An Interview with M. J. Edington

Covid came along and my business went bust. Courts were closed, attorneys stayed home, so court papers became an endangered species. A process server cannot work without court documents to deliver to defendants.

Another aspect of my business was private investigation. There was little investigating to be done during Covid lockdowns, so that job also went up in smoke.

The third part of my business was working as a fugitive recovery agent. We could spend many hours apprehending a fugitive with a “failure to appear” warrant, only to have local jails refuse to book them in. Another problem covid made possible.

What’s a guy to do when his entire business collapses into a pile of economic rubble?

I’ve always loved writing. Maybe I could try my hand at writing? So, with optimistic aplomb, I set myself to writing novels.

They say you should write what you know. As a lifelong naturist, it seemed logical to write a mystery novel set in a fictional naturist enclave. With my background as a PI and FRA, I felt qualified to write a mystery novel.

The result is my third novel Naked Came the Hunter. It is about naturism to a great degree, and has no erotic or sexual content. This is my best writing so far, and I have other novels waiting to be written.

As for Covid? I never got sick. Nor did most of my friends. The only damage Covid did to me was causing the death of my former business.

When one door closes, blow through the wall with a bit of C4 and walk in proudly!

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

As a boy, I fell in love with science fiction by Clifford D. Simak, Robert Heinlein, H.G. Wells, and Murray Leinster. They made me want to write like they did.

Writing in my youth was a hobby. As an adult, I wrote magazine articles and company newsletters. It remained more avocational than a career vocation, largely for my own amusement.

After Covid, it was necessary to dedicate myself to writing. It was about the only straw I could still grasp.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

This may sound strange, but I’ve always dislike wearing clothing. Forced by Covid lockdowns to stay home, I saw no reason to wear any clothes.

I’ve always slept nude, and haven’t worn pajamas since I was maybe 12 years of age. Since I now worked from home, I rose from bed nude, commuted to work in the livingroom computer nude, and wrote novels nude.

Why not a story about a man who finds himself rescued by a community of nudists and how he learns about nudism from the community? Coping with injuries was one thing for him. The culture shock he experiences another thing altogether. He learns what nudism is, and also what it is not.

And the reader learns with him as the story goes on.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

I knew what I wanted to write about, so the title was the easy part. I am what writers call a pantser, though I seldom wear pants, and the story developed in my mind over several weeks. No outlining for me. I had a sequence of events and plot line worked out between my ears when I sat at the computer and wrote that first line…

“What the Hell happened?”

Describe your dream book cover.

In terms of Naked Came the Hunter, the book cover was designed to my precise specifications. It was beautifully rendered, and translated my vision to coverage perfectly.

Therefore, the cover for Naked Came the Hunter IS my dream book cover.

What books did you read (for research or comfort) throughout your writing process?

The Unquiet Dead by Terry Kerr was one. The Chromosome Quest series another. Lest I forget, Making The Most Of It by Jim LeMay.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

My perfect reader would be intelligent, open-minded, and willing to challenge themselves to learn about the different aspects of humanity while uncovering the naked truths that we all are human beings, perfect as we were created to be.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.