Lilith's Dream
A Tale of the Vampire Life
by Whitley Strieber

Lilith's Dream: A Tale of the Vampire Life
Published 8 October 2002
An ancient vampire, beautiful beyond words, a vulnerable young man drawn to her by a power beyond his understanding, two desperate parents searching across the world for the son they love — these are the riveting, unexpected elements of Whitley Strieber's extraordinary new novel.
     Lilith, the ages-old mother of the dying race of vampires, has been forced to come out of her cave deep in the Egyptian desert in search of food — human blood. But she knows nothing about the modern world. She can't drive a car, rent a room, turn on a TV. She struggles to New York, penniless, vulnerable, and starving, protected only by her beauty and her power to capture men with desire...especially certain very special men.
     The instant she sees young Ian Ward, she knows that he is part vampire himself. She knows that Ian, if he ever tastes human blood, will belong to her forever. And she needs him desperately, to help her survive and live in this harsh new world of jets and credit cards and guns. She sets out on a campaign of seduction — as sensuous as it is terrifying — to touch human blood to Ian's lips, which will then become for him a drug a thousand times more addictive than heroin.
     Ian's father, Paul Ward, part vampire turned expert and obsessive hunter of vampires, knows that if the blood transforms Ian, Paul will have to kill his own son. The titanic conflict between father and son and seductress, hunter and hunted and huntress, comes to its surprise conclusion in the secret chambers beneath the great pyramids, where the hidden truths of all human history are stored.
     From its beginning in the dark back alleys of Cairo to its totally unexpected ending, Lilith's Dream draws the reader down seductive new paths of discovery, into places where no novel has ever before. With Lilith's Dream Whitley Strieber has created a vampire so original and a story so new that he has virtually invented a new genre.


Capsule Synopsis from Publisher:
A centuries-old vampire temptress prowls the modern world, desperate to satisfy her hunger. She sets her sights on an innocent young man, whose father keeps from him the secret that makes him most vulnerable to her seduction -- that he's part vampire himself. Whitley Strieber's extraordinary new novel LILITH'S DREAM transcends genre: it's a romance, a thriller, a family drama, a vampire saga...above all, an unforgettable read.


Pre-release info:
“I have another work of fiction coming out in October called Lilith's Dream. It's about the original mythological figure Lilith, and what happens when she emerges from her cave and tries to cope with the modern world. But it's also about the force of evolution—the visitors—as I understand it, the eons-long struggle to make a new and greater mankind.”
     The above quote, which Whitley presented in late April on his website, expands upon the description given earlier to SciFi Wire. In late September of 2001 he reported that he was working on another fiction title which is related to the protagonist of The Last Vampire. “I'm writing another novel about a vampire called Vampire Dawn that has a connection to Miriam. It's not entirely about Miriam. I've got a new vampire in my world, who I've been learning about and introducing myself to and trying to survive writing about.”
     This book was in the planning stages as early as March of 2001, as advance reading copies of The Last Vampire were making their way out to critics and garnering positive response. If Lilith's Dream is the same book, it seems that in January 2002 Whitley decided upon a new title.