Bram Stoker

Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish theatre manager and novelist. He is best known as the author of ''Dracula'' (1897), an epistolary Gothic horror novel that is considered by commentators to be a landmark in vampire literature.

During the early part of his career, he spent ten years in the civil service at Dublin Castle, during which time he was also a drama critic for the ''Dublin Evening Mail''. Following this, he was employed as a theatre critic for several newspapers, including the ''Daily Telegraph'', and occasionally wrote short stories and theatre commentaries. During his life, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and the business manager of the West End's Lyceum Theatre, which Irving owned. He regularly travelled during his free time, particularly to Cruden Bay in Scotland, which was the setting for two of his novels and also served as the inspiration for writing ''Dracula''. Stoker was friends with both Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde, and he collaborated with other authors in writing experimental novels such as ''The Fate of Fenella'' (1892).

Stoker wrote a dozen mystery novels and novellas, including ''The Lair of the White Worm'' (1911) and ''The Mystery of the Sea'' (1902). His reputation as one of the most influential writers of Gothic horror fiction, however, lies solely with ''Dracula''. Since his death, the novel has become one of the best-selling works of vampire fiction and the character of Count Dracula remains one of the best-known fictional figures of the Victorian era. Following its publication, there have been more than 700 adaptations of ''Dracula'' across virtually all forms of media. Provided by Wikipedia