A Tale of Two Loren Colemans
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 6th, 2010
Those that know me well have realized that almost from the beginning of my 50 years of cryptozoological investigations and writings, and then all during the time of my nonfiction books, consultations, and blogging, I have professionally been “Loren Coleman.”
My own personal name game has become confusing in recent years. This has been caused by the mere existence of a younger man on the West Coast, who has written science fiction, gaming, and like-natured books and materials. He has been called “Loren Coleman” by various people online, even though he seems to have tried to use his middle initial, “L.”
The BattleTech author and Catalyst Games guy is, unfortunately, more often called “Loren Coleman” than “Loren L. Coleman.” But, hey, it is his name too.
Sometimes this takes on a humorous aside, for one of my publishers, Simon and Schuster, also produces, at least, one of this West Coast author’s books, too.
Loren Coleman
Loren L. Coleman
Won’t you know it? Simon and Schuster has all of our mutual books listed as “by Loren Coleman,” if you search their site.
That might be amusing, but this name game thing has gotten more serious lately. The West Coast fellow, who allegedly and reportedly has achieved a sizable income from his BattleTech, Catalyst Games, and other scifi works, is being accused of alleged ongoing investigations by various bodies. An individual calling himself “Frank Trollman,” living in Prague, Czech Republic, has done much to bring this business to the attention of the gaming community.
Trollman has been very aware, of course, of the two Loren Colemans, and tried to speak to this in the past. Nevertheless, the fact that the IRS audited my 2005 tax filing, in 2007-2008, because I had an office in my home and my museum was in a separate part of my old house, has caused confusion on the part of some. Indeed, less than precise folks have talked about me “embezzling the IRS,” which I was never accused of, and which was so far from what happened to have been unworthy of a response.
But indications are that a few people may be mixing up my past minor audit with the rather larger alleged pending accusations against Loren L. Coleman.
Anyway, I requested a bit of information and a clearer unfolding of this from Trollman, by asking him the url of his past discussions.
It seems Frank Trollman has now tried again to straighten this all out by posting anew about this two Lorens business, on one of the “dumpshock” (whatever that is) forums.
Trollman’s “There are Two Loren Colemans,” has me as the Virginia (where I was born) and Maine (where I now live) individual. (If you go to the forum and read some of the reactions, you will see a couple people there now calling me “Loren C. Coleman,” which is … oh, never mind; see SR-Fan’s comment below.)
Trollman’s posting can be read here, with the full understanding that Cryptomundo is making no judgments or accusations against the other Loren Coleman by noting this. This is all about trying to clarify the fact of two Loren Colemans are sometimes being mistaken for one. Or actually, that “Loren L. Coleman” is infrequently thought to be the cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, when he is just called “Loren Coleman.”
I first began writing in 1969, wrote my first book (as Loren Coleman, with Jerome Clark) in 1975. Loren L. Coleman’s first book, Binding Force, was published in 1997. He is younger than me.
Nevertheless, one website, Fantastic Fiction, incorrectly has my year of birth (1947) listed for Loren L. Coleman. That site use to list Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (2002) as a book by Loren L. Coleman, but it has recently been removed.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Well, that explanation was clear as mud, as my old German grandmother used to say.
Good luck distancing yourself from this rather unsavory sounding man! Let’s hope one of the next books takes off and everyone forgets there is even another person of the same-ish name!
Seems to me this guy would want to change his name at least as far as creating a PenName for himself. You are pretty darn Famous and all and I’m not being sarcastic.
Look out all you Joshua Gates in the world, you are Next!! 😉
~Peace!
As a person who frequents both Dumpshock AND Cryptomundo, I’m sorry to see you getting caught up in this mess. For what it is worth, I have suggested the folks at Dumpshock check out Cryptomundo. It would be right up their alley! Perhaps something good (more traffic) can come of this!
PS: Dumpshock is the unofficial forum for players of the Shadowrun RPG – a cyberpunk roleplaying game published by Catalyst Game Labs about a world where magic has become real. A nice little Crypto twist is that the return of magic brings back (or out of hiding) many unusual creatures from legend and myth – including creatures often talked about here.
I have noticed this for a long time. Actually very recently looking for Loren’s book in the iPad-iBooks library. Hey, Loren, is your new book going to be available on the iPad?
You should muddy the waters further by writing your own BattleTech books and see if he responds by delving into cryptozoology.
The Shadowrun sourcebook Runner’s Companion—published by Loren L. Coleman’s company in 2008—contains a passage referring to Loren Coleman the cryptozoologist:
P.S. the Dumpshock users are not using “Loren C. Coleman” out of error, but to disambiguate Loren “Cryptozoologist” Coleman from the Loren L. Coleman they are more familiar with.
I like this info from SR-Fan.
Also, this…
“P.S. the Dumpshock users are not using ‘Loren C. Coleman’ out of error, but to disambiguate Loren ‘Cryptozoologist’ Coleman from the Loren L. Coleman they are more familiar with.”
is very enlightening.
Thank you.
As a a Bigfoot AND Battletech fan, I hope both Colemans get things straightened out.
And there’s a third Loren Coleman out there too–my dad’s cousin, who as far as I know isn’t anyone in particular. (I could never be sure though, that they weren’t the same person.) But I’ve had a couple conversations with my dad that went something like, “Dad, does Loren do stuff with cryptozoology?”
Dad: “What’s that?”
Eventually, it became clear they’re not the same. There’s just too many Colemans in this land.
I’ve got this going on with my credit report, with someone else’s data being mixed in. We have the same first and last name, and while I lived many years in a town called “Belmar”, he lives in a town I never knew existed in the same state called “Belmawr”. Now I’ve never owned a home but my credit report has me with three mortgages. 🙂
Good luck sorting this out. Maybe you should adopt a moniker, like Loren “The Beard” Coleman or something….
Alcade, it’s spelled Bellmawr and is in Camden County, southern Jersey,about five miles SW of the city. I lived in the next town for the first third of my life. I have had my credit entangled with women with similar first names, several times, so I know how terrible this can be. But these two similar sounding towns at least have different zip codes and the area codes for their phones are different. Good luck with that!