never seen the show, it takes all the typical legends and tries to either prove or disprove their existence using every possible bit of science and brainpower at our collective command. What sort of legends? Well, there’s werewolves and vampires, of course. Then Bigfoot, Nessie, mermaids, chupacabras, the New Jersey Devil, krakens, telekinetics, pyrokinetics, giant hogs, bats, raptors, etc. You get the idea. Anything people “swear” they’ve seen, or encountered or been attacked by, but physical proof of which has never seen the light of day or camera or video. It’s Globe and National Inquirer meets Mythbusters.

What I find interesting is how many well-respected, top-notch scientists are interested enough in the possible existence of paranormal creatures to spend time and money investigating them (often on their own dime!) even though they consistently come up empty. Every week. They come up empty. Either that means we’re not good or smart enough to find them, or they aren’t there. What struck me is that it doesn’t matter! We want to believe, so we do. We can’t find proof so we create proof through other means. Paranormal fiction takes up the space between “belief” and “proof.” We authors can MAKE proof just by putting words on the page, and the belief people already have in the possibility goes along for the ride.

People keep believing and keep searching. Since we’re discovering new stuff every day that’s “not supposed to exist,” hope stays alive. From fish to mammals and new varieties of human ancestors, we’re just starting to figure out this planet of ours.

For a writer, new facts and research are really exciting, because every bit of new evidence we find, or new methods to search are things we can incorporate into books. I spend time every month reading Archaeology magazine for ideas for our books. This month’s issue yielded a fascinating article on the Hurrian tribe of ancient Mesopotamia (“Who Were The Hurrians?” Andrew Lawler, Archaeology, July/August 2008). One of my characters was a former Akkadian prince (who’s obviously lived a really long time!) and lo and behold, but come to discover that Akkad and Urkesh had a long-standing cooperative society and people from both cities worked and lived among each other. Cool! And, one of the items found in a dig mentioned a woman named Tuli, who was a cook to the Akkadian queen. Poof! Instant new character. Why couldn’t a prince of the realm have known the cook to his mother? Of course he could have. Why couldn’t they have fallen in love but been forbidden to fraternize in that past time?

Another thing I find interesting is how many pieces of mail we get with “corrections” about our facts, and they aren’t average readers. They’re professors and grad students in the subject. This is also cool to us, because it says that we’re this close to getting even experts on a given subject to buy in to our realities. “Unbelievable” has moved to “plausible, but...” and will eventually become “possible.” Awesome!

How about all of you? What do you think? Is the truth out there, or is it all in books?


**********

Cathy will give away a copy of her book. Just answer her question here and a winner will be selected on Tuesday evening.

21 Comments:

Blogger Patricia Altner said...

Of course the truth is out there. The X Files proved that ;)

Seriously I believe that this world, heck this universe, holds much more than we will ever discover. To say something is impossible is ludicrous.

10:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As far as I can see there are pages upon pages of eye-witness accounts, photographs and EVP's that have been proved to not be faked and for some people, real life encounters with the supernatural. There is no doubt in my mind that 'ghosts' are as real as you and I, the question is what they are not whether they exist.

10:57 AM  
Blogger Pamk said...

I am sure that there "supernatural beings" out there. Maybe just not on our world. Maybe on another one.
Love your Sazi series. And will be on the look our for your new alias lol.

1:18 PM  
Blogger Carmen R said...

I think there is a strong possibility
that there is truth to some paranormal tales. There have been tales passed down in different cultures of creatures of beings other than human or know animals. A lot of the tales are very close to tales in other cultures who in early times had no way that we know of to be in contact with one another to spread these stories to each other. It would seem to me that there is at least some seed of truth to these stories. If paranormal being is out there it may not be the way we read or write about them but hey you never know.

2:34 PM  
Blogger lrhubble said...

I think anything is possible. Time will tell us what and where. I know ghosts exist and that was always questioned before. What is to say that the test they run now are the ones that are needed. Maybe something that is created in the future will be the test that they need.


Larena

2:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think there are SOME things that exist. There are too many eyewitness accounts not to believe in some stuff. Psychic stuff, ghosts and possibly spirit guides. But pointing a wand and turning someone into a toad? Nope. Nor werewolves (in the traditional, by-the-moon sense) or vampires who are actually undead and subsist on blood.

Anyone disagree?

Glad you like the books pamk! We're having a great time writing them.

Cathy

3:55 PM  
Blogger LadyVampire2u said...

I definitely believe that there is more out there then we know of. Things we haven't touched on, and other things of legend and myth that will one day be finally revealed and proved for fact. But some things are purely from the imagination in my opinion. I guess it's just a matter of staying open minded and beliving in that old but true saying that anything is possible.

4:12 PM  
Blogger Night critter said...

Anything is possible. We discover new things everyday, both here on earth and in the universe. Just because we haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

4:17 PM  
Blogger Katie said...

The truth is still out there.

I think of all of the species of animals we are still discovering and I know that there are so many things that having been found. Just becuase there isn't any proof yet, doesn't mean something isn't there.

4:24 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

The truth has got to be out there somewhere...but we will be alive to see it? How long will it take for someone to find proof or for the truth to come out?

I am reading the new book at the moment and I am loving it. It is one of my favourite series but I see it is the last of the Thrall books? What a shame...

10:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

About your question, and i am not saying this to start anything,I think that there is a lot of truth out there. I don't think we look for it for a variety of reasons, many of them religious. We think such things couldn't possibly exist. I think if you believe in a higher power who created us how can we not believe in supernatural aspects of life?
Now I wanted to say something about your books. I first read a Sazi book after getting on the site paperbackswap. I sent away for it based on the description of the book. I was not disappointed. Then after reading those I noticed your Thrall books. I LOVED them.I read the first then when I was visiting my mom and saw the next one and I had to have it. As soon as Touch of Darkness became available I got it too. It only took me 2.5 hours to read it. You are an auto buy for me now. Keep up the good work. I loved how it ended and I can't wait for more books from you.( sorry for so long a post but I really enjoy your work.)

10:44 PM  
Blogger Ruth Schaller said...

Yes, the truth is out there. I mean, we can't be the only beings in our universe. There has to be someone or something else out there. Ghosts exist, I've lived through some strange stuff when I was younger!

I'm sure they are out there, they just don't want to be found! :)

6:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"We think such things couldn't possibly exist."

Sorry I couldn't log back on last night. We had storms and I lot my satellite. I don't disagree, per se. Some things are too difficult to contemplate in the normal course of events. We couldn't sleep at night if we well and truly KNEW, without a doubt, that ghosts flitted in and around us, watching. Some would be comforting, sure. But if there are SOME ghosts, who's to say that all people who died aren't ghosts? Would that mean there are ghosts out there of Bundy, Dahlmer and others like that? The thought that they could interact on a mental/psychic level isn't something that I think most could deal with---religion or not. Same with other beasties like werewolves. It's fine to READ about them, be frightened and then safety close the covers at the end of the book and go back to "real life." But if it was real life, that would be harder.

Cathy

7:04 AM  
Blogger tetewa said...

I also believe that there are other things out there. I guess thats why reading the Paranormal and watching anything that has to do with the supernatural I love!

10:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The truth is so totally out there. If it wasn't, then where do all our myths and legends come from? There has to be some basis of truth to them otherwise someone way back when had a very vivid imagination.

1:58 PM  
Blogger Karen Duvall said...

I absolutely believe the truth is out there and that it comes in many forms. I think the power of imagination is so strong that dreams can, and do, manifest in reality. Thought is energy, and energy is powerful. Telekenesis and telepathy are real, so why can't these same abilities work in other ways? It's fun to think about. 8^)

2:25 PM  
Blogger DawnM said...

Trouble is most of these things are based on legends of dark ages cultures, if they didn't understand something it was explained by magic/myth/religion. Gradually the mythical became romanticised and passed into legend.

Today we have science to explain what we don't know...or simply admit that we don't know because we're sophisticated enough to believe that even if we don't understand something now that doesn't negate the possibility of it being explained sometime in the future. That doesn't negate the possibility of something being out there but it lessens the probability.

Sorry, I'm just a pragmatist at heart. LOL. Though I do find it interesting that a good few authors now explain their paranormals genetically or via virology.

3:21 PM  
Blogger Ruth Schaller said...

I am so excited that I won! Linda, I've sent my info to you via your website.

Thanks again!

7:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've got it, Ruth! A copy is on the way! :)

I'm a pragmatist too, dawnm. It's why I brought up the subject to begin with. It's fascinating to me both that the legends have survived, unchanged for so long, which is hard to imagine if there wasn't SOMETHING to them. That's what's so cool about the search.

Cathy

3:37 PM  
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