Copyright 1996 (Modern library edition)
             Bram Stoker was born November 8, 1847, in Clontarf Ireland, north of Dublin. His full name was Abraham Stocker. He was the son of Abraham and Charlotte. He was the third of seven children. For the first 7 years of his life Bram was bedridden with a flurry of childhood diseases. This led him to spend much of his time reading. Later in his life, after healing from his diseases, he attended Trinity College in Dublin. There, he was an honor student, played soccer, and was involved in marathon running. After he graduated from college he followed in his fathers' footsteps, and became a civil servant at Dublin castle as a junior clerk. He began his literary career in 1871, when he took up a post as the unpaid drama critic for the "Evening Mail," while he was also writing short stories. His first literary success came in 1872, when the London Society published his short story "The Crystal Cup." Bram Stoker encountered Henry Irving, who he had once critiqued while he was at Trinity College. Stoker saw his portrayal of the role Hamlet and wrote a favorable review of it. Irving was impressed with Stoker's review. This resulted in Irving inviting Stoker backstage and from there a good friendship was formed.
             In 1878. Irving had taken over his own theater company called the London Lyceum. He didn't like the management, and therefore approached Stoker to handle the business. Stoker gave up his civil servants jobs to go work for Irving. Shortly after, Stoker began his new career, the publishing house of Sampson. He was contacted with interest in making a collection of "Stoker Stories". "Under the Sunset" was published in 1891, and was well received by some of the critics, but others thought the book would not be good for children. By the time Stoker had written "The Snake's Pass" (1890), he was already started working on a novel with a va
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