“The Secret of the Growing Gold”. - By Bram Stoker, 1897- A Short Story by the author of Dracula

“The Secret of the Growing Gold” by Bram Stoker

Born 1847 Dublin

Dracula published 1897

Died 1912 London

In addition to publishing  Dracula and starting a vampire craze the world still is gripped by in the same year he published an entertaining ghost story about the revenge of a woman scorned,  “The Secret of the Growing Gold”.

As the story opens we learn of the history of two families, both with long histories in the same area of rural England.  One family has an aristocratic linage, the other yeoman roots.  The families have both  seen better times.  Stoker liked to write about declining aristocracy and we see that in the higher society family.  A romance has developed between a woman from the common family and an aristocratic man.  One day they are out for a carriage ride together.  The man gets out briefly and during this time the carriage falls of a cliff, destroying it and killing one of the horses. The body of the woman and one of the horses is never found.  An investigation finds nothing and in time people forget the incident.  After a time the man, who went to Italy, sends word he is coming back with his bride, an Italian lady.  He has the house renovated to look like the mansion of her father back in Italy.  Now things get scary!  The missing woman seems to return one night, horribly scarred from the wreck.  He has no idea how she got in past the servants.  Stoker has created a very powerful atmosphere befitting his many years in the theatre.  A terrible revenge is taken on the man and his innocent pregnant bride.

Probably very few would still read this story if Stoker had not blessed or cursed the world with Dracula but in any case it was fun to read and if you accept things scary.

I read this story in a book I acquired on sale as a Kindle for $1.95, Irish Ghost Stories edited by David Davies.  Ten classic writers are included, half of the 520 pages is devoted to Sheridan la Fanu and the Introduction is good.  You can read the story at the link above.  I hope to read a few more Irish Ghost Stories this month.  Ireland has lots of ghosts.

Mel u

"The Spectre of Doom" by Bram Stoker

"The Spectre of Doom" by Bram Stoker  (1881, 5 pages)

March 1 to April 7

Bram Stoker

Dublin

Resources and  Ideas 

Whether you love it or deplore it or find its power confusing, you can thank an Irish short story writer, Bram Stoker (1847 to 1912) for getting the world's fascination with vampires started.    He might not have been the first author to use a vampire as a central character but it is to him the credit belongs through his Dracula. If you have not yet read Dracula, it really is a fascinating book.   Stoker also wrote a number of paranormal short stories.  Last year during ISSW2 I posted on his story "The Gypsy Prophecy".  I feel I should not wind down ISSW3 without posting on a story by Stoker.

"Can somebody explain why
it took an American to write
the best Leprechaun story?"
Rory 

"The Spectre of Doom" is written in a prose style similar to that of Lord Dunsany.   It is set in an ancient past in an unknown place.   As the story opens we meed a young orphaned girl whose father died long ago and her mother recently.  She survives by making flowers out of paper and selling them. Her temperament is so angelic that the birds love her and often come into her humble room to keep her company and sing.  The bullies of the community, knowing she has no one to protect her, bully and mock her, calling her "Big bird" (OK I know what this brings to mind now but try to block it out!).   One day she sees a giant form over the city.  She tells others about it but she is the only one who has seen it.  She is treated as if she is mad.    She meets a very old blind man.  His appearance is that of your classic wizard looking blind old man type with long flowing white hair and beard.   He believes the girl and they become very close.

The invisible giant is plague and the old man knows that.  Soon the giant comes into the city and more and more people begin to die.  It seems as if the whole city is under a spectre of doom from which there is no escape.   The giant does consent to leave the city but only after a great sacrifice is made.

This story and lots others by Stoker can be read here.

"Bram Stoker, a decent writer but my Daddy  Mr
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu had the
whole idea first"-Carmilla

Mel u

Bram Stoker's Best Ghost Story "The Judge's House"

"The Judge's House" by Bram Stoker (1890, 11 pages)

Irish Short Story Week Year Two

March 11 to July 1

Gothic and Ghost Stories Week

April 15 to April 21

Posts by Participants

Resources and Ideas for Irish Short Story Week

My Prior Posts for ISSW Year Two

Bram Stoker Resources Page

I would like to invite you to consider joining us for Irish Short Story Week Year Two.  All you are asked to do is to post on one Irish short story or a related work of non-fiction and let me know about it.  There are links to 1000s of stories on my resources page.  If you are not into older stories, you can find lots of great 2012 fiction online also.  Guests posts are also very welcome.   Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions or questions.

This week, in the company of our guest host Charlotte Riddell, and the usual cast of characters, I will be posting on some of the great Irish Ghost and Gothic stories.

Do you cringe when you go into a book store and see half the space seems to be taken up with books about vampires?    We have, at least in part, an Irish short story writer, Bram Stoker, to thank for the world wide craze for vampire books and movies.   Stoker (1847 to 1912, Dublin) wrote Dracula, a really great novel and a lot of paranormal short stories.   (There is some background information on Stoker in my prior posts on him.)

"Bram Stoker is a great writer, but
my Daddy, Joseph Sheridan
le Fanu, is the best"-Carmilla

"The Judge's House" is considered to be Stoker's best short story.   I really liked it and found it pretty scary.  It is, of course, very well written and totally atmospheric.   The central character in the story is a young man who is looking for a quiet place to study for his final college exams.  He does not care for the sea shore as it is too noisy and he feels country is too isolated so he settles on a small town.   He finds a house he likes but he is advised it was once owned by a late judge notorious for hanging people for the smallest of offenses.  The local rental agent advises him to find another place but he says he is not superstitious and, being young, he wants to show he has no fear.   I really hate to tell much of  the plot of this story because it is so much fun and in order to be into the plot you need to start it fresh.

There are some great scenes with rats!.   The ghost in this story is totally believable.   The ending is quite horrible.  If you enter into the spirit of the story, you will be scared and a bit creeped out.

You will find it on the resource page at the top of the post.

"Please join us"-Ruprect

Mel u

"A Star Trap" by Bram Stoker

"A Star Trap" by Bram Stoker (1908, 5214 words, 14 pages)

Please Consider Joining Us For Irish Short Story Week Year Two March 12 to March 22


List of Bram Stoker short stories-nearly 100

When we hear Bram Stoker (1847 to 1912-Dublin, Ireland) Dracula at once comes to mind, as well it should.   However, Bram Stoker wrote in addition to Dracula over 100 short stories, all of which can be found online.    Most of his short stories are in the Gothic horror genre (I have posted on two of them as well as Dracula and there is more background information on him in these posts.)  

Professionally Stoker spent most of his life as a theatrical manager.   He was director for twenty seven years of the Lyceum Theatre, in London, started in 1765,  with a seating capacity of 2000.   It was a very high prestige venue.   I was very happy to find a short story by Stoker that was based on his experience working in the theater.

"A Star Trap" is a simple murder mystery about the killing of an actor.   It is an interesting story for the behind the scenes look it gives us of life in the theater seen not from the point of view of  the actors or playwrights but that of the stage hands who do all the behind the scenes work.   The story is narrated by a young man just starting out as a stage hand specializing in building sets, called a "theatrical carpenter".   The master carpenter is married to a very pretty much younger woman.   The life of the theatrical people are very much wrapped up with others in the same world.   There is always lots of gossip about who is cheating on who and which women are infatuated with the handsome actors.

  This is a fun story though not a big mystery.   It is for sure worth reading.


I downloaded a Kindle version of it from Manybooks, you can find a lot of Stoker's works there.

There are lots of horror and Gothic stories to pick from for Irish Short Stories Week Year Two.

Mel u

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897, 


Irish Short Story Week II-March 12 to March 19,  2012

The cultural impact of Bram Stoker's Dracula  (1897) is just huge!    Vampires are one of the dominant images of world culture.   Stoker (1847 to 1912-Dublin) did not originate the myth of the vampire but it is to him we owe its power and shape.   

I have no idea when I first heard of the myth of Dracula.   I am sure it was many years before I knew there was a book by that name written by a man named Bram Stoker from Dublin.   I first read his work in association with Irish Short Story Week Year One when I  posted  on one of his excellent short stories "The Gypsey Prophecy".

I am so glad I have at last read Dracula.   I liked it much more than I thought I would.    I especially liked how Stoker tells the story through a fascinating mix of letters, diary entries, ship logs and occasional newspaper clippings.   Of course I have seen several version of the Dracula story on old movies on TV.    The book has a lot of Gothic Horror cliches but that is just because the book created the cliches in the first place.

Once I began to read the book it was as though I was meeting old friends.   There is the good Professor Abraham Van Helsing learned in vampire lore who is at first reluctant to voice his thoughts for fear he will seem deranged.   There is the beautiful young virginal Lucy with the mysterious bites who has fallen into a mysterious coma like state.   We meet the disgusting insect eating Renfield who I for sure recall from the movies.   We meet the required attorney who travels to Transylvania to visit Count Dracula at his sinister castle deep in the Carpathian mountains.   At first the attorney is intimidated by the seemingly great wealth and culture of the Count, but he quickly realizes something is badly wrong.   Why does the wealthy Count Dracula have no servants?    Who are the three very evil looking women he encounters in the castle?   Where does Dracula disappear to during the day time and in a great scene he wonders how he can seemingly climb the interior walls of the castle.  I cannot see Dracula as any body but Bella Lugosi.

Even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen Stoker does such a great job with the narration that I was kept very interested throughout.   Stoker does a wonderful job in creating the atmosphere.   The sea voyages to and from England to continental Europe are really wonderful.   You can feel the pervasive miasma of terror on the ships.

I read this book via Dailylit.com in 176 episodes.     You can download it (along with a number of his short stories) in a Kindle, Pdf or other format from Manybooks, a great source of free books.   

If you want to participate in Irish Short Story Week Year II coming up in March 2012 you might enjoy reading one of Stoker's many short stories.   


Dracula may be an over one hundred year old book but it not dull, stuffy, or boring at all.    


Mel u

"The Gypsy Prophecy" by Bram Stoker-author of Dracula

"The Gypsy Prophecy" by Bram Stoker  (1895, 11 pages)

  Day Three

Irish Gothic

Bram Stoker

Resources and Reading Ideas For the Week

Listen to this story and 8 others by Bram Stoker

The cultural impact of Bram Stoker's Dracula  (1897) is just huge!    Vampires are one of the dominant images of world culture.   Stoker (1847 to 1912-Dublin) did not originate the myth of Dracula but it is to him we owe its power and shape.   Before I began doing a bit of research in preparation for Irish Short Stories Week, I did not know that he published a number of very well received Gothic style short stories before Dracula.  


"The Gypsy Prophecy"   is a very well written and suspenseful story.     In its few pages it created for me a lot of excitement.   I really wanted to see what would happen next.   I kept trying to guess what was going to happen next but I really did not see the end coming.   ( I should note that the story does portray Gypsy culture in a stereotypical fashion that seems very prejudiced.)

As the story opens Joshua and his good friend Doctor Burleigh have heard that a Gypsy tribe has camped temporarily near them.     They have heard that the Queen of the tribe has a powerful gift of prophecy and they want to go investigate it for a lark.   As they leave Joshua's wife, who he loves with all his heart, yells out to his friend to keep her husband from flirting with the Gypsy women.    The husband makes a theatrical gesture out of swearing fidelity and he and his friend are off to the camp.

The two friends tell each other the Queen is just a swindler looking for money-pieces of silver.   Suddenly the Queen appears, a tall stately woman with a very noble appears.   She asks Joshua he is married.   He laughs and says he is very happy in his marriage.   The queen at once screams at him his friend that he must leave his wife and never see her again as she sees her blood all over him.   She fears he will murder his wife.  

As he leaves his friend advise him not to tell his wife what the gypsy woman said.   He says no he has no secrets from his wife and he will tell her.   This turns out to a big mistake.    His wife at first is deathly afraid of him.    The she calms down, sort or at least a bit.   She does have all blades on the knifes in the house made dull.    Something shocking does happen.   I do not want to spoil the very well done ending of the story.

You can read this story and others and Dracula at BramStoker.org.

Mel u

"Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker-Irish Short Story Week Notes-Sunday Salon

"Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker (1914, 13 pages)

 More Information on Irish Short Story Week-3/14 to 3/20

I have started doing a bit of research to get ready for Irish Short Story Week (3/14 to 3/20 to coincide with St. Patrick's Day on 3/17) which I hope will become an annual Reading Life Event.    I am excited by the interest shown in the idea.      My research so far tells me you could easily hold an Irish Short Story year and still have a lot to read and learn at the end of the year.    And if you love a good story you for sure are in the right place.   How wrong can you go when one of your  short story writers is James Joyce or  when your writer of Gothic stories, Bram Stoker, created the vampire genre with his Dracula?        I am doing this for fun, to learn and maybe to get a few other people to overcome their dislike of short stories (I used to never read them as somehow I felt I "needed more").    I hope you will consider joining in.     There are no big rules, no being rigid on who is Irish and who is not (no politics).   If you wish to post, for example, on first generation Irish writers in Australia or the USA that would be great.   (In my Australian Bush Stories Project, I found many of the early Australian short story writers were the children of Irish immigrants.)       I will try to come up with some reading ideas later but if you need suggestions or ideas  just Google "Irish Short Stories" or "Irish Literature" you will find many ideas.   You do not have to go to the library or buy a book to join in.    There are lots and lots of stories on line, and not just old ones either.   I plan to post on one or two works from 2011 that you can read online.   For example, I think all of the stories of Joyce and Wilde can be read online for free.   I am hoping a lot of female short story writers will be spotlighted as historically  it is a largely male set of writers.   There are lots of ghost stories and plenty of stories for the lovers of Victorian era literature (I count myself as one) and lots of romance and history as well.

To be a participant all I ask is that you post on a story during the week and send me a comment with a link to your story and I will link it up in a master post and include it in my summery post at the end.   

I am working on prizes from publishers and authors  of books that go with the week but nothing firm yet.

   I admit I did not know Bram Stoker (1847-1912-Dublin)   wrote a lot of short stories, most all Gothic tales, before he wrote Dracula in 1897.     Happily, most of them are available online at BramStoker.

"Dracula's Guest" was published in 1914, by his widow.    It is a stand alone short story that was originally to be published as part of Dracula but was left out as the publisher felt the book was too long.   As the story begins I admit I could not help but think of the  countless movies where a stranger to the village is taken in a carriage through the night by a terrified driver in fear of an unknown but very felt evil.     The story seemed like a standard plot line then I realized Stoker created this scene and made it part of our culture.   The stranger is here on an investigation of something he has heard that sophisticated "scientific" big city people scoff at but he knows might be true.  

As our hero goes further into the night, the story is set out side of Munich, his driver gets more and more afraid.   This is not just any night, it is "Walpurgis Nacht" (night).   This the night when the dead come back to life and all evil things of the world walk the night.    Of course in a scene right out of the plot of True Blood our hero somehow enters into a tomb through its open door to see the body of a long dead woman.   The woman is still very beautiful with rosy red cheeks and bright red lips.    Before he makes it back to town he suffers a terrible attack.    His throat was almost ripped out.   He tries to tell himself it was a dog attack but the country people know better.

I really liked Stoker's style.   I did not find it to have an antiquated feel at all.   He did a great job of keeping me interested and building up a suspenseful fear filled atmosphere.   From reading this story, I now can safely say I will like Dracula.     

One easy way to participate in Irish Short Story Week would just be to read and post on one of Stoker's stories.   None of them are real long.    

I will be posting more on Irish Short Story Week soon.    Please let me know if you might join in or have any suggestions, comments or ideas

Mel u