âUlysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave it to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with vampires, from Bela Lugosi to Barnabas Collins. He studied French at Yale (BA, 1977), and was trained to be a museum curator in the University of Delawareâs Winterthur Program in American Material Culture (MA, 1980). A decorative arts curator at the Newark Museum for thirty-seven years before he retired, Ulysses has never stopped writing for the sheer pleasure of it. Aside from books on Victorian furniture, art pottery, studio ceramics, jewelry, and the White House, Ulysses created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Riceâs landmark novels. Alyson Books released his first novel, Desmond, in 1998. Vampire in Suburbia, the sequel, appeared in 2012. His most recent novel, Cliffhanger, was released by JMS Books in December 2020.
âUlysses is a great-great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant. His late mother, Julia, was the Presidentâs last living great-grandchild; youngest daughter of Ulysses S. Grant III, and granddaughter of the presidentâs eldest son, Frederick. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grantâs Tomb in New York City. He is also on the board of the U.S. Grant Presidential Library and Museum at Mississippi State University.â
