Naturist Fiction

Naturist Fiction – E-book Picks, by Dave Zigzag

I have just recently started to seek out and read naturist fiction, which is certainly a niche genre. That said, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and range of titles available. Here are some selections you might consider reading while you try to stay warm and cosy during the winter.

Hardcover and paperbacks are nice to read, but you are probably more likely to find naturist fiction in e-book format. All of these selections are available from Amazon.

MG. Nash | Nudie Blues: Let The Music Turn You On
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

M.G. Nash has written several naturist novels that combine romance and light drama. Nudie Blues is her best-selling volume.

Arista, a recent widow, lives at Riverbend Nudist Resort near Savannah, Georgia, where she is the vocalist with the titular house band, Nudie Blues. While settling her husband’s estate and getting her financial situation in order, she meets Jared, a handsome man who’s come to market motorcycles in the area. They’re immediately attracted to each other. Meanwhile, the resort’s board members are up to no good. Can Arista and Jared thwart their plan to turn Riverbend into a swingers’ resort?

It’s an enjoyable light read, quite suitable for passing a rainy (or snowy) day. There’s a good mix of romance (which Nash seems to take particular delight in detailing) and motorcycles, music and the politics of running a nude resort in the USA.

Ted Bun | The Uncovered Policeman
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

Ted Bun is a prolific author, with more than a dozen titles in his Rags To Riches series.
The Uncovered Policeman, published in 2016, is the first.

The fun starts when PC “Addy” Adiscombe is called to investigate a crime at Eden Gardens Naturist Resort. It’s not a deadly serious crime, though, as the tone for this tome is definitely more geared to romantic comedy. Addy meets Bea, a regular at the resort. With her help, he sets out to solve the crime. Will he find the perpetrators? Will he take off his uniform?

It’s a quick, breezy read. It’s light on the crime/mystery element, but that’s OK. It’s fun to be there for the journey as our police constable protagonist encounters nude people and, just maybe, a new love. I look forward to reading the later instalments in the series.

Ted Bun & Will Forest, editors | Murder In The Nudist Colony
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

Ted Bun is one of the editors, and one of many authors who contributed to this anthology of naturist crime fiction, published in 2020. Some of the authors have previously published; some are new writers. They’re all naturists in real life, so you can be confident that the presentation of naturist settings is authentic – despite the ironic use of the antiquated term “nudist colony” in the collection’s title.

The mystery element is stronger in some stories than others, but each is entertaining in its own way. They are set in locales all over the world (and even off-world), and the protagonists are sometimes naturists themselves, sometimes police being immersed in a nude environment for the first time.

Ana Jurić, a new writer, contributed one of two stories called Murder In The Nudist Colony to the collection. In a rustic, forested naturist resort in Germany, a clothed man lies deceased on a bench. He is not a guest or a member of the resort. Lisel, the main protagonist, is a teacher from Hamburg who is there on holiday. She assists the investigators, Constable Hans Schmidt and forensics expert Famke Neuberg. The two officials are not naturists, and are initially hesitant to take off their clothing in order to
respect the rules of the community. But their embarrassment doesn’t last long, as Famke exclaims:

“Look at me,” said Famke with a chuckle. “I’m like a newborn babe and not embarrassed at all. In fact, it feels kind of good out here. I may have to come again, for a real visit. Let me see what this resort has to offer.”

As in many of the stories, the murder here is the kick-off point. It’s in the exploration of being exposed (no pun intended) to a naturist environment where the stories are strongest.

Proceeds for the anthology are being donated to Médecins Sans Frontières. There is going to be a follow-up collection, Romance In The Nudist Colony, in 2021. Watch out for it.

John Ball | The Cool Cottontail
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

John Ball was a prolific author. If you have not heard of him, you may well have heard of the main character in this book, as he appeared in more than half a dozen of the writer’s books. Virgil Tibbs is a Black police detective who first appeared in In The Heat Of The Night, famously portrayed by Sidney Poitier in the 1967 movie of the same name directed by Norman Jewison.
In The Cool Cottontail, a clothed body is dumped at a nudist resort in southern California. Tibbs is tasked with investigating the crime. The main emphasis in this book is on the police work to solve the mystery and find the killer, though Tibbs makes frequent visits to the resort and grows close to the owners and their family. But is it really naturist fiction when much of the action takes place away from that environment, involving several characters who don’t have an obvious connection to naturism? (No
spoilers here: I’m not going to say whether the murderer is someone from the resort or not. You’ll have to read to find out!)

Ball was reportedly a naturist himself. In this novel, which was clearly marketed the in the mainstream publishing market as a crime novel and not as a naturist book, Ball explores themes of people who aren’t in the mainstream. His character Tibbs is not a naturist, but he feels an affinity for the nudists he meets. As a Black man in a white-majority country, Tibbs constantly has to deal with racism and prejudice. The kind of ostracism that naturists experience in the wider community is not on the same scale, but nonetheless, Tibbs and the naturists have a kind of solidarity with one another.

That is the facet that I found most fascinating about this book, which I would happily recommend.

For more naturist reading ideas, there is an extensive bibliography compiled by P.Z. Walker here. Keep on reading!

And if you are a budding writer, why not enter the INA’s Short-Story Competition? It’s open to everybody over 18 years of age!

> 1000-3000 words approximately

> Irish theme (setting or character)

> Free 2021 INA membership for all contestants

> Free entry to all 2021 INA events for the winner

The deadline is 25 December 2020. Get your pen or keyboard going!

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