Horror fiction Le Fanu, Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1886), Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890), H. G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" (1897), and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (1897). Each of these novels and novellas created an enduring icon of horror seen in modern re-imaginings on the stage and screen. The proliferation of cheap periodicals, as early as the turn of the century, led to a boom in horror writing. For example, Gaston Leroux serialized his "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra" before it was a novel in 1910. One writer who specialized in horror fiction for
Robert Louis Stevenson of "Kidnapped" to his friend and frequent Skerryvore visitor Henry James. His father died in 1887 and Stevenson felt free to follow the advice of his physician to try a complete change of climate, so he headed for Colorado with his mother and family. But after landing in New York, they decided to spend the winter in the Adirondacks at a cure cottage now known as Stevenson Cottage at Saranac Lake, New York. During the intensely cold winter, Stevenson wrote some of his best essays, including "Pulvis et Umbra". He also began "The Master of Ballantrae" and lightheartedly planned a