AENYA is as diverse a world as Middle-earth; to call Ages of Aenya a book about nudism is like calling The Lord of the Rings a book about not wearing shoes.
Sorry for YET another rant—I really didn’t want to do this, I swear—but I recently stumbled upon an article in Planet Nude about ‘nudist media,’ and came across this comment:
Now, here’s the thing: I actually 100% agree with this person. While I occasionally enjoy books and movies featuring nude or naked characters, I do not take them seriously. I do not consider them anything more than a guilty pleasure. In fact, the criticisms this person makes about ‘nudist media’ are all things I’ve said myself. I’ve even gone a step further by stating that I don’t consider ‘nudist books’ fiction. So this leads me to wonder — WHY IN THE HOLY FUCK is my book included in this comment???
Seeing “Age of Aenya” (it’s actually Ages of Aenya) alongside Loxie and Zoot and Act Naturally came as an enormous shock to me. My initial reaction was to yell out, “WHAT THE FUCK? which isn’t advisable when you’re waiting in the car line to pick up your kid from school. I sent the same critique to one of my beta readers, and she had the same thing to say: “WHAT THE FUCK?” Another reader told me, “There’s no way this guy actually read it.” And I think this is most likely the case. But the problem is, I don’t want readers thinking this is what I am all about. That’s not to say a genuine nudist book, promoting nudist values, can’t have merit . . . that just isn’t what I wrote.
Let me make this as clear: AGES OF AENYA is NOT, nor has ever been, a nudist book! Yes, there are naked characters in it, and yes, I do promote a nudist/naturist worldview here and there, but countless other titles do the same with their respective philosophies. But I would never call the books by T.J. Klune “gay books” because the author is gay and writes about gay subjects, nor would I accuse his novels of being unimaginative, thinly veiled arguments for LGBTQ+ causes. I have been accused of being preachy, and I admit to being guilty of that, but I preach a lot of things, nudism being just one of many issues I care about.
To drive the point home: the first draft of the book was based on a He-Man fanfiction I wrote back in the mid ’90’s, and NONE OF THE CHARACTERS WERE NUDISTS! Like Conan, Xandr wore a loincloth, as did his female companion, Thelana. You can see evidence of this in some of the artwork I had commissioned, along with fan-made action figures of Xandr:
The nudity in Ages of Aenya came as an afterthought and is only incidental to the plot. It would be relatively easy to remove it altogether, and almost nothing would change. At most, it would shorten the length by a few thousand words, down from 170k words. This isn’t something you can do with Loxie and Zoot or Act Naturally.
The commenter argues that nudist authors lack imagination, that every book takes place in a nudist resort, which may or may not be true, but I am NOT a nudist author, and Ages of Aenya doesn’t take place in a nudist resort; in fact, “nudism” is not mentioned anywhere in the book. The confusion lies, I think, because of my own (stupid) attempts to promote my series on nudist platforms, and because a small part of my world, a land called Ilmarinen, is home to a native race who don’t wear clothes. The “Ilmar” go naked in the same way certain Amazon tribes abstain from clothing, but this has more to do with exploring primitive cultures and less to do with body shame and modern beauty standards. And the Ilmar are just one group among many diverse races and civilizations, among them: avians, merquid, halfmen, Septhera, Hedonians, Delians, Tyrnaeleans, Kratans, and ShemÃr. Aenya is as diverse a world as Middle-earth; to call Ages of Aenya a book about nudism is like calling The Lord of the Rings a book about not wearing shoes.
Yes, Ages of Aenya does, in fact, promote a “nudist” ideology, but my take on it has more to do with environmentalism, racism, and humanism. The novel is divided into three parts: City by the Sea, The Serpent’s Eye, and Flesh and Steel. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, The Doom that Came to Sarnath, City by the Sea was the impetus for the novel. In both Lovecraft’s version and my own, an aquatic race invades a human city. But the city in my story, Hedonia, is modeled after ancient Rome, with a touch of Egyptian theocracy. As the war rages on, it becomes clear to the reader that the merquid have been fighting for more justifiable reasons than I originally let on. This is a tale about prejudice and racism, NOT about getting naked. Admittedly, toward the end of the first part, as the streets are flooded and the people are massacred, the heroes doff their clothing to defend the city, in a moment inspired by Beowulf and the Ancient Greek myths. But to suggest this makes it an unimaginative nudist diatribe is simply nonsensical. You might as well include Jungle Book, Tarzan of the Apes, A Princess of Mars, and Planet of the Apes in that list of ‘nudist media.’
The third part of Ages of Aenya, Flesh and Steel, deals with the return of HORDE, a golem from space, who houses the minds of an ancient, advanced civilization known as the Zo. HORDE plans to wreak havoc on the planet.
But the heart of Flesh and Steel has to do with a young girl named Emma. Emma is sequestered in her home by her abusive father, and spends most of her time talking to herself and the ravens who make their nests at her windowsill. Xandr and Thelana eventually make an appearance, but they WEAR CLOTHES in the frigid Pewter Mountains, as does Emma, whom they rescue from slavery. Does Flesh and Steel promote a nudist worldview? Maybe—if by “nudism” you mean it’s preferable to live and die as a flesh-and-blood human being than as an immortal, unfeeling robot.
I can only assume Mr. Critic Guy didn’t bother to read my book, that he must have made certain assumptions based on other naturist media he’d read, and I, being stupid enough to promote my book to other nudists, fell into that stupid label. That being said, Ages of Aenya is far from flawless, and I have learned quite a bit since writing it. If I had to do it over again, I’d certainly pull back on the heavy-handedness of the themes. But calling it a shallow argument for nudism is demonstrably untrue. (Hell, I am tempted at this point to remove the nudity just to prove a point, but I won’t.) Still, preconceptions are a hard thing to shake these days, which is why I followed Ages of Aenya with The Princess of Aenya, which doesn’t include any nudist characters AT ALL, and why I’ll likely never go back to the Ilmar, much as I love my naked peeps, because the algorithm ruins everything.
The Art of Storytelling 
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