Bathrooms I Have Known

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Fanfiction
Title: Bathrooms I Have Known
Author(s): Mary Louise Fisher
Date(s): 1997
Length: 9,715 words
Genre(s): slash
Fandom(s): Starsky & Hutch
Relationship(s):
External Links: online here

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Bathrooms I Have Known is a slash Starsky/Hutch story by Mary Louise Fisher.

It was published in Cross the Line. It was nominated for a STIFfie.

Golden Boy Series

Reactions and Reviews

"Bathrooms I have Known" by Mary Louise Fisher--Set in what is known as the "Golden Boy" universe as was "Best Western" from the last BLUE EYES & BLUE JEANS, in many cases this is more of the same. Taking place several years after the end of the series, Hutch is now a writer and Starsky is...actually, I'm never quite sure what he is. While there were one or two bits in the story I liked, there were more that felt completely off. And actually, the one thing which totally threw me out of the story was Starsky's crudeness. Okay, we're in Guy Land here and Starsky was not always the most enlightened and 'sensitive' of individuals, but I can't say I really want to read about Starsky waxing poetic about the first time Hutch 'took a dump' in his presence. But that could be just me.[1]

Author's Comments

In a 2012 interview, the author talked about her fiction:

As my skill sets developed, and I've been able to handle more material - it's very hard to go from being a poet to writing prose, I've felt. So I started with very, you know, mini-plots. The domestic plot. And within the domestic I could put in, a little, you know, they are working detectives, whatever time frame I might be working in. Okay, somebody's got to go to work! That's something that's always bothered me in longer works – nobody goes to work, no-one eats, nobody goes to the bathroom. [laughter] And they're always like, endlessly gazing at each other, and it's just the romance. And what's interesting is, I never read Harlequin or standard romance. So once I started reading that later, just because I was picking up really fun covers. And most of it, you know, is hetero romance, commercial. I realize where all these hooks, and the gazing at the sleeping person, and the jeopardy – so there is, you know, there's formats, and ways to do it. And I wasn't necessarily interested in that. So anything in terms of, already created characters, that were created by TV writers and other producers, how can I make that mine? How kind of plotting can I do? So I've done like, domestics and partnership, I've used older characters, and I've tried to use what's, as a, someone who can write dialogue well, to try to get how the characters sound, and to move the story along through dialog. And almost as a dramatist, and what I found I was able to do by making one of my characters a writer. He could write poetry and annoy the partner with it. [laughter] I can plug in a poem and then get on with the story. So what I like to do is to use, you know, the faces of drama. We have our tragedy, we have our comedy, and our laughter sets us free.[2]

References

  1. ^ In 1997 Michelle Christian posted this review to the Virgule-L mailing list. As with most of her Virgule-L reviews, Michelle gave permission for fans to forward the review to any fan or mailing list that might be interested. The review was sent to the Starsky & Hutch mailing list, Venice Place where both the editor and her friends expressed deep dissatisfaction with both the content and quality of Michelle's review ("cavalier, dismissive, negative"). While the topic of reviews and feedback was not new to either mailing list (in fact many of the list members on both lists had been subscribers to Starsky & Hutch and Star Trek letterzines of the 70s and 80; letterzines which had thoroughly debated the topic), Michelle's review sparked multiple discussions over whether reviews should focus on the positive while deemphasizing the negative, whether average readers had the right credentials to offer up reviews and whether the wildly divergent expectations fans had of reviews - and each other - would ever find a meeting ground. For more see the Fanlore section on Reviews.
  2. ^ Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Pat Massie