Clare Bell (born 1952) is a British author in the United States best known for her

Ratha series ''The Books of the Named'' (also known as the ''Ratha series'') is a series of young adult prehistoric fiction Prehistoric fiction is a literary genre in which the story is set in the period of time prior to the existence of written record, k ...

of young adult

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

novels about

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

big cats. These books, also called the ''Named series'', are about intelligent self-aware large cats who have

puma Puma or PUMA may refer to: Animals * ''Puma'' (genus), a genus in the family Felidae ** Puma (species) or cougar, a large cat Businesses and organisations * Puma (brand), a multinational shoe and sportswear company * Puma Energy, a mid- and d ...

, cheetah and

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

characteristics, and are based on fossil creatures who are ancestors of the

saber-tooth cat Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until ...

. The first book in the series, '' Ratha's Creature'' appeared in 1983. The flap copy on the paperback re-issue of '' Clan Ground'' (the second book in the series which appeared in 1984) states that Bell: :''is a

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

whose work has taken her to Norway to build electric cars, to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

for research, to Marine World/Africa United States to meet a cheetah and into the depths of prehistory to develop the Ratha series...The author blends science and fantastic projection in her depiction of the Named –- cheetah-like cats with an organized society.'' Bell's love for big cats is also expressed in ''Tomorrow's Sphinx'' (about cheetahs in past and future

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

) and ''The

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

Princess'' (a werecat (jaguar) woman in

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

). Bell is also fascinated with flight, writing ''People of the Sky'' about Pueblo Indians who migrate from Earth to another planet and learn to ride winged aliens. Bell's short stories have appeared in the

Witch World Witch World is a speculative fiction project of American writer Andre Norton, inaugurated by her 1963 novel '' Witch World'' and continuing more than four decades. Beginning in the mid-1980s, when she was about 75 years old, Norton recruited othe ...

and CatFantastic ( cats and

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

) anthologies, both edited by

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy writer Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

, Andre Norton. Recently Bell composed '' Ratha's Island'', an experimental novelette written specifically for the

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

microblogging service, which intentionally limits posts to 140 characters or less so that they can be read on cellphones and other portable wireless devices. Ratha's Island is an early entry into the area of Y/A Twitter fiction and has been well received. It is similar to the phenomenon of cellphone novels which are popular in Japan. The piece ran on Twitter beginning on March 14, 2009 and ending on May 9, with blocks of 5-10 Tweets, appearing twice daily during that time. Ratha's Island also explored the possibilities of alternative evolution in hexapodal (six-legged) as opposed to quadrupedal (four-legged)

prehistoric mammals This is an incomplete list of prehistoric mammals. It does not include extant mammals or recently extinct mammals. For extinct primate species, see: list of fossil primates.Mikko's Phylogeny Archiv Mammaliaformes ' *Genus †''Adelobasileus' ...

that evolved on an isolated

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Biography

Clare Bell was born in 1952 in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England and moved with her family to the United States in 1957.Gale Reference Team, "Biography – Bell, Clare (Louise) (1952–)", ''Contemporary Authors (Biography)'' (Thomson Gale, 2003) While growing up in Palo Alto, California, she became fascinated by prehistoric mammals and pored over

Charles R. Knight Charles Robert Knight (October 21, 1874 – April 15, 1953) was an American wildlife and paleoartist best known for his detailed paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His works have been reproduced in many books and are currently ...

's paintings in books on

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. After attending the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

she used her training in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

by working as a hydrological and geological field technician for the US Geological Survey, serving on the USGS research vessel Polaris, based in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

. Returning to college under the ''Women in Engineering Program'' at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, she then joined IBM in San Jose, California as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. Inspired since childhood by Olaf Stapledon's novel ''Sirius: A Tale of Love and Discord'', about a

sheep dog A sheep dog or sheepdog is generally a dog or breed of dogs historically used in connection with the raising of sheep. These include livestock guardian dogs used to guard sheep and other livestock and herding dogs used to move, manage and co ...

with human-level intelligence, she began writing ''Ratha's Creature'', the first novel in a series called The Named (also known as Ratha). Published in 1983 by Margaret K. McElderry Books, this debut novel won th
International Reading Association's Children's Book Award
and th
PEN United States Literary Award
ref name=gale/> for that year. ''Ratha's Creature'' was also adapted for television animation and aired as a ''

CBS Storybreak ''CBS Storybreak'' is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network from 1985 to 1989. Hosted by Bob Keeshan (and in its 1993 return by Malcolm-Jamal Warner), the episodes are half-hour animated adaptation ...

'' episode in the late 1980s. Leaving IBM in 1990 to begin a full-time writing career, Bell also became interested in

electric vehicles An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

. After converting a VW beetle to electric with a

conversion kit Conversion kit may refer to: *Arcade conversion kit, which is used to change the game an arcade machine plays * Miniature conversion kit, equipment used to alter game pieces for miniature, tabletop games. * Pinball conversion kit, which is used to ...

, she began building, racing, repairing, designing, and racing electric cars. From 1992 to 1999 also became the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the

Electric Auto Association The Electric Vehicle Association (EVA) is a non-profit educational organization that promotes the advancement and widespread adoption of battery electric vehicles. It was formed in 1967 in San Jose, California. Members The Electric Vehicle Assoc ...

's (a nationwide US electric car club) monthly newsletter,

Current Events News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...

. As part of the Women's Electric Racing Team, she competed in the Arizona Public Service utility company's APS Solar and Electric 500 and APS Electrics electric vehicle races, held in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

from 1993 to 1997. She also turned her electric vehicle experience into a profession, working as an electric vehicle engineer for CALSTART and private companies until 2003. Bell found to her surprise that books written nearly twenty years ago still had fans and had been kept alive on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. The first four Ratha titles were reissued as Firebird paperbacks in Summer and Fall 2007, and a new book, ''Ratha's Courage,'' was published by Imaginator Press in October, 2008. January 2013 saw the launch of a kickstarter project to create a graphic novel e-book of the first Ratha title.Rekindling the Fire: Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel
/ref> Bell and her husband live in the hills west of Patterson, California, where they have built their own solar, wind and hydroelectric systems.

List of works

Series novels

* Ratha, or '' The Books of the Named'' ** '' Ratha's Creature'' (1983) ** ''Clan Ground'' (1984) ** '' Ratha and Thistle-chaser'' (1990) ** ''Ratha's Challenge'' (1991) ** '' Ratha's Courage'' (Imaginator Press, 2008) * Ancient Tahiti, by Bell and M. Coleman Easton, under joint pseudonym Clare Coleman ** ''Daughter of the Reef'' (1992) ** ''Sister of the Sky'' (1993) ** ''Child of the Dawn'' (1994)

Other novels

* ''Tomorrow's Sphinx'' (1986) * ''People of the Sky'' (1989) * ''The Jaguar Princess'' (1993)

Short stories

* "The Hunting of Lord Etsalian's Daughter" in

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

series ''Tales of the Witch World'', edited by

creator Andre Norton * "The Damcat" in anthology series ''Catfantastic'', eds. Norton and Martin H. Greenberg * "Bomber and the Bismarck" in the ''Catfantastic'' series * "A Tangled Tahitian Tale" in the ''Catfantastic'' series * "Bonechewer's Legacy" (2009) in

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

anthology ''Firebirds Soaring'', ed.

Sharyn November Sharyn November is an American writer and an editor of books for children and teenagers. Until March 2016 she was Senior Editor for Viking Press, Viking Children's Books and Editorial Director of Firebird Books, which is a mainly paperback (repri ...

– Ratha series * "Ratha's Island" (2009), electronically published on

archived December 2009
– Ratha series

Television adaptations

* "Ratha's Creature" (1985), episode of ''CBS Storybreak''

References

;Other sources * Ruth Nadelman Lynn, ''Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography'', 4th ed. (New Jersey: R. R. Bowker, 1995) * Biology in Science Fiction blog http://sciencefictionbiology.blogspot.com/2009/03/alternative-evolution-on-rathas-island.html

External links

Ratha and the Named series
– "Author and fan website" RathasCourage.com
Official website, retired
(archived 2006)
Ratha and the Named
forum at RathasCourage.com (archived 2009)
User Rathacat
(Clare Bell) at

*
Clare Bell
at ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

'' * (mainly under 'Bell, Clare' without '1952–', previous page of browse report)
Clare Coleman
(joint pseudonym) at LC Authorities, with 3 records, an
at WorldCat

''Ratha's Courage''
at e-Reads.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Clare 1952 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American children's writers American science fiction writers American women short story writers American fantasy writers American women novelists American women children's writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers University of California, Davis alumni