Started a little over half a year ago, I have finally completed my first “books in books” project! There’s elation, there’s pride, and there’s a sense of relief in the project turning out pretty much how I’d hoped it would from the start. Although instead of just one series tucked into a book, I’ve two!
This six (seven?) book set features two series by @argyleheir, both canon divergent from the Dracula 2020 Netflix series (which itself is already a canon divergent off of Dracula). Be warned, they are both very explicate.
A Gentleman Vampire’s Dossier [AO3] is the 4 book series- each book exactly 5k- done in black with spattered edges, hand sewn headbands, home made cover paper, and home marbled end pagers. It was done first, completed in… December?
House of Dracula (Fearful Symmetry AU) [AO3] is the 2 book series- both ~13k- done in red suede on bible paper with home marbled end pages. It was completed early April.
The enclosing book was painstakingly cut throughout April to early May (worked on during HavenCon!), covered in leather with cranberry alcohol ink staining the edges. I’ll have a post later bemoaning the process in greater detail.
Thank the Russo brothers for a) shooting outside in a real setting with practical effects not CGI, for going with a shaky cam that actually added to the sense of immediacy and wasn’t annoying as fuck.
Let me tell u what makes this scene so great. It’s the fact that Steve has a match, an equal. He mows down the goons on the Lemurian Star, escapes SHIELD HQ by fighting 15 people in closed quaters, jumps off a buliding and blows up a plane, then within hours he meets up with Natasha and survives a missle strike. He has no match, no equal in this world. That’s what happens when Batroc challenges him - this scene shows us that men think they can go toe to toe with Steve but they simply can’t.
And then this scene is a rare beast. It’s an action scene that is actually a character building scene. We saw the WS blow up Fury’s car and shoot him, but that could have been any common soldier. Sam could have deployed the mine. Natasha could have taken the shot a Fury. None of them could survive in no holding back fight with Steve.
Within seconds, Bucky has Steve off of him (usually if Steve is close enough to hit you, it’s game over for you), then disarms him and uses his weapon against him. Bucky dictates the speed and the path of the fight, and while Steve tries to attack, most of the time he is dodging. This tells us the audience, several things: a. Steve is in actual danger, b. Steve, judging by his face, is scared (remember what beatings he has taken up unitl now) and therefore c. for the first time in 3 movies, Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America, is not safe. The stakes are real. You are feeling the adrenaline Steve is feeling, even if you are not sure why. That’s what makes this scene a masterpiece.
