Snowflake Challenge: Day 3
Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonepicnicking_okapiThe Snowflake Challenge Day 3 is:
In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.
I decided to discuss Victorian Turkish bath.
In the original Sherlock Holmes stories, there are two mentions of the Turkish bath. At the beginning of "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" Holmes questions Watson's enjoyment of the Turkish bath [Why the relaxing and expensive Turkish rather than the invigorating home-made article?], but by "The Illustrious Client," both Watson and Holmes have a weakness for the Turkish bath and, that greatest gift of lines: It was over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room that I have found him less reticent and more human than anywhere else."
Oh, Artie*, really, you shouldn't have!
* meaning Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
But why Turkish? Why am I so keen on Sherlock Holmes fic set in Turkish baths? Well, it's a private setting and a contrast to the more conservative, public sphere of Victorian society. It's usually an all-male (or all-female) setting which lends itself to homoeroticism. It's a sensual world, full of perfume and spice and the scent of human bodies. It's a world of contrasts, heat vs. cold. Cool pools, hot sweat, smoke. And it usually features massage & states of undress. And there's an exotic element: orientalism, otherness. So if you're keen to write Holmes & Watson in an explicit scenario, it's a natural fit. Causal coupling, established relationship, first time, it all works very easily at the bath. Pretty much any kink you'd like them to explore is possible.
Just to add, I have never been to a Turkish bath, but I have been to a Korean spa, and I enjoyed the experience. I've had various experiences with massage over the years and enjoyed most of them. I have not-well-articulated ideas about healing touch and manual manipulation. I've had experiences where a massage was damn near miraculous (i.e., it enabled me to complete a half-marathon when I was 6 months pregnant!). And I am very sensitive to smells myself, so I like the idea of Holmes and Watson in a pleasantly-scented (even erotically-scented) environment. And I enjoy writing explicit fics without have to worry about how they're going wash all the goop off.
Here are some Sherlock Holmes (ACD) Holmes/Watson Turkish bath fics. All are explicit or mature rated. There may be mention of a case, there may be feels, but the focus of these is mostly two fellows getting off with each other at the bath.
Benefits of the Turkish Bath and Head of Steam by tweedisgood. The first is three drabbles. The second was written for the Come at Once challenge.
Anything stirring by gardnerhill. Written for the Come at Once challenge.
But Why Turkish? by mistyzeo. A commissioned work.
How Sherlock Holmes Was Compelled to Remember One Festive Occasion Per Year: A Reminiscence by John H. Watson, MD by MirithGriffin. I consider this the gold standard in Turkish bath fic.
In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.
I decided to discuss Victorian Turkish bath.
In the original Sherlock Holmes stories, there are two mentions of the Turkish bath. At the beginning of "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" Holmes questions Watson's enjoyment of the Turkish bath [Why the relaxing and expensive Turkish rather than the invigorating home-made article?], but by "The Illustrious Client," both Watson and Holmes have a weakness for the Turkish bath and, that greatest gift of lines: It was over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room that I have found him less reticent and more human than anywhere else."
Oh, Artie*, really, you shouldn't have!
* meaning Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
But why Turkish? Why am I so keen on Sherlock Holmes fic set in Turkish baths? Well, it's a private setting and a contrast to the more conservative, public sphere of Victorian society. It's usually an all-male (or all-female) setting which lends itself to homoeroticism. It's a sensual world, full of perfume and spice and the scent of human bodies. It's a world of contrasts, heat vs. cold. Cool pools, hot sweat, smoke. And it usually features massage & states of undress. And there's an exotic element: orientalism, otherness. So if you're keen to write Holmes & Watson in an explicit scenario, it's a natural fit. Causal coupling, established relationship, first time, it all works very easily at the bath. Pretty much any kink you'd like them to explore is possible.
Just to add, I have never been to a Turkish bath, but I have been to a Korean spa, and I enjoyed the experience. I've had various experiences with massage over the years and enjoyed most of them. I have not-well-articulated ideas about healing touch and manual manipulation. I've had experiences where a massage was damn near miraculous (i.e., it enabled me to complete a half-marathon when I was 6 months pregnant!). And I am very sensitive to smells myself, so I like the idea of Holmes and Watson in a pleasantly-scented (even erotically-scented) environment. And I enjoy writing explicit fics without have to worry about how they're going wash all the goop off.
Here are some Sherlock Holmes (ACD) Holmes/Watson Turkish bath fics. All are explicit or mature rated. There may be mention of a case, there may be feels, but the focus of these is mostly two fellows getting off with each other at the bath.
Benefits of the Turkish Bath and Head of Steam by tweedisgood. The first is three drabbles. The second was written for the Come at Once challenge.
Anything stirring by gardnerhill. Written for the Come at Once challenge.
But Why Turkish? by mistyzeo. A commissioned work.
How Sherlock Holmes Was Compelled to Remember One Festive Occasion Per Year: A Reminiscence by John H. Watson, MD by MirithGriffin. I consider this the gold standard in Turkish bath fic.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-04 07:46 pm (UTC)No down-side except that because it is 15 days some of the day's challenges can get a little overlapping. But so far, I'm enjoying it.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-05 01:33 pm (UTC)Anything that crosses fandoms is good for me and I agree wtih you! I am finding out a lot about people so spiffing.
Hmmm, hopefully the overlap won't be too much?
I also agree with you entirely on the sensual private setting of the Turkish baths and the enclosed separate world it harboured - within this little world anything is possible and I am glad fic has taken that in stride for Holmes & Watson and so on.
Also..a half marathon when 6 months pregnant?!? :O
That is incredible.
=^_^=
no subject
Date: 2019-01-05 04:47 pm (UTC)