Well, I finished The New Woman(64k!!), which means I've also finished my Strange Wonders series (114k!!!!!!! sorry I know this is not in general impressive in the writing world but I didn't know I had it in me), which takes the idea that Mina and Jonathan swap places starting the night of Sept. 30th seriously and tries to figure out what that would look like and how that would work. I might edit it and fool around a bit, but's done, it's got a whole climax, and themes and everything and I've worked on it slowly for the past 2.5 years. Mina and Jonathan swapping places is definitely my favorite headcanon, however, over the course of writing it, I've gained a lot of perspective on the novel, and I'd hate for anyone to be put off from reading it bc they think I'm coming from a place of trying to 'fix' the novel just like every other shitty adaptation. I'm not (alright I try to fix somethings- like how the whole month after Oct. 3rd just... doesn't up the ante at all and feels a little lame for my personal tastes, BUT I don't view myself as 'fixing' Mina). I think that having Mina as the target does a LOT, and allows Mina and Jonathan as characters to go to some really interesting places, swapping them to me just allows them to go to interesting new ones. I wrote it with a lot of love for the original characters and source material, as well as the time period, and I hope it shows. I'm really proud of it. Give it a read if you're interested.

I've been meaning to make a pinned post with a link to Strange Wonders for ages, and now that Dracula Daily is over (again) I figured I finally would.

Strange Wonders explores the chain of events that happen when Jonathan is the one to stay home on September 30th. It's a story about survival, love, gothic horror and grasping for freedom. It's me taking the melodrama of Bram Stoker's Dracula waaaay too seriously but also being super indulgent about my love of 19th century literature and my love of Jonmina, of course. I care way more about it than is sane.

I'm so angry about this by the way. I already posted this chapter of Strange Wonders but were it not for the constraints of Victorian etiquette I could have used the sun rising behind Quincey and forming a ring around the brim of his cowboy hat as halo imagery. Rude to women. Unbelievable. Why would Victorian society do this to me.

I think- I think feasible alternative shipping routes through the Black Sea in 1897 is where I bow out, from a fanfiction research standpoint. Like. I'm done I'm just making things up to suit my plot needs realism be damned Bram Stoker Eat Your Heart Out

Next chapter of The New Woman is OUT! In which I told myself over and over "it's not my fault it's a soap opera, bram stoker's the one who wrote in the blood taint"

Anyway, to shamelessly self-promote, if anyone wants to read a version of Dracula where Mina does actually get to stand up to Van Helsing and assert her right to stay involved, my fic The New Woman does this. (https://archiveofourown.org/works/45598579/chapters/114739516)

It's part of a larger series where broadly speaking Mina and Jonathan swap narrative roles from September 30th onwards, but this fic is dedicated specifically to Mina figuring out her own gender shit. The entire thing is a pastiche of Dracula and I have tried very hard to keep the story grounded in Victorian attitudes and to explore what that would mean as Mina continually transgresses them. Bigtime spoilers though.

New chapter of The New Woman is out baby! In which Mina mentions a new woman and a new update requires an old framing device :)

Strange Wonders explores the chain of events that happen when Jonathan is the one to stay home on September 30th. It's a story about survival, love, gothic horror and grasping for freedom.

The New Woman:

Mina Murray Harker has only ever wanted to be a good English woman, and up until now, she thought she knew what that meant. But with Lucy gone, and Jonathan facing a fate worth than death, Mina finds herself in situations both physical and emotional that she has no idea how to handle. However, people need her, so she rolls up her sleeves and does her best to figure it out.

A multi-chapter fic within the Strange Wonders canon which will span from the group's meeting on September 30th to right before the beginning of Bitter Waters on October 31st, with Mina as the narrator.

Me, including one (1) reference/joke about vampirism vs consumption in the next update of my fic: I am literally the most genre savvy bitch of all time. Doyle could not write mystery the way I can write pastiches of Gothic Horror

The next update for New Woman is out! I've got to say it dips into So Many different places, including a little teaser of things to come for all you Seward enjoyers out there :)

The New Woman (23502 words) by astrangergivingthestrangewelcome Chapters: 10/? Fandom: Dracula & Related Fandoms, Dracula - Bram Stoker (Novel 1897) Series: Part 5 of Strange Wonders Summary: Mina Murray Harker has only ever wanted to be a good English woman, and up until now, she thought she knew what that meant. But with Lucy gone, and Jonathan facing a fate worth than death, Mina finds herself in situations both physical and emotional that she has no idea how to handle. However, people need her, so she rolls up her sleeves and does her best to figure it out. A multi-chapter fic within the Strange Wonders canon which will span from the group's meeting on September 30th to right before the beginning of Bitter Waters on October 31st, with Mina as the narrator.

In the lastest edition of Lying in the Bed I Made my mother asked me when Mina and Jonathan were going to have a baby in my Strange Wonders series and the ";)" was all in her voice like my mom said "when is this plot going to get some porn into it" to her own daughter.

The next chapter of The New Woman is out!

"Mina Murray Harker has only ever wanted to be a good English woman, and up until now, she thought she knew what that meant. But with Lucy gone, and Jonathan facing a fate worth than death, Mina finds herself in situations both physical and emotional that she has no idea how to handle. However, people need her, so she rolls up her sleeves and does her best to figure it out.

A multi-chapter fic within the Strange Wonders canon which will span from the group's meeting on September 30th to right before the beginning of Bitter Waters on October 31st, with Mina as the narrator."

Next two chapters (not to mislead one of the chapters is quite short it is essentially a one chapter update) of The New Woman are UP. This one is an action heavy one guys.

If anyone is interested, I did some edits of my earlier works in the Strange Wonders series, and there's new stuff in Uncommon Horrors and Unnatural Hurts, Resilience of the Dawn, and Blood Wisdom (Blood Wisdom is mostly the same with an added Jonmina scene at the end because I don't hate happiness). If you liked my work might be worth giving it a reread.

Wrote a little sequel to my Van Helsing fic, it's from Jonathan's perspective but still centers the friendship and father son dynamic between him and Van Helsing!