#also fun fact for jonathan harker

[vickyvicarious]

The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it anywhere.

Jonathan finds Dracula's room largely empty and clearly unused. This is naturally very disturbing, but he still makes a thorough search for the key that will free him.

The room is covered in dust.

Vampires don't disturb the dust when they walk; we saw as much on May 16. But people do, and Jonathan is searching the room. He's walking across the floor at the very least, to get a close look at the treasure pile and to go through the door leading down to the chapel. But since he's looking for a key, he's also probably checking in what little furniture there is.

Is he leaving a trail of footprints in the dust? The sentence structure might just be implying that only the furniture is dusty here, not the floor, so maybe not. But then, he's possibly looking in the furniture, and no matter how he tries he'd likely disturb some of the dust in doing so. Even beyond just this room, Jonathan goes barefoot down into the chapel and crypts, where the ground has been dug. Even if his footprints weren't noticeable in the freshly-overturned earth, he might have picked up some dirt on his feet. When he fled back upstairs, did he carry some? Did he leave a trace of his presence?

(Of course, the fact that Dracula stared right at him later would surely be the most obvious way to know he had been there. But Jonathan seemed to believe the Count was fully asleep and unaware despite his open eyes and angry expression. And even if he had seen Jonathan... Dracula could be a lawyer, he's able to think like one. And what's the one thing Jonathan himself always, always looks for? Evidence to confirm what he's seen. If Dracula saw him but there's no proof so he dismisses it as a dream, that's one thing; if he saw him and then found proof that it was true, that's another.)

[see-arcane]

Do you think a Dracula adaptation set in the modern day could work?

It'd need some logistical tweaking. Lots of updating in the tech department.

Considering the speed at which transactions and travel happen and how the surveillance state has expanded, there'd need to be some major tweaks in how Dracula and the Drac Attack Pack operate through their respective roles.

There'd definitely be good scare potential in discovering Dracula is literally impossible to capture by camera or voice recording; a fact that might be hinted at early on when this esteemed client refuses/is unable to do anything so simple as phone or video call with Hawkins. Everything is down to text and human go-betweens to get around the technological barrier. Jonathan could have a heart-stopping moment when

Trying to sneakily record via phone leads to Dracula never appearing and his voice being static -> Jonathan has to keep things on paper, old school

He wakes up one day to find all of his tech missing alongside the traveling paraphernalia. Not enough that the weather/castle aura keeps blocking any signal. Everything is just gone.

Bonus points if it's Jonathan's smartphone that gets the shaving mirror treatment, and young Mr. Harker has to watch his employer-captor hurl his actual phone out the window where it shatters into meaningless plastic on the stone.

Fun times.

It'd also be interesting to stretch Stoker's original 'vampires can't be depicted' idea and expand that to the gang literally being incapable of using electronics to type out or record anything about Dracula. Some magic interference keeps either glitching things out, or worse, turning the computers into dead bricks. They have to resort to paper and analog recording.

Other bells and whistles would need to be addressed, other character dynamics switched up for the 21st century, but I think it could be done

[alanmartannielmoon]

"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. She shook her head as she said again:

"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On my saying that I did not understand, she went on:

"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?"

Jonathan Harker's journal, May 4.

Fun facts:

1. Saint George was Vlad the Third's saint patron.

2. By the Orthodox Church St George's day is on May 6. In this holiday you mustn't work, you should praise your animals and reward shepherds.

3. The eve of this day was a dangerous time, when the evil creatures caused the terrible events to happen to the village people and their animals. For example, they steal milk from cows.

4. Saint George also has the function of wolves shepherd. There is a Slavic saying "What's in wolf's teeth is given to them by Saint George".

5. Saint George is the saint patron of my city, and I know his iconic image since my childhood.

Finally, I got this funny picture, because there were very picturesque thoughts about Dracula running away from St George in my head.

[moodsandtenses]

Dracula's Guest: in which a business trip gets off to a rough start

Welcome back to Dracula Daily season! If you want to kick things off a little early this year, why not treat yourself to a read-through of Dracula’s Guest? Cut from the novel in the drafting process (ETA: the specifics of where exactly it fit into the plot of Dracula are a little fuzzy, for complicated reasons), and later published as a separate short story, it takes place today on April 30, also known as Walpurgis Nacht. The whole thing’s available here, thanks to Project Gutenberg.

Some further discussion of this absolute wild ride of a not-quite-canon side trip below:

Dracula’s patented “when in doubt, address the problem with Wolves” strategy gets off to an early start

We join Dracula’s guest - unnamed in the story, but pretty obviously Rough Draft Jonathan Harker - in Munich, on the first leg of his business trip to Transylvania. If this had been part of the finished book, it would have really front-loaded the tension, giving Jonathan a whole Vampire Sidequest to get involved in before he even gets to Transylvania. A few fun facts worth noting here: 

The Dracula Daily community has done a lot to rehabilitate Jonathan Harker’s reputation, restoring his place as a courageous, resourceful vampire hunter and countering the pop-culture image of him as a clueless naif that’s persisted since the early film adaptations. Rough Draft Jonathan, meanwhile…well, he really is a whole lot more Like That. The whole first chunk of “Dracula’s Guest” mostly consists of him cheerfully ignoring a SPECTACULAR parade of red flags: 

Whereupon he burst out into a long story in German and English, so mixed up that I could not quite understand exactly what he said, but roughly I gathered that long ago, hundreds of years, men had died there and been buried in their graves; and sounds were heard under the clay, and when the graves were opened, men and women were found rosy with life, and their mouths red with blood. And so, in haste to save their lives (aye, and their souls!—and here he crossed himself) those who were left fled away to other places, where the living lived, and the dead were dead and not—not something. He was evidently afraid to speak the last words. As he proceeded with his narration, he grew more and more excited. It seemed as if his imagination had got hold of him, and he ended in a perfect paroxysm of fear—white-faced, perspiring, trembling and looking round him, as if expecting that some dreadful presence would manifest itself there in the bright sunshine on the open plain. Finally, in an agony of desperation, he cried: “Walpurgis nacht!” and pointed to the carriage for me to get in. All my English blood rose at this, and, standing back, I said: “You are afraid, Johann—you are afraid. Go home; I shall return alone; the walk will do me good.” The carriage door was open. I took from the seat my oak walking-stick—which I always carry on my holiday excursions—and closed the door, pointing back to Munich, and said, “Go home, Johann—Walpurgis-nacht doesn’t concern Englishmen.”

Abandoned village plagued by rumors of the Un-Dead? Carriage driver crossing himself repeatedly and refusing to go near the place? Even the horses are panicking and trying to get away? Sounds like a lovely place for an afternoon stroll! Sorry, I’m simply too English for foreshadowing. 

(Maybe this is just what comes of being engaged to Mina Murray, goth girl extraordinaire, who will later display the same “when in doubt, make a beeline for the creepiest local ghost stories” approach to vacation planning in Whitby.)

The inscription on the tomb of the vampire that Jonathan 1.0 encounters - who might or might not be one of the Brides of Dracula - identifies her as “COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ, IN STYRIA.” Styria is, of course, the setting of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 vampire novel Carmilla, suggesting a direct connection between the two stories that didn't make it into the final novel.

The tomb is also inscribed with a Russian translation of “The Dead Travel Fast,” the same line from the German gothic ballad Lenore that will later get quoted at Jonathan on his first encounter with Dracula himself. He just cannot get away from that quote (and the gothic heroine narrative parallels inherent therein). 

Jonathan is saved from his nearly-fatal encounter with Countess Dolingen by a very familiar wolf, before being rescued by a search party of soldiers (who are understandably pretty freaked out about the whole affair). The maître d’ of his hotel later reveals to him that he knew to send out a search party thanks to a quietly hilarious telegram from Dracula himself, who’s evidently decided to take proactive steps to protect his guest/investment/snack for later:

Bistritz. Be careful of my guest—his safety is most precious to me. Should aught happen to him, or if he be missed, spare nothing to find him and ensure his safety. He is English and therefore adventurous. There are often dangers from snow and wolves and night. Lose not a moment if you suspect harm to him. I answer your zeal with my fortune.—Dracula.

The whole story is obviously Not Canon as far as Dracula proper is concerned - and in particular, the more oblivious narrator here is a pretty far cry from the Jonathan we've all come to know and love over the past several time loops. But all the same, it's a fascinating look at what could have been, and furnishes some intriguing ingredients for Dracula-adjacent storytelling (thanks to that Carmilla connection in particular). And it is pretty funny to imagine Jonathan going through All That and then just cheerfully getting back to travel-blogging his trip for Mina like absolutely nothing happened. All like, “Well, that was terrifying! Anyway.”

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

SUMMARY: Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula after he accepts a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses. Harker's friend, Dr. Van Helsing, then embarks on a hunt for the predatory villain when he targets Harker's loved ones.

Fun fact: this movie is also known as Horror of Dracula.

It's Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee again! Like she said before, the mod hasn't seen any Hammer horror, but will eventually get to it, she swears.

[thethirdromana]

My journey is all mapped out: a two-week Dracula tour of Europe

A fun fact about me is that I enjoy planning holidays that I have no intention of taking. So, if I had two free weeks and more money than I actually do, here's the Dracula-inspired journey around Europe that I might consider.

(Spoilers under the cut)

Days 1-3: Whitby

This is the opportunity to visit all the key Dracula locations, from a coastal walk to Robin Hood's Bay to gazing out over the village and the sea from Mina and Lucy's favourite spot in the graveyard of St Mary's.

In non-Dracula things, Whitby Goth Weekend happens twice a year in April and October. I recommend the Magpie Café for fish and chips.

Day 4: travel to London

Most of the long train journeys in this plan are delightful overnight sleeper services that will make you feel like you're right there with Jonathan and Mina rattling across Europe. Unfortunately, the journey from Whitby to London is not one of them.

Services are infrequent and the journey takes a solid 5 hours. But the start, where you go very very slowly through the beautiful North York Moors, isn't too bad.

Days 5-7: London

There's a whole heap of things to see in London on a theme by either Dracula or Bram Stoker:

The Lyceum Theatre, where Bram Stoker worked for 27 years

The various houses that Bram Stoker lived in

Golders Green Crematorium, where Bram Stoker's ashes can be visited by appointment

Assorted Dracula settings, such as those the Harkers visited on their London day trip

I'd also suggest a visit to Highgate Cemetery, which may have been part of the inspiration for Lucy's tomb (pop in on Karl Marx and Douglas Adams while you're there), and the British Library for general literary joy.

Exeter is a 2.5 hour train journey from London, so you could also go there, either overnight or for a speedy day-trip, if you're a completist. But personally I'd skip it and spend the time going to see the Lion King at the Lyceum or a Shakespeare play at the Globe instead.

Day 8: Paris

The characters in Dracula take a number of different routes to get across Europe, but I've gone with the route that the Crew of Light take as they go to hunt Dracula down in his home.

That means following the Man in Seat 61 guide for travelling from London to Romania by train, taking an early Eurostar to get yourself to Paris. You'll only have a few hours in Paris before the evening sleeper train, but it should be enough to visit Père Lachaise Cemetery, where Oscar Wilde is buried.

Day 9: Vienna

You'll arrive in Vienna around 10am, then have the day to spend there until another evening train. Personally, I'd spend the time visiting the Hofburg Palace and Sisi Museum; Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria was famous in the late 19th century and her tragic life story feels fitting for a Dracula tour.

Yes, this plan involves fast trains crossing multiple European countries without much of a breather. Just like they do in Dracula :)

Day 10: Cluj-Napoca

Note: I've visited all the other destinations in this guide, but never been to Romania, though I'd really like to go to Cluj in particular. So from this point on, this is based on googling, not first-hand knowledge.

Cluj, referred to by the German name of Klausenburg in Dracula, is the unofficial capital of Transylvania. Your sleeper train from Vienna should get there around 8.20am, in time to hop on a tram to the Old Town's cluster of breakfast places. I've been told that Cluj is a lively, student-y city with great nightlife and festivals.

Days 11-14: Romania

Time to explore Romania! At this point there's a decision to make. On the one hand, there's strict adherence to the settings of Dracula, in which case you'll want to head to Bistrița, or maybe even extend your journey on to Varna or Galați.

On the other hand, you could go more on vibes. In which case, hire a car to drive through the remoter parts of Transylvania, then turn south to Bran Castle, which has very little actual connection to Dracula but certainly looks the part.

-------

In the unlikely event that anyone actually does this journey off the back of this post, please let me know how it goes. I'd be so thrilled to hear about it!

[bluecatwriter]

Mina going to the cathedral on Sundays will likely do her good. Her and Jonathan had likely attended before they were together since it's such a big part of Exeter. But this time they can go as a couple. A good place to meet new people too (if everyone gets cool about Jonathan's hair quick)

I have a fic based on the premise of Mina going back to church, but I just need to finish it one of these days! There are some pretty strong opinions in this fandom about the Harkers' (and particularly Jonathan's) relationship to religion/God by the end of the story— it's a place where a lot of us, including me, tend to project our own ideas about faith into the story, and base our headcanons on our own relationship with the idea of God/the divine/religion/etc. As a Christian myself, I do like the ideas of the Harkers remaining Christian at the end of the story, albeit holding their faith in a more complex and expansive way than before (because this is a reflection of my own faith journey). It's just one headcanon among many, but it is one that I like.

(Also, fun fact: I forgot Anglicans had cathedrals and I was like, "Wait, are you saying they're Catholic now? I mean, that does make sense, but...") ;)

[spacethatsit]

creature/adam for the character ask game?

AGAHAGHAGA I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

• favorite thing about them

Everything <3 his autistic swag and nasty ass looks have captivated me idk man I just vibe maybe a little too much with man just thrown out into the world with no sense of identity and struggling with it

• least favorite thing about them

How attached he is at the idea of needing another creature like him when I’m right here 😚😚😚 /j

• favorite line

I don’t have my Frankenstein book with me rn but I fucking love the line that’s like “you may be my creator, but I am your master; obey.” Cause that shit slaps and also the “I ought to be thy Adam but I am rather thy fallen angel” idk man I just fucking love the way he talks

• brOTP

Adam and Jonathan Harker I think they’d get along really well with Jonathan’s ignorance of slightly ‘monstrous’ red flags and also I really like the fic Cold Skins and Warm Blood on ao3 and that’s big on this pair

• OTP

Adam and Hyde mostly lmao but I fucking live for the polycule (polycruel) of scientific monstrosities <3

• nOTP

Adam and Victor D: self-explanatory

• random headcannon

I think because of his whole being undead and very large thing his heartbeat is like eerily slow, like to a level where he should be dead but he isn’t (as a bonus thing for the book; I think that by the end of the story Adam honestly pities Victor a bit with like how weak Victor truly was cause I love the idea that he still views Victor on this level of godliness, and seeing him all frail and dead he’s like ‘damn get good’)

• unpopular opinion

Idk if I really have any unpopular opinions but I guess here’s something I don’t see super often: mans hates eye contact, it’s like THE thing that made Victor desert him, and it’s a big feature that makes him ‘monstrous’ so I don’t think he’d be too big on eye contact (also autism)

• song(s) I associate with them

Fairly obvious but Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage by Fish in a Birdcage, Fighter by Jack Stauber, Choke by IDKHOW, and O My Heart by Mother Mother

• favorite picture of them

Bernie Wrightson’s creature my beloved <3333 (fun fact; I love this image so much that it’s my pfp and my wallpaper for my school laptop)

[monstercollection]

On track to finish The Picture of Dorian Grey today and I think I’ll be starting Paradise Lost next. Since Frankenstein’s Monster is a character in the book I’m currently writing, I feel like Paradise Lost counts as research since it’s one that he has read in the original book.

My co-author and I have been futzing around with what classics exist as published books in our universe and which do not because their characters are running around. Our approach isn’t quite consistent, but we’ve decided if we feel a book would be influential and have an impact on one of our characters, it exists in universe.

Our Renfield (who is significantly younger than Stoker’s, and also gay) read The Picture of Dorian Grey right before going into the asylum. He is struggling with the idea that the things he did to survive and escape the asylum have made him irredeemably hard and cruel and is afraid that he will never return to the person he was before he was institutionalized. He sees parallels between himself and Dorian and that makes him afraid that he will never truly come back from his trauma.

So The Picture of Dorian Grey exists within our setting but Dorian Grey as a character does not.

There are some books that exist as non-fiction within our world. So far it’s panned out that most of those are books that were written in the first person, but I don’t think that’s a hard and fast rule.

Particularly, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea exists as a published travelogue written by Pierre Aronnax who is a real figure within the setting. This is, in part because I am obsessed with the idea that Quincey Morris and Ned Land know each other. I just like the idea that some of our characters are aware of the events of the book even if the other characters never show up.

Others we’ve decided exist only in the form of private notes and journals (albeit with contents and events that may differ from the books or be written from the standpoint of a more unreliable narrator).

For example, a version of the events of Dracula were in fact compiled by Mina Harker (who will likely show up in future books but not this one) however they have not been released to the public. Some of the events recorded were different or happened differently than they were put down (Jack Seward is treated as a particularly unreliable narrator). Our book takes place after Dracula’s death.

Captain Robert Walton did record the final confession of Victor Frankenstein, but again, the account differs from the book and Victor is a supremely unreliable narrator. These letters remained private and have not been published in the setting. Victor is dead before the start of our book.

Our creature has still read Paradise Lost as it was very influential to him.

Carmilla as a book does not exist. Carmilla herself is one of our main characters and deviates most out of all of them from the original (her relationship with Laura was consensual and loving though ended tragically, she has a moral code and has generally set herself up as a protector of women and queer people).

Dr. Jekyll himself existed (but is dead at the time of our story) and his serum has found it’s way into the hands of Charlotte Thorpe (an original character) who uses it to protect sex workers and marginalized people. The book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde itself does not exist. Gabriel Utterson may make an appearance in a later book— I like the idea that he becomes a partner at Jonathan Harker’s law firm but this isn’t really relevant to the plot.

Basically it all falls to what we think is most interesting. Some of this may be subject to change as we’re still on our first draft, but it’s been fun establishing the metafiction of our universe.

[vickyvicarious]

I think I may have found a Van Helsing-Mina dynamic pattern. Mina piping in to show that she knows something that Van Helsing just asked but wasn't expecting her to know.

First, it was when they first met and Van Helsing doubts her having "good memory for facts, for details?" as it's "not always so with young ladies", and then Mina going "I'll do you one better" and then trolling him a little with a sleigh of shorthand. Van Helsing praises her.

Now Van Helsing says

"To begin, have you ever study the philosophy of crime? ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ You, John, yes; for it is a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina;"

Then Mina doesn't say "actually, I have", she instantly proves his assumption wrong. She begins dropping Latin as much as he just did, and cites two contemporary sources on the philosophy of crime (though it's all now debunked pseudoscience) to back up her assessment on Dracula's mind.

I wish I could think of a way to maintain this banter in an adaptation but without a different subject matter, like the study 15th century history instead of criminology.

Anyway, Van Helsing ends up praising her again.

On a slightly different vein, another Van Helsing-Surprise Mina dialogue, followed by his praise:

“When does the next train start for Galatz?” said Van Helsing to us generally . “At 6:30 to-morrow morning!” We all started, for the answer came from Mrs. Harker. (...) "Wonderful woman," Van Helsing murmured.

I don't know if it's a teacher/student dynamic or teacher/young teacher...

Yes, it's so fun! I especially like the way she doesn't get all offended and interrupt to tell him "actually, I-" each time. It's a very characteristic detail. But just as important is the way she doesn't just meekly let his assumptions stand. Instead, she simply demonstrates her knowledge to him, proving that he really shouldn't make underestimate her. And he's astonished and impressed every time because he keeps doing it anyway and it's always fun to watch happen.

It's definitely a recurring detail. The shorthand diary, to an extent also Jonathan's diary, when she anticipated the need to not tell her things after she'd been bitten, when she surprises him with the news that she needs to come along with them, knowing the train schedule (though that was less focused on her from his part), the criminology discussion...

Not every single time I mention is as clearly expressed in dialogue with the exact pattern you pointed out, but in general we keep seeing him thinking she wouldn't know something or needs to be protected from something, only to then find out she's already thinking the same thing if not well ahead of him.

It feels like Van Helsing keeps defaulting to teacher/student or even father/daughter (in a paternalistic benevolent sexism way). But Mina just keeps quietly proving that no, actually they're equals. I guess that could lean towards teacher/young teacher (which actually, they literally were to an extent - Van Helsing was Seward's professor back in the day and before her marriage Mina was an assistant teacher) though it doesn't feel quite analogous to me for reasons I can't put into words.

As for the pseudoscience... I do think the best way to get around it would be to discuss more generally history or battle tactics. Focusing even more on Dracula's past and personality, and Van Helsing's own expectation of what kind of education a man would have had (he has to expect Jack to know it, after all, unless that is changed too) versus a woman. Unfortunately that loses the association of modernity, but I'm not sure what a better option would be to still get across the idea there while maintaining the direction of the conversation.

[see-arcane]

Today’s entry is one of many that really drives home why I can never quite bring myself to get into softer ‘uwu he’s just misunderstood and sexy-liberating’ versions of Dracula. Just. I can’t. I really really can’t.

Up to this point, he’s already had a monstrous moment in bringing the ladies their first on-screen kids meal crying and squirming in its sack. He’s had outright predatory back-to-back moments in imprisoning, coercing, robbing, and getting increasingly threatening and handsy with Jonathan. This, capped with the fact that he plans to kill/drink/gift him to the Undead Girl Gang by the end of June.

‘But what about his, “I too can love,” huh? He’s just loving as best a monster can! He could be tearing everyone around him to ribbons for annoying him, Brides and Jonathan included! Instead he goes out of his way to feed the ladies, albeit gruesomely, and has no retort when they laugh at and insult the lonely old bat. And he isn’t planning to kill Jonathan. He wants to keep him! Sure, it’s a sick version of it, but to him conscripting and collecting Jonathan rather than executing him outright is the height of affection! Surely that’s grounds for some of the more ~romantic~ takes in warped gothic flavor?’

To an extent, yeah. 

But he also just dressed up in Jonathan’s stolen clothes to cover up for the man’s own abduction, imprisonment, and undeadifying, while also increasing the odds of Jonathan already getting mistaken for a vampire, bringing home another child for the ladies to devour, and then ordered a pack of wolves to eat a grieving mother alive for making noise at his gate.

And this? This is just the tip of the iceberg for how downright hellish he gets as the novel progresses. 

Dracula can absolutely be a nuanced character within canon, offshoots, retellings, re-imaginings, and so on. And he should be! He’s a very interesting bastard who’s got so much more going on than a few one-liners and a taste for good cloaks and yummy company. But his actual actions in the book--even the smallest ones--just automatically torpedo 90% of my audience enjoyment when I run into yet another ‘Oh, but he did it all because he was in love!/misunderstood!/depressed!/unfairly maligned by the eeevil human Victorian characters in their journals and newsprint and body count records!’ version of the Count. 

Even sillier takes that try to heroify him for kids like Hotel Transylvania just kind of make my brain trip and fall into a pit of ??? 

‘Look kids, Dracula is really a nice guy and a sweet dad who runs a fun little hotel for his misunderstood Universal Horror monster buddies! Isn’t he neat?’

It leaves me biting my tongue and holding this mental grimace as I think about the sacks full of weeping children, the slaughtered mother, a young man imprisoned for making the mistake of endearing himself so much to a sadistic monster that the latter has decided to keep him as a tortured toy and undead pseudo-slave for eternity, with an entire blood buffet of human cattle still waiting to fill out the rest of the novel with trauma, horror, and death. 

‘Ohhh, but look at Francis’ tragique sweetheart version who stole all his redeeming qualities from Jonathan Harker! Ohhh, but look at the funny silly Adam Sandler cartoon and his new everyman-settling daughter! Ohhh, but look at how #cool and modern-sexyedgy an antihero/villain he is when penned by every projecting director and their grandmother! Lighten up, it’s just a different interpretation!*’

*Of the character whose whole deal is psychological torture, being a predatory creep, casual murder, and worse-than-murder of innocents.

I know it skews me towards being a whiny purist. I know. Let folks have fun. I know. But still, it feels so wrong every time I see someone try to ‘awww, he’s not so bad!’-ify him in new media when. No. He is exactly that bad and probably worse. If he’s not, then that’s not fucking Dracula.

tl;dr: Can people just make some new fun/sexy/antihero vampires instead of stapling Dracula’s name on all of them? Can Dracula just be an interesting villainous monster again?? Please??? (Please save me Renfield 2023 and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, you’re my only ho--)

[booksopandah]

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

The first truly popular book on vampires, and apparently an inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Of course, it is much less popular now than the book that it inspired, but was still a fun read. I think the best part about it was that not knowing anything about the story other than the fact that there’s a vampire, I got to enjoy the twists more. It’s still got the same ancient, undead creature, but I think it does a better job of the terror. Also, rather than Dracula being just so incredibly into Jonathan Harker, we instead have Carmilla who is infatuated with Laura. What is it with vampires and being gay? Honestly, there’s probably some cool queer history there, but I don’t know anything about it.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard lesbian vampire book. Which, to me, says that modern authors really need to kick it up. I mean this is from 1872 and it still hits. Other than the language itself being antiquated this could’ve come out any time in the past 30 years. If you like, historical fantasy, or vampire stuff and you haven’t read it yet, you can’t really go wrong.

It doesn’t really last long enough or for it to dive all that deep, but while reading it, I had no issues with that. In retrospect, I would’ve liked a few more scenes with Carmilla and Laura, because they really spend very little time together. I think a few extra lines of dialogue could’ve made it all the more haunting for them both, and that’s really what I look for in horror. Otherwise, it’s a great vampire book. Happy Reading Y’all.

[delphinidin4]

Actually, I'm not done talking about this.

Here is my reasoning for saying Dracula:

Muppet Moby Dick would be awful unless they changed the story beyond all recognition. Because Moby Dick is an awful story. Because it isn't a story. It's like, "I got on a whaling ship. A lot of metaphors happened. We tried to kill a whale. We failed. Then everybody died but me." That summary actually probably conveys more plot than actually appears in the novel. Please do not.

Muppet Hamlet: This could be interesting, but again, could only be a Muppet movie if they significantly changed the plot. Cause... uh... there's a lot of tragic dyin' in that thar play. The point of Hamlet (at least the way it is interpreted by modern literature) isn't the plot, it's the philosophizing, and philosophizing does not a good Muppet movie make. (I want that on a tshirt.)

Muppet Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis is even more depressing than Hamlet and has even less plot than Moby Dick. Seriously.

Muppet Count of Monte Cristo: Have you ever read this novel? It is a long-ass, weird-ass book. Guy gets screwed over by people, escapes from Alcatraz, then spends like a decade getting his psychological revenge on the people who betrayed him because he literally thinks he's the instrument of Divine Justice. And again, that conveys more interest than the narrative actually holds. A Muppet version of James Caviezel movie adaptation? Sure. A Muppet version of the novel? Ehhhhhhhhh please no.

Muppet Pride and Prejudice: This could work. There are enough silly and over-the-top characters that they could make it work as an over-the-top comedy, while at the same time, the story has some heart that they could be srs bzns about. My only worry is that too much of the story is one-on-one romantic stuff, which means either a ton of kermit and piggy trying to be srs bzns or a ton of the two humans interacting without any muppets. And I would definitely want kermit and piggy to play mr. and mrs. bennet. 100%.

Muppet War of the Worlds: Never read it; can't opine. From what little I remember about the plot, I think it might be simultaneously too scary and too depressing for a Muppet movie. I don't particularly want a post-apocalyptic Muppet movie unless it's going to be a parody of something entirely over-the-top, like Mad Max.

Muppet Odyssey: I feel like this could work. My only worry would be that the Odyssey is already so wild and fantastical that it wouldn't be funny enough: a lot of the humor of the Muppets is taking something relatively serious that has its ridiculous inclusions and making it absolutely bonkers. The Odyssey is already pretty bonkers. (Tho I want Circe to be played by Miss Piggy so she can turn all of Kermit's crew into pigs, AND I also want her to play Penelope, because that would just be funny as hell.)

Muppet Great Gatsby: I almost voted for this. Because this is EXACTLY the kind of story that imo good Muppet movies are made from: it is a story that takes itself Sooper Seriously Guys that is also kind of ridiculous, so the Muppets could mine all the ridiculousness out of it. The only problem is that, again, they would have to change a lot of it to make it less tragic, depressing, violent, misogynistic... Well, make it less Great Gatsby I guess is what I'm saying.

Muppet Dracula: This is the one I voted for. The story takes itself seriously but is over-the-top and bizarre and hilarious and just ASKING to be parodied. There's plenty of plot and action. There are a lot of fun characters. Kermit and Piggy are NOT Jonathan and Mina Harker, but Arthur and Lucy. They'd have to do something to the plot to deal with the fact that Piggy gets staked and her head cut off, but most of the rest of the story could stay, I think. Also, Dracula is a well-known and beloved story, just like Xmas Carol and Treasure Island. It's wild already, and the Muppets would have just the right sense of humor to make it truly hilarious.

(Bonus points if you explain how you would adapt it in the tags)

[crescentgaia]

Discussing Yuletide - warning, it's Long

The title is a bit misleading but it's more the fact that I'm not sure what to title this. Saying "Discussing My Yuletide Fics" makes it sound like I'm grandstanding but this title makes it sound like there was a problem. There wasn't. Yuletide was as wonderful and as magical as when I first started doing it back in... *checks notes* 2010.

But I want to discuss thought processes, even though they're kinda not all that deep. There was a call in the reveals post to share your thought processes. Mine are really more of a "I Googled shit and went down a rabbit hole". But let's start.

Glass Trains for elektra121 - Dracula (Bram Stroker [Novel 1897]), Jonathan Harker/Mina Murray Harker - was the first fic I wrote this year. It was a combination of it being the only fandom I knew and the idea of writing fluff. I like writing fluff because it's cozy and you can add or remove layers of what's happening during different times of the year. I decided to set it at Christmas, after the events of the novel, because, well, see fluff. The added idea of putting in something they loved, like trains, came from the letter writer which led to even wondering if people were doing glass blowing back then. Spoiler: yes, they were and it was on commercial scale. It didn't take long to make the jump from glass blowing for windows to glass blowing figurines. Add in the idea of it being a train and ta-da, you have the title. It was just fun to add in the idea that they would get each other the same gift because they're like that. Due to the events of the novel not being specific to when their son was born, I made it that Mina was in the middle of her pregnancy but before isolation. That part was another bit of Google as I simply didn't know how women who had a bit of means - I always thought of Jonathan as upperish middle class - had children in Victorian times. But yes, this was a lot of fun and I am extremely grateful to everyone who seems to be enjoying reading it.

Seperate for Floranna - Elfquest, centering on Rayek - was me having a bit of fun. A bit of background, for those who haven't kept up with the series or know of it, Rayek has always been a sort of antagonist / anti-hero type figure to me. He directly opposes Cutter, who is one of the main protagonists if not the main character, and has done so since the Wolfriders discovered the Sun Folk. However, in one of his acts of bravery / selfishness, he takes in the spirit of the villain of the series, Winnowill, as he believes he lovers her and vice versa. However, the two always fight over control of the body and she's been able to take over other bodies so he then has to kill said person she's inhabited. That's a big storyline from Rogue's Curse where I took a bit of inspiration and kept him in his tall form from Return to Blue Mountain series. One of Winnowill's powers is that she's a healer who hurts instead of heals but still has the ability to be a healer. Which then led into the idea of being cruel to Rayek and making it so Winnowill body modifies him into being able to get pregnant through her dark powers and now she has her own separate body again. I ended the fic with the birth because I wasn't sure what I wanted to happen after that. I might come back to it and write a sequel where, instead of turning away from the Palace like he did in the Final Quest, he shows up with the child and they are both healed. Not to have a happily ever after as lovers but more as family. Mostly because I do believe the idea that a lot of their ideas were the same but not to the level of lovers - Winnowill just used it against him like she's done to others in the past. But, maybe, just maybe, going forward, something could change.

Questioning for serephemeral - Rings of Power, Galadriel | Artanis / Halbrand | Sauron | Mairon - this was one of the most fun fics to write because the prompt I was given was perfect. Also, I have a lot of random Lord of the Rings lore floating around in the back brain that I simply needed to tease out with research into the various Tolkien wikis that are out there. But, basically, this fic asks why was Sauron allowed to float on Ulmo? Ulmo, for those who do not know, is the Vala responsible for all of the ocaens of Middle Earth. He has two Maiar who help him - Ossë, who was tempted by Melkor into service but asked and was granted forgiveness, and Uinen who is Ossë's wife and is the one who helps to calm his violent temper. The second question is why Ossë allowed Halbrand, who Ossë would have known or seen through the disguise as Sauron, to save Galadriel. And then what Galadriel does with that knowledge after getting the answer to her questions. It was such fun to write, especially to bring together the two vastly different knowledge bases, and I have more ideas for writing the pairing. We'll see if I actually do them.

The Change for Evandar - back to the Dracula novel but this time with Dracula/Jonathan Harker - this was a Yuletide Madness treat because I loved the idea of this pairing. I basically took an idea of twisting what happened after the incident with the Brides and ran with it. I might have also fallen down a Ao3 rabbit hole before I found the prompt and wanted to try my hand at the pairing as well. This one is ripe for a sequel - I left it that they're going to head towards England and leave the castle / village to the Brides - but we'll see. The one big thing I learned from writing this fic is that the Brides, save for the Van Helsing movie, have never ever been truly named. There's some questions about who could be the different brides or if one or two of them are Dracula's daughters or related to him, but there's no names for them. It's strange and something that I might dig more into the fandom / meta of the literary world to see if there are answers. I would like there to be answers, so that might be my big research project of 2023.

That's all I wrote for Yuletide this year! Sorry this is such a long post. I tend to ramble when I'm having fun. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and a safe New Years.

[natandacat]

Can u fill the bingo sheet for Kim Kitsuragi and Jonathan Harker? :3c

Omg Kim Kitsuragi my beloved my favorite man ever tysm

Ok so starting with the hearts because I love him:

They are sooo cool looking: self explanatory. Design of all times. The pants. The jacket. The glasses. The cigarette???? Hello Kim I would actually be gay in the other direction just for you

If they were real I would marry them: see above. Also our values match and it would be an honor

They've never done anything wrong in their life ever: I have so many thoughts and emotions about the way he navigates his job in the police, about his moral journey through the system and the way he handles both his identity within that constraint and his moral beliefs. Despite everything I believe he manages to remain ethical to the best of his abilities, and i find this inspiring. The way he quietly enables Harry is not in my opinion a moral failing; while he never intervenes, part of his apparent inaction is rooted in both a willingness to let Harry prove himself (which is remarkable given the state we find him in) and a carefully honed sense of survival -which is best exemplified when Harry does morally reprehensible things (which i havent witnessed much since i refuse to chose the fascist options). In the rare cases where I've seen it, his quietness (which protects his precarious status within the police force) always carries judgment, and we see Harry having the option to adjust to that judgment and change for the better.

They're like a blorbo to me: at any given time I am wondering if Kim would approve of my actions

They're deeper than they seem: well idk if anyone thinks he's shallow, but he def turned out to be deeper than I expected (which was also because I never thought the game would be THAT well written)

I like them enough to project my own issues onto them: ahah no Kim don't navigate a system in which you are made complicit of your own oppression while desperately trying to be a force of good

I'm mentally ill about them: self explanatory

They work better as a dynamic (?): Kim would be A+ alone but his role as Harry's (and the player's) moral compass and loyal partner (simultaneously!!!) is truly what reveals the most depth in him imo

Ok after that im afraid my good friend jonathan will not get as many thoughts because I am tragically behind on his emails I don't even know how he's doing rn I hope he's OK

Not as deep as they seem: I might change my mind but jonathan feels more like a vessel type character -I can project myself into him but so far im not getting a terribly tangible identity from him, which is fine esp in this kind of story, he's just not a fictional character i would become obsessed with

I want to carry them in a handbag like a tiny dog: I'm shoplifting/smuggling him away from dracula's castle

Free space: I just find him very funny im sorry. Rich English boy so blinded by his classism and xenophobia that he heeds NO warnings. Im sorry but if he dies he will have deserved it a little bit

I don't really have much to say about them: again my opinion may change as I advance in the story, but so far he makes me feel more things about myself than about him if that makes sense

[indecisivepsyche]

Dracula: The Evidence

Well, now that we've finished reading Dracula, I'd like to highlight yet another upcoming way to read Dracula! This one is Dracula: The Evidence by Beehive Books, a small press imprint in Philadelphia currently available to preorder. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not affiliated with the creators of this project. I'm just discussing it because I think it's cool. I'll also warn that the two cheapest options for purchasing these items are $400 (for the complete artifactual experience) or $100 (for a hardcover version). If that's too much for you, I'd still recommend taking a look at the neat prototype images and information about the creation process found on their product pages and project updates.

Dracula: The Evidence is a project recreating the primary sources that make up Dracula. As they describe it, "In our edition, you are not merely a reader – you are an explorer making your way through this archive of first-hand evidence, retracing this nightmarish story through the remnants it left behind: correspondence, charts and diagrams, memoranda, artifacts, photographs, and much more."

That means you'll be receiving items like Jonathan's journal and letters from Lucy to Mina in their complete (and unburnt) form.

For people willing and able to shell out the $400, these items will come in a suitcase. For those who can commit $100, you can purchase a hardcover art book with pictures of the artifacts and transcripts of their contents.

There's also the option to purchase a vinyl record of Seward's phonograph recordings (also for $100).

I'm going to ramble a bit more about the project under the cut, but before that here's a link to a post I've made with links to the project. One of them is a promotional Twitter thread written by a fictional archival intern hired to process the Stoker Papers. It's pretty fun.

Edit: It slipped my mind that there was a PDF preorder on offer on Kickstarter for $25. It's not currently on the Beehive Books storefront, but it might be sold once the preorder period is over.

Beehive Books has been transparent about supply chain issues and events like the calligrapher they cast to write for Jonathan Harker being conscripted in the army causing delays. However, it is currently projected that the products will ship in early 2023.

Speaking of calligraphers, they've hired over a dozen of them to write for the different characters. It's neat to hear that they've put a lot of consideration into how the personalities of the characters should be reflected in their handwriting.

If you want to hear a sample of their recordings for Dr. Seward's diary, check out the September 12th Kickstarter Update on either edition. The updates are open to the public, and they've posting a link to a Dropbox with a two-minute sample from Jack's May 25th entry.

Check out the update from January 10th, 2022 to hear how they're tackling the fact that most of the documents that make up Dracula are originally not written in standard English. Here's an excerpt from it:

"For Mina, we've had her switch back and forth between shorthand and longhand throughout her diary. We've used it to enhance character building and storytelling. She's using the journal as an opportunity to learn and practice shorthand -- so which sections does she feel most urgent about, and might she scrawl down in her natural hand without translating into her shaky shorthand? Which sections might she feel private about, and want written in an alphabet that someone who comes upon her diary might not understand?

And then we have Mina's typescript, which transcribes every word of every document contained therein, and more. This allows readers to work with the two documents side-by-side, decoding shorthand or Russian with the help of the typescript."

On the update from October 29th, 2021, they discuss how the Captain of the Demeter wrote his log before the modernization of the Cyrillic alphabet and how they had to find a linguist to rewrite their Russian translation.

Seriously, even if you can't afford to buy this, there's a lot of fun to be had in poking around the project updates and looking at the prototype images they've shared.

That's all from me! It's time to see some of the adaptations for myself, starting with Dracula (1931).