Ulysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave it to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with old houses and vampires. He studied French at Yale, and was trained to be a museum curator at the University of Delaware. A curator for thirty-seven years at the Newark Museum of Art, Ulysses never stopped writing fiction for the sheer pleasure of it. He created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Rice's landmark novels. Aside from vampires, Ulysses has written about jewelry, furniture, pottery, silver, and the White House.

Ulysses lives in suburban New Jersey with his husband of forty-five years. Together they have raised two children, two cats and four dogs.

By the way, the name Ulysses was not his parents' idea of a joke: he is a great-great-grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, and his mother was the President's last living great-grandchild. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant's Tomb in New York City.

For more information, visit facebook.com/ulysses.dietz.