Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Gentlemen, Start Your Engines |
| Author(s): | Dana Austin Marsh |
| Date(s): | 2003 (print), 2004 (online) |
| Length: | 409K |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | Starsky & Hutch |
| External Links: | online here |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines is a slash Starsky and Hutch story by Dana Austin Marsh.
It is an alternate universe story in which Starsky is a race car driver, and Hutch is cop who has gone in undercover to assist him in solving a murder.
It first appeared in the zine Timeless #1 and is archived online.
It won a 2006 SlaSHies.
Excerpt
"Hutch had heard it said a thousand times that first impressions were always the truest. At 12:30 a.m., when Dave Starsky came strutting into the Pits, Hutch had cause to pray that the truism was a crock of shit. The man was everything that Huggy had said he was, along with filthy and ragged, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket so worn even Goodwill would have been embarrassed to give them away. Despite appearances to the contrary, he also moved as if he knew exactly who he was and fitted his own skin to his complete satisfaction. It was that dichotomy that made Hutch feel he should dismiss the man out of hand, if only he could take his eyes off him."
Reactions and Reviews
Unknown Date
This tale is in the new A/U zine pubbed by Flamingo, Timeless. I'm not normally a huge fan of A/Us — I want to read about our guys living the lives they led on the show (well, except for the 'shagging-each-other-like-minks' part) — but this story is very much about the S&H we know and love. Hutch is still a cop, but a cop with no partner, trying to crack a drug deal that's taking place at a local racetrack. His "in" at the track, courtesy of Huggy Bear, is an arrogant, hot-to-trot racecar driver, Dave Starsky. She's got their voices nailed here, and the dynamic is very much them. Nicely done overall and thoroughly enjoyable. [1]
2012
I rarely have a story make my heart flip around in my chest and make me excited for what comes next. This was great, and I LOVED the build-up of Starsky and Hutch's love life...so devestatingly hot! [2]
Squeeee! One of my favorite AU's ever! [3]
2013
I loved this story and you echoed some of the things I felt about it first time I read it.....that it was concievable that if he wasn't a cop he would get his thrills driving a fast car on a racing track...and if Hutch wasn't paired up with a "Starsky", he would probably work best alone...
loved the slow build up to Hutch's feelings for Starsky and how there was a story within a story - Starsky's backstory on why he wasn't a cop anymore....very skillfully done amid the backdrop of fast cars and harddrinking men....and a couple of them who also fell in love....
one of my fave scenes was their first lovemaking scene....the rush of emotions that Hutch wasn't suspecting he even had inside him, busting thru...so raw and wonderful...
and the tremendous tension-filled days of angst when Hutch was waiting and waiting....and of course the eventual payoff for all his angst!
wonderful, wonderful story which was very well done! one of my faves! :-) [4]
I'm not a big AU fan, but apparently if you make the boys baseball players or throw in some race cars, I'm all about it ;) The main thing I like about this story is that SH are still recognizable. They are in different places than what we've grown accustomed to, but they're still our boys and that's important to me. [5]
Oh yeah, the love scenes... Dana has a wonderful way of writing them, pulling on the heartstrings, sexy, hot... but never totally over the top. It's one of my favourite stories, too and I've re-read it quite a few times. :) [6]
The boys are still the same famiiar characters.
I do find that Starsky isn't the same - in the beginning. He's bitter, he's got a shield up, he's blatently trying to push Hutch's buttons (okay, so that's pretty much the same), and he's got a "thing for leggy blonds".
Eventually, we find out why he's all those things and of course, he has to have a "thing for leggy blonds" to make their cover & relationship work.
But initially, I did find this Starsky an unpleasant character. The trip around the back story made, not only sense from a character persepctive, but also made for a good story - period. [7]
To the best of my recollection, this was the first S&H story I read when I realized I wanted to read some! I had no qualms about it being an AU, even - it was SH and that's what I wanted
My family have been into NASCAR racing since my son was a toddler so it felt really comfortable to read. I loved how there was so much animosity between them at first that mellowed into respect and then outright love. So much happened in that week that if one looks at it from a real life POV it doesn't seem that believable - but in SH world, it's happily so and I willingly suspend my disbelief. Two soul mates FOUND each other - what more could you want from a story? [8]
I really enjoyed this story. I admit I'm a fan of this writer in general, and I think she does a great job with S&H in this story. I felt they were our boys in another setting. She did a great job for me because in most AUs, what interests me is that the canon traits of the characters are still recognizable. I find those sorts of AUs the most interesting.
I'm not a fan of car racing but in this story, it was interesting enough for me to read. [9]
This is just a kick ass story. The boys are in character even when they aren't in their own character. She keeps the quintessential "isness" :D of them totally intact while driving them through a different world entirely.
That takes a great deal of talent, and I love a talented writer who can make me believe I'm reading my beloved characters in an atmosphere completely separate from the one I've come to know and love. [10]
I love this whole story. I love the cocky, somewhat sarcastic Starsky and Hutch pretending to be his "boy toy" I also love the way it turns out with Starsky becoming Hutch's partner (in more ways than one) [11]
2003
"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines," by Dana Austin Marsh was recommended to me before the "Timeless" was even printed, which did nothing except make me think, "Aw, *no*." Boy, was I *ever* wrong. It was incredible; an psychological and physical roller-coaster. The ever-present danger of what Starsky was doing (and the stunning love story/sex) drew the whole story taut as a stretched bowstring. [12]
2005
A big drug bust is going down at the race track, and Hutch has to find a way to get the bad guys. Enter Starsky, disgraced former NY cop turned race car maniac and all around bad boy to the rescue. After some posturing and hissing, Starsky decides he'll help Hutch out for the good of humanity. The catch? Hutch has to pretend to be his boy toy...
Oh, boy. It just gets hotter and better from there. In this one story, you get a mention of Joe Durniak, Starsky's mom and dad, Nicky, Merle the Earl, and even Charlie Siren (like wail, and I don't mean the fish!)... and they all fit into this universe so nicely. I wasn't sure just how something like this could work, but I tell you, it does. The characterizations of the boys ring true to form, and the dialog is snappy and funny. Starsky is damned hot and edgy and so... cocky and self assured, you can practically see the bounce. And Hutch... distant and cool, but vulnerable and sexy, seducing while being seduced. The antagonism between them, coupled with the underlying connection and spark... This just works.
By the way, this story is from the zine, Timeless, which, even if AU's aren't your cup of tea, should be bought for the cover alone. Whoo!
Read and enjoy. [13]
I love this story, it is in my 'Top Ten' of all time favorite S/H stories. Thank you for recc'ing it! [14]
It's one of my favorites, too. I have it on my Palm, and have read it at least three times in the past month. [15]
References
- ^ from This is Katya
- ^ from Duluthgirl at Starsky & Hutch Archive, posted Augsut 3, 2012, accessed November 19, 2012
- ^ from Susannah Powell at Starsky & Hutch Archive, posted July 1, 2012, accessed November 19, 2012
- ^ from jazzybabe56 at SH Zines, posted June 10, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ from kimberlyfdr at SH Zines, posted June 10, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ from enednoviel at SH Zines, posted June 10, 2010, accessed September 24, 21013
- ^ from hutchlover at from SH Zines, posted June 10, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ from lauramcewan at SH Zines, posted June 7, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ from sc fossil at SH Zines, posted June 7, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ from dipslikeramon at SH Zines, posted June 22, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ from sparkle7311 at SH Zines, posted June 10, 2010, accessed September 24, 2013
- ^ a comment at VenicePlace, December 4, 2003, quoted anonymously
- ^ a 2005 comment at Crack Van
- ^ a 2005 comment at Crack Van
- ^ a 2005 comment at Crack Van