Sure, it’s the most famous vampire novel, but “Dracula” isn’t the first one. Nor was it the most unusual. Sheridan Le Fanu wrote “Carmilla,” about a lesbian vampire who stalks lonely young women, in 1871. “Varney the Vampire” by James Malcolm Rymer, an 1845-47 gothic horror series, also preceded “Dracula.” (In fact, “Dracula” was probably inspired by “Carmilla” and “Varney the Vampire.”) And in 1819, John Polidori penned “The Vampyre” based on the summer he spent with Frankenstein creator Mary Shelley, her husband poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron. These, and many other works and life experiences, helped inspire Stoker to write “Dracula.”
