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The Shadow Builder
"The Shadow Builder" is a short story by Bram Stoker, first published in Stoker's first collection of short stories “Under the Sunset” in 1881. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (1847 – 1912) was an Irish author most famous for his 1897 Gothic novel “Dracula”, a seminal book that continues to influence the vampire genre in print and film to this day. This short story is perfect for lovers of the dark fantasy, and it is not to be missed by fans and collectors of Bram Stoker's other works, “Miss Betty” (1898), “The Mystery of the Sea” (1902), and “The Jewel of Seven Stars” (1903). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.
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First published August 3, 2012
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About the author
Bram Stoker
2,717 books5,923 followersIrish-born Abraham Stoker, known as Bram, of Britain wrote the gothic horror novel
Dracula
(1897).
The feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely Stoker at 15 Marino crescent, then as now called "the crescent," in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland, bore this third of seven children. The parents, members of church of Ireland, attended the parish church of Saint John the Baptist, located on Seafield road west in Clontarf with their baptized children.
Stoker, an invalid, started school at the age of seven years in 1854, when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "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."
After his recovery, he, a normal young man, even excelled as a university athlete at Trinity college, Dublin form 1864 to 1870 and graduated with honors in mathematics. He served as auditor of the college historical society and as president of the university philosophical society with his first paper on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society."
In 1876, while employed as a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and theatre reviews for The Dublin Mail, a newspaper partly owned by fellow horror writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. His interest in theatre led to a lifelong friendship with the English actor Henry Irving. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.
In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde. The couple moved to London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met, among other notables, James McNeil Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world.
The Stokers had one son, Irving Noel, who was born on December 31, 1879.
People cremated the body of Bram Stoker and placed his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders green crematorium. After death of Irving Noel Stoker in 1961, people added his ashes to that urn. Despite the original plan to keep ashes of his parents together, after death, people scattered ashes of Florence Stoker at the gardens of rest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker
The feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely Stoker at 15 Marino crescent, then as now called "the crescent," in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland, bore this third of seven children. The parents, members of church of Ireland, attended the parish church of Saint John the Baptist, located on Seafield road west in Clontarf with their baptized children.
Stoker, an invalid, started school at the age of seven years in 1854, when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "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."
After his recovery, he, a normal young man, even excelled as a university athlete at Trinity college, Dublin form 1864 to 1870 and graduated with honors in mathematics. He served as auditor of the college historical society and as president of the university philosophical society with his first paper on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society."
In 1876, while employed as a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and theatre reviews for The Dublin Mail, a newspaper partly owned by fellow horror writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. His interest in theatre led to a lifelong friendship with the English actor Henry Irving. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.
In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde. The couple moved to London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met, among other notables, James McNeil Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world.
The Stokers had one son, Irving Noel, who was born on December 31, 1879.
People cremated the body of Bram Stoker and placed his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders green crematorium. After death of Irving Noel Stoker in 1961, people added his ashes to that urn. Despite the original plan to keep ashes of his parents together, after death, people scattered ashes of Florence Stoker at the gardens of rest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 23, 2025
This was a wholesome read, Bram Stoker is an underrated writer! The lines mentioning loneliness and dreams, and love of a mother to their child was what made me enjoy the story! Also, as it is claimed to be a horror, there was little to no horror in this book.
November 14, 2020
This is my The Shadow Builder review for week three of the Bram Stoker read-along on The bookish Report YouTube channel.
Synopsis
The Shadow Builder dwells in the gloomy nether regions of the universe, lonely and haunting in his realm. He dwells in the area beyond the Gate of Dread, where the great procession meets its final end. The Shadow Builder sees all from his gloom, happiness and sadness, hope and despair. He focuses intently on the relationship between a mother and son, watching everything unfold from his Threshold. It is from these two that he learns the truth about his power, the power of death.
Plot
The story starts off with a few pages of info-dumping so we have will understand the story. We don't meet the mother and son mentioned in the synopsis until nearly halfway in.
We have a few concepts from the opening pages that we need to understand. The Procession of the Dead Past, which is a series of scenes from peoples lives that come and go, which the Shadow Builder sees projected on the walls of his home.
We have the Gates of Dread which is a blackness where the scenes fro the Procession pass on to.
There is the Threshold which is a place somewhere near the Shadow Builder and the other two places mentioned.
The Shadow Builder himself takes a special interest in a mother and son. We see the son as a child, then as a sailor, then stranded on an island after a storm. This is shown to us as a series of vignettes that the Shadow Builder is seeing as they pass through the Procession of the Dead Past.
The mother is summoned by the Shadow Builder to see one of the scenes of her son looking out at sea for a passing ship that might save him. She manages to get a crew and a ship and goes out looking for him. This is done as a series of vignettes as well.
Character Work
In the character work, Stoker explores the maternal relationship of a mother towards her child.
The story is my first Bram Stoker Story told in the third-person and I didn't like it. I felt distanced from the characters because of this viewpoint and because of the nature of the in and out style as the scenes came and went along the Procession.
Setting
The setting didn't give me any satisfaction because it wasn't a real place that I could imagine. It was described as spectral and dark and cloudy. I would have liked something tangible to anchor the descriptions in, but what we got was more ambiguous. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, or that you shouldn't do it. I didn't like it though.
This is a story that didn't work for me and I'm keen to put it behind me. Immediately after reading it, I watched the 1998 adaptation. I wouldn't bother with that either. The only thing it has in common with the short story is the title. The Shadow Builder in the movie doesn't even do the same things as in the story.
Synopsis
The Shadow Builder dwells in the gloomy nether regions of the universe, lonely and haunting in his realm. He dwells in the area beyond the Gate of Dread, where the great procession meets its final end. The Shadow Builder sees all from his gloom, happiness and sadness, hope and despair. He focuses intently on the relationship between a mother and son, watching everything unfold from his Threshold. It is from these two that he learns the truth about his power, the power of death.
Plot
The story starts off with a few pages of info-dumping so we have will understand the story. We don't meet the mother and son mentioned in the synopsis until nearly halfway in.
We have a few concepts from the opening pages that we need to understand. The Procession of the Dead Past, which is a series of scenes from peoples lives that come and go, which the Shadow Builder sees projected on the walls of his home.
We have the Gates of Dread which is a blackness where the scenes fro the Procession pass on to.
There is the Threshold which is a place somewhere near the Shadow Builder and the other two places mentioned.
The Shadow Builder himself takes a special interest in a mother and son. We see the son as a child, then as a sailor, then stranded on an island after a storm. This is shown to us as a series of vignettes that the Shadow Builder is seeing as they pass through the Procession of the Dead Past.
The mother is summoned by the Shadow Builder to see one of the scenes of her son looking out at sea for a passing ship that might save him. She manages to get a crew and a ship and goes out looking for him. This is done as a series of vignettes as well.
Character Work
In the character work, Stoker explores the maternal relationship of a mother towards her child.
The story is my first Bram Stoker Story told in the third-person and I didn't like it. I felt distanced from the characters because of this viewpoint and because of the nature of the in and out style as the scenes came and went along the Procession.
Setting
The setting didn't give me any satisfaction because it wasn't a real place that I could imagine. It was described as spectral and dark and cloudy. I would have liked something tangible to anchor the descriptions in, but what we got was more ambiguous. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, or that you shouldn't do it. I didn't like it though.
This is a story that didn't work for me and I'm keen to put it behind me. Immediately after reading it, I watched the 1998 adaptation. I wouldn't bother with that either. The only thing it has in common with the short story is the title. The Shadow Builder in the movie doesn't even do the same things as in the story.
July 5, 2025
"Poiché egli può solo amare il Presente, che sempre sfugge alla sua stretta.”
Un piccolo ma prezioso racconto dai toni cupi e fumosi, un’ambientazione evocativa che va oltre il semplice utilizzo corretto di aggettivi e sostantivi, ma che trasporta il tuo più profondo Es in un mondo ultraterreno, proprio come se si venisse gentilmente sfiorati dal costruttore di ombre, offrendoci il privilegio di essere ospiti del suo effimero, malinconico regno. Il costruttore di ombre, il cancello del terrore e il corteo del passato defunto sono nomi suggestivi di elementi altrettanto geniali che la straordinaria mente di Stoker ha creato. L’intera scena è pervasa da questa dolce nebbia cupa, malinconica, struggente, forte a tal punto da far visionare al lettore l’atmosfera stessa davanti ai suoi occhi, tangibile seppur contemporaneamente effimera.
Sono indescrivibilmente contenta di aver scoperto quest’opera. Non vedo l’ora di farne la mia intera personalità.
Un piccolo ma prezioso racconto dai toni cupi e fumosi, un’ambientazione evocativa che va oltre il semplice utilizzo corretto di aggettivi e sostantivi, ma che trasporta il tuo più profondo Es in un mondo ultraterreno, proprio come se si venisse gentilmente sfiorati dal costruttore di ombre, offrendoci il privilegio di essere ospiti del suo effimero, malinconico regno. Il costruttore di ombre, il cancello del terrore e il corteo del passato defunto sono nomi suggestivi di elementi altrettanto geniali che la straordinaria mente di Stoker ha creato. L’intera scena è pervasa da questa dolce nebbia cupa, malinconica, struggente, forte a tal punto da far visionare al lettore l’atmosfera stessa davanti ai suoi occhi, tangibile seppur contemporaneamente effimera.
Sono indescrivibilmente contenta di aver scoperto quest’opera. Non vedo l’ora di farne la mia intera personalità.
November 2, 2020
A moving and unsettling short story which is almost a prose poem with its intensely figurative language and ethereal subject. Maternal love, loss, the inevitability of death and our relationship with the shadows of the past. A lot to find in just a few pages.
It's in many ways about as far as you can get from his well known novel about Dracula.
For those who may have seen a film called Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder, don't expect to find any resemblance here. They share a name but little else
It's in many ways about as far as you can get from his well known novel about Dracula.
For those who may have seen a film called Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder, don't expect to find any resemblance here. They share a name but little else
August 30, 2021
2.5 - Written like a mythology just like "Under the Sunset", however this wasn't nearly as good, despite its ethereal , dreamlike feel, which i usually enjoy.
It follows a child and mother who have become a part of the shadow, yet the focus on these two characters was rather dull.
It follows a child and mother who have become a part of the shadow, yet the focus on these two characters was rather dull.
December 3, 2023
“The lonely Shadow Builder knows now that the loving mother’s arms are stronger than the grasp of death.”
A grim tale imbued with a sense of melancholy and dread. Written more like poetry than prose, Stoker weaves a tapestry of the living and dead — and where the two worlds meet.
A grim tale imbued with a sense of melancholy and dread. Written more like poetry than prose, Stoker weaves a tapestry of the living and dead — and where the two worlds meet.
November 30, 2025
This short story is a giant piece of prose about the sad passage of time and death. The first 3 pages are boring AF and the all caps typings of the names of places was a little much. The end part about the sailor boy and his mom I liked a lot.
May 19, 2020
Was pretty decent, I guess.
October 2, 2023
This guy is a damn CREEP! Mind your own business!!
April 21, 2025
' For he can only love the present, that slips ever from his grasp. '
October 3, 2025
Didn't follow the shadow builder.
January 20, 2026
This was not good. Do not recommend!
May 31, 2020
' For he can only love the present, that slips ever from his grasp. '
December 28, 2025
Pleasantly strong opening with an interesting concept. The overall story did not stick in my mind, though. But it has a lot of strong potential to be developed further.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews