After the wonderful success of the naturist short story anthology series called “In the Nudist Colony” – Murder, Romance, and Holiday – there was a collective desire to keep going with a fourth anthology. As co-editor Ted Bun put it, “The series has been a strong example of an online community working together. It’s also been so much fun that many of the writers were badgering us to do a follow-up.”
So the new anthology was published this past week, and just like the previous ones, it is available in both paperback and Kindle formats. From the foreword: “Adventures Without Clothes is the fourth collaborative anthology and the first to break out beyond the nudist colony. The twenty stories collected here represent the work of several first-time writers as well as other more established authors.” The guidelines for contributors, as worded by Ted, were as follows: “Your story can be set anywhere in this world or any other you wish to create. Some of the people on this adventure must be without clothing for all or part of the undertaking. You should seek to include some elements of either quest, journey or rescue and some physical risk or danger for your protagonists. Gender or species of your protagonists are not specified but your narrative should reflect the vales of naturism/nudism.”
Species? you might ask… Well, yes – species! Two of the stories involve aliens, and in one of the stories, all of the characters are fantastical beings such as elves and dragons. And let’s state for the record that many of the stand-out antagonists in these stories are animals with no need for clothes!
The marvelous cover art by Fabien Lutz-Barabé (who also contributed a story) evokes both Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, while incorporating just enough nudity to be acceptable for the censors! Beyond Ted, Fabien and yours truly, the list of writers includes Molly Freytag, D. H. Jonathan, Paul (PZ Walker), Dave Zigzag, Linda Weber, Pip Dunbar, Mary Thomas, Gregg B. White, Michael Beyer, René Bellamy, Stan Muir, Odin Dayne, Steve Green, Nikola Novak, Jerom Buijsse, Steve Williams and Andrew Calow.
As I posted on social media, “It was a blast to edit these stories!
Buckle up, because you will encounter Nudists x All of the Following:
Dinosaur ✅
Kelpie ✅
Traffic ✅
Ghost ✅
Kitsune ✅
Boulder ✅
Aliens ✅
Snake ✅
Pirates ✅
Bear ✅
Forest Fire ✅
Heart Attack ✅
and much more, including those Not-Yet-Nudists!
All proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders!”
The stories are set in many locales whether actual or fantastical, and feature a memorable cast of characters ranging from experienced nudists to nervous first-timers. All of the stories – even the highly hypothetical ones – depict social nudity favorably with realistic portrayal of the benefits of naturism… including some benefits you may not have previously imagined!
A final excerpt from the foreword: “In this anthology we celebrate acts of bravery and derring-do, real and imagined, encompassing many kinds of experiences. The stories gathered here show collectively that nudity can be a state of vulnerability, but also, and just as importantly, a state of strength.”
If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, what are you waiting for…?
Dear Mr. Forest. Earlier today I learned about the new E-book “Adventures Without Clothes.” I am one of the editors of Going Natural, which is the official publication of the Federation of Canadian Naturists. Robert Longpre actually served on our board for a time. Anyway, I would be interested in having one of our contributors write a review of this book for an upcoming issue. Would you happen to have a media release or other background information, such as the text of the Forward, that you could offer? We would especially be interested in knowing if any of this book’s contributors are Canadian – or if any of its stories are set in Canada. Any background information would be appreciated.
Hello, Dan, and thanks for your comment! This post quotes from the book’s forward, and goes beyond it by giving the authors’ names and something of a summary of the adventures.
Three of the authors are from (or live in) Canada, that I know of: Fabien Lutz-Barabé, who is also the cover artist, Dave Zigzag, and René Bellamy. Dave’s story references the characters having grown up in Canada, while René’s story is set, I believe, somewhere along the coast of British Columbia.
My email is nudescribe@gmail.com – send a note there if you would like me to seek these writers’ permissions to share their emails with you.
Thanks for helping us make these writers’ works known!
It was a fascinating event, yet again. So much fun to write for the good cause, and great to see how many people jumped on the wagon to contribute!
Agreed! Terrific work all around.