Is Those of My Blood really a "Vampire Romance" as stated in the graphic illustration? Lots of Vampire fans, including fans of the TV Shows, Forever Knight and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, think so, but editors did not.

Is the novel actually "Science Fiction" as St. Martin's Press said on the hardcover's jacket -- which featured an illustration of a dish antenna in a desolate landscape?

Or is this story about Genealogy, as passers-by in a Mall in Phoenix, Arizona thought when they saw me signing copies at a Waldenbooks? Or is it Vampire Horror, or Urban Fantasy, or ... who gets to say what genre a novel belongs in?

The Author? The Publisher? The Reader? Or people who don't want to read the story at all?

As the author, I can tell you that while I was writing this novel, and its companion volume, Dreamspy I thought I was writing a Vampire Romance set on the moon, involving a Vampire, his human lady love who thought he had died long ago when he died The First Death, complicated by "The Other Woman" in the Vampire's life, and the Vampire's "Father" who is not the sort you'd care to meet on a dark night.

It's not Horror, because I don't write Horror. It's not Supernatural Genre either. But yes, there are two scenes straight out of classic horror films, and these vampires do almost all the Supernatural tricks typical of vampires.

Those of My Blood is a Romance, but not classifiable a "Futuristic Romance" because it's really "International Intrigue" -- there are government spies, Vampire spies, Interstellar Spies, Industrial Spies, plots, counter-plots, secrets stolen and chased, and much more. Definitely International Intrigue - well, maybe Interstellar Intrigue would be more accurate, but we'll get to that in the next novel, Dreamspy. 

On the other hand, the outcome of the Intrigue and Espionage all depends on the love and rapport that develops between a Vampire and a human woman.

On the third hand (well, it is sf, so you can have lots of hands) - how the Romance turns out depends entirely on the scientific training and sheer raw heroism of both the male and female leads. And therein lies the problem of assigning this novel a genre.

So you should read this novel if you like stories about ordinary people who must transcend their emotional limitations in order to succeed at the task they have set themselves, without dishonor. Don't judge a book by its ostensible genre.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

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