"Carmilla" is a Gothic novella written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It was first published in 1872, The story centered around a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. "Carmilla" predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by twenty five years, had a strong influence on Stoker's famous novel and has been adapted many times in films, dramas, animes, comics and so forth.