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  Dracula's Guest - From their...

  Bram Stoker

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  Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland on the 8th of November 1847, the third of seven children.  
  His early years were plagued with such ill-health that he was unable to start school until the age of seven.  He turned the long periods of recovery into an opportunity for thinking and said “I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years”.  
  Strikingly at Trinity College, Dublin his health had returned with such vigour that he was named their University Athlete whilst also achieving a BA in Mathematics with honours.  
  At this time his interest in theatre became a job offer to be the Dublin Evening Mail’s theatre critic, co-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu.  He now began to also write short stories and in 1872 ‘The Crystal Cup’ was published.  An interest in art developed and he co-founded the Dublin Sketching Club.  
  In 1878 came marriage to Florence Balcombe.  She had formerly been courted by Stoker’s acquaintance, Oscar Wilde.  The marriage produced one child.   
  Stoker had some years before reviewed Henry Irving’s Hamlet and had dined with him.  That friendship now resulted in a proposal from Irving to move to London and to manage his Lyceum Theatre.  His numerous commercial innovations ensured both he and the theatre thrived.  Irving would also often take Stoker with him when he toured abroad. 
  Despite this busy life Stoker continued to write and these works paved the way for his most famous creation, published in 1897, ‘Dracula’.  It is rightly recognised as one of the greatest horror novels of all time and although not the first with a theme of Vampires, it is undoubtedly the most well-known. 
  Stoker also wrote poetry and many excellent short stories and continued to write novels and other works throughout his career. 
  Politically Stoker supported Home Rule, though only by peaceful means.  He was also keen on following scientific trends particularly in medicine. 
  In 1902 his tenure at the Lyceum Theatre ended and although he continued to write his health was deteriorating, mainly due to a series of debilitating strokes. 
  Bram Stoker died on the 20th April 1912, in Pimlico, London.  He was 64.

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  The Weiser Book of Horror and...

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Montague...

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  Frightful fiction by masters from Lovecraft to Stoker to Crowley to Poe.   Packed with stories selected and introduced by one of todays leading esoteric scholars, this book will do more than make your toes curl and your skin crawl. These tales reveal hidden truths and forbidden pursuits, and divulge the secrets of magical initiation. Covering topics from rituals to hauntings to the Devil himself, this one-of-a-kind volume includes selections from:   Aleister Crowley * Ambrose Bierce * Arthur Machen *Edgar Allan Poe * Robert W. Chambers * Ralph Adams Cram * H.P. Lovecraft * Dion Fortune * Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton *Bram Stoker   As Lon Milo DuQuette writes in his introduction, horror takes its time. It creeps in, seeps in, and lingers. These stories will stay with you, biting at your heels from the shadows. Don’t say we didn’t warn you…

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  3 Stories About - Social...

  Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov, Mary...

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  There is something about the number 3.    
   
  The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.   
   
  Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois.  It seems good things usually come in threes. 
   
  Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. 
   
  From their pens to your your ears. 
   
  01 - 3 Stories - Social Experiment 
  02 - The Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain 
  03 - The Bet by Anton Chekhov 
  04 - An Unexpected Fare by Mary Tuttiett writing as Maxwell Gray

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  Aloysha the Pot - From their...

  Leo Tolstoy

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  Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Russian province of Tula to a wealthy noble family. As a child, he had private tutors but he showed little interest in any formal education. When he went to the University of Kazan in 1843 to study oriental languages and law, he left without completing his courses.  Life now was relaxed and idle but with some writing also taking place.  Gambling debts forced an abrupt change of path and he joined the army to fight in the Crimean War.  He was commended for his bravery and promoted but was appalled at the brutality and loss of life.  He recorded these and other earlier experiences in his diaries which formed the basis of several of his works. 
  In 1852 ‘Childhood’ was published to immediate success and was followed by ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’. 
  His experience in the army and the horrors he witnessed resulted in ‘The Cossacks’ in 1862 and the trilogy ‘Sevastopol Tales’. After the war he travelled around Europe, visiting London and Paris and meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin.  
  It was now that Tolstoy began his masterpiece, ‘War and Peace’. Published in 1869 it was an epic work that changed literature. He quickly followed this with ‘Anna Karenina’.  
  These successes made Tolstoy rich and helped him accomplish many of his dreams but also brought problems as he grappled with his faith and the lot of the oppressed poor. These revolutionary views became so popular that the authorities now kept him under surveillance.  
  He led a life of asceticism and vegetarianism and put his socialist ideals into practice by establishing numerous schools for the poor and food programmes. He also believed in giving away his wealth, which caused much discord with his wife.  
  His writing continued to bring forth classics such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and many brilliant and incisive short stories such as ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’.  
  In 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Church and controversially deselected for the Nobel Prize for Literature. 
  Whilst undertaking a pilgrimage by train in October 1910 with his daughter Aleksandra he caught pneumonia in the nearby town of Astapovo.  Leo Tolstoy died on November 9th, 1910, he was 82.

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  Behind the Wall - From their...

  Violet Jacob

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Violet Jacob.

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  All we see or seem is but a...

  Rachel Lawson

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  When Dr Death the local coroner is invited to perform in the hospital he works in's Tv charity performance little did they know the coroner was hiding a secret he is a famous stage illusionist he goes to the audition and his hospital colleague falls in love with the man who comes in his place and refuses to believe he could ever be the same man and his stage magician partner isn't helping either. 
  She confronts the coroner for not having the courage to audition himself still not recognizing him he realizes he has fallen for a dream of the handsome illusionist, not himself. 
  A tall handsome clean shaven blue-eyed man walked on stage for the audition he looked nervous. "Who are you? You look familiar," asked a lady auditioner who fell in love with this strange young man. "Dr Blake Alexander, you know me," said the young man. "No, I don't any Dr Alexanders," said the lady. "No, he's kidding us he's Blake Fire! He's famous," said another auditioner, "He owns this theater." "Don't hold it against me," said Blake charmingly. "What are you going to do sing?" asked the lady. "I'm a magician," Blake said. "Oh, are you?" said the lady intrigued. "Where is Jack Tailor?" asked Dr Alexander. "He is sick Sally is here to do his job said the other auditioner. "Did Dr Death ask you to take his place here that grumpy nerd can't perform to save his life," said the lady who knew Dr Death as a bespectacled grouch who was always moaning, Blake tried to push up his glasses which he wasn't wearing frustratedly he looked irritated but that made him look more handsome. "I am Dr Death, I didn't ask myself anything, Sally Jack asked me to audition," snapped Blake.

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