5 Things You Didn't Know About Bram Stoker
The Famed Author of Dracula
You probably already know Bram Stoker is the author of Dracula, but here are a few more things you may not know about him.
1. His first book was on the dangers of alcohol.
The Primrose Path was Stoker’s first book. Published in 1875, this 10 chapter novella was quite the moralistic narrative against drinking.
2. No one really knows how he died.
Stoker died in 1912 at the age of 64. Some claim he died of exhaustion. Others say it was a series of strokes. His death certificate says “locomotor ataxia 6 months” which basically means inability to control one’s bodily movements. It also could be a reference to tertiary syphilis.
3. He graduated with a major not in literature but in mathematics.
Bram attended Trinity College in Dublin from 1864-1870. During that time he was a star athlete, winning awards in shot put, weightlifting, high and long jumping, gymnastics, and race walking. Writing wasn’t even on his radar.
4. You can visit him today.
You can pay a call on Stoker’s ashes at Golders Green Crematorium, which is the first crematorium in London. It won’t be just his ashes, though, because his son Noel’s got mixed in with them. Plus you’ll need an escort. All visitors must be accompanied to prevent vandalism.
5. Bram Stoker is a character in Man of Shadow and Mist.
In my latest release, Stoker shows up as a secondary character when he visits the Whitby Circulating Library. The celebrated author of Dracula was forty-five years old when he asked for The Accounts of Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. The librarian wasn’t even aware this rare book was part of their collection but did locate it and Stoker paged through it while under supervision.
“The world seems full of good men—even if there are monsters in it.”
–Bram Stoker, Dracula
England, 1890
Vampires are alive and well in North Yorkshire, leastwise in the minds of the uneducated. Librarian Rosa Edwards intends to drive a stake through the heart of such superstitions. But gossip flies when the mysterious Sir James Morgan returns to his shadowy manor. The townsfolk say he is cursed.
James hates everything about England. The weather. The rumours. The scorn. Yet he must stay. His mother is dying of a disease for which he’s desperately trying to find a cure—an illness that will eventually take his own life.
When Rosa sets out to prove the dark gossip about James is wrong, she discovers more questions than answers. How can she accept what she can’t explain—especially the strong allure of the enigmatic man? James must battle a town steeped in fear as well as the unsettling attraction he feels for the no-nonsense librarian.
Can love prevail in a town filled with fear and doubt?
Find out by purchasing your copy now or try your hand at winning one of ten signed copies.
