As I recently posted, the new naturist anthology Beneath Healing Skies released last month. The anthology includes dozens of stories by naturist authors. All of the stories relate in some way to the theme of the healing aspects of naturism - an idea that many naturists deeply connect with.
I have placed stories with two previous anthologies put together by the same group, Murder in the Nudist Colony and Romance in the Nudist Colony. Those anthologies had a clearer focus; the common theme was more straightforward. This new one was a novel challenge.
The problem, for me, is that the theme suggested a straightforward plot: present a problem; introduce nudity; problem solved. For many nudists, this is a satisfying structure. For most non-nudists, it’s trite, bordering on nonsensical. I was determined not to take that easy route.
As it happens, I have a number of story ideas lined up that I’m working on, so I tried to make them fit the anthology. It just didn’t work. Some stories related to the theme so tangentially that I couldn’t in good conscience use them. Others would end up too close to the trite structure I wanted to avoid; no matter how much I buried it in other devices, the problem–nudity–solution dynamic would, at least to me, shine through.
For a few weeks, I noodled around on this. And only a couple of weeks before the deadline, I hit on the idea I needed. Funny how deadlines have a way of sharpening one’s brain, isn’t it!
The idea I came up with involves a man who runs a naturist park. He has worked hard to make the park as visitor-friendly as possible, even though no one ever seems satisfied with what he’s done. And as the story begins, he has gone too far - nature, in a way, has burst through the carefully manicured edges of the park, and She is not happy.
This idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while, because I have seen it in action in two naturist clubs I’m familiar with. There is a constant tension for these clubs between creating a beautifully managed space that will attract and retain visitors, and keeping the rustic, natural beauty of the environment as an important part of the experience.
Isn’t this the crux of the problem with modern naturism? The entire naturist philosophy is based on a set of values that are often at odds with the realities of a commercial operation. A historic example: in the 1970s, nudist beauty pageants were the only way some clubs were able to get any press at all (because newspapers would not run ads for nudist resorts). And yet beauty pageants run exactly counter to the concept of the natural beauty inherent equally in every person.
In more modern times, clubs might use photos of slim, young nude bodies to promote themselves, even though the reality is that these images do not represent the naturist experience. And clubs hold highly sexualized events and dances to attract traffic, even though sexualizing nudity is the opposite of what we hope to achieve as a movement.
In my story, the main character is similarly violating naturist values, not by sexualizing nudity, but by removing nature itself from the equation. My feeling is that, one way or another, nature will heal herself. And if we do not constantly keep ourselves aligned with our naturist values, we will not be healed; we will be the wound itself that nature heals.
I submitted the story with, I admit, some trepidation. While the story addressed the theme clearly in my own mind, I could not be sure that readers would see it the same way. I worried that I was being too obscure, or missing the point.
To my relief, the anthology compilers (Will Forest, Ted Bun, and Paul Z Walker) were okay with my approach, and the story was enthusiastically accepted. There were a couple of rounds of editing, but Will and Paul are highly competent editors, so I accepted their suggestions gratefully and gladly. And soon enough the story was complete.
I am proud of this story, as I have been proud of all the naturist fiction I have published. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Beneath Healing Skies - and if you have, let me know what you think of my story, as well as the rest of the anthology, in the comments below!
