First, there was The Last Werewolf, British novelist Duncan's deliciously edgy foray into horror and a national best seller. Then, in the regional best seller Talulla Rising, newly sprung werewolf Talulla mourns Jake-not, as it turned out, the last of their species-as she raises their son. Here, Talulla finds herself inexplicably drawn to 20,000-year-old vampire Remshi, who believes he's met her sometime in the last many millennia-all of which may signal a werewolf-vampire showdown. Duncan's a gorgeous, daring writer even those horrified of horror can love.
First Glen Duncan gave us his monstrously thrilling, genre-reinventing "The Last Werewolf: " the tale of Jake, a werewolf with a profoundly human heart, considering bringing to an end the timeless legend of his kind . . . Then "Talulla Rising: " Jake s werewolf lover, mother to newborn twins, on the run from those who want her destroyed . . . And now "By Blood We Live: " a stunningly erotic love story that gives us the final battle for survival between werewolves and vampires, and one last searing and brilliantly ironic look at what it means to be, or not to be, human.
The story opens: Talulla has settled into an uneasy equilibrium. With her twins safely at her side, and the devotion of her lover, Walker, she has what appears to be a normal family life except for their monthly transformation into werewolves hungry for human flesh. But even this hard-won, tenuous peace is undermined for Talulla by nagging thoughts of Remshi, the twenty-thousand-year-old vampire who haunts her dreams. For his part, Remshi can t escape the feeling that he knows Talulla from many (many, many) years before. Still, they have their distractions: Talulla is being pursued by a fanatical, Vatican-based Christian cult, and Remshi is following a trail of reckless feedings by a newly turned vampire bent on revenge. But, as the novel unfolds, Talulla and Remshi are inexorably drawn to each other and toward the moment when an ancient prophecy may finally come to pass."