Autonomy Stories

After spending most of her life away from her home Kingdom of Pyraxis, Avira Rosso is ordered to return by the authoritarian monarch, The Infernos, and his alluringly handsome heir, the Ignis. With her political and national loyalties in question, she is forced into a religious rite meant to ensure her fidelity through a spiritual bond to the land, granting the citizens their ruby fire magic that has shaped the Pyraxian kingdom and culture. Though, Avira's magic manifests in dangerous opposition to what is expected. With her anomalous response to the ritual interpreted as undisciplined weakness, she is detained in a military fortress academy designed to forge her into a controlled fire-wielder before her untamed magic can consume her. Uncovering the mystery of her magic finds Avira caught between a ruthless monarch who demands control, a divine council of all-powerful theocrats who demand conformity, and the heir who only desires her. Who decides a person's identity? Firelight is a political romantasy about autonomy and control and a woman who chooses her destiny in a world determined to decide for her. ** This is a work in progress; names and details are subject to change. **

Mariana Reina Arce lives in a world where success comes with rules no one ever reads out loud. Every smile is timed. Every silence is strategic. Every choice belongs to someone else long before it belongs to her. From the outside, she has everything. From the inside, she is disappearing. When a connection forms beyond the boundaries of her controlled life, it exposes the quiet truth behind the spectacle, that fame is not freedom, and love is treated like a liability. As pressure closes in and obedience is mistaken for gratitude, Mariana is forced to confront the cost of surviving a system that was never designed to let her grow. This is not a story about rebellion for its own sake. It is a story about the moment endurance stops being brave. Tense, intimate, and uncomfortably real, this novel explores power that never raises its voice, control that hides behind care, and the courage it takes to choose visibility over safety. Because sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is refuse to disappear.

To bind yourself prematurely is to limit your options and surrender leverage. Power flows where freedom remains. This law teaches the art of remaining independent, keeping your alliances fluid, and navigating relationships with clarity. Commitment should be strategic, not instinctive; influence grows when you retain mobility and choice.

A country with no body. A government with no master. And a system that rewards absurdity. Beyond Meaning-discover the ghost in the machine.

Autonomy —noun, (plural au·ton·o·mies): independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions To Mariya Jackobsson, the concept of autonomy is dead. It was never alive in the first place. In her world, every decision is made for you. From choosing what to wear to if you should have a child, every action and choice is filtered through your superiors, wether it be bosses or older siblings. The year 2109 is dominated by the Levels and Examination Week and who has the right to decide, and Mariya's starting to wonder if the best person to make decisions about her life is herself.

In Etheca, each and every person lives a full life. All diseases and illnesses have been eradicated, and there are no more genetic defects or abnormalities which impede on the quality of life. All resources are shared equally amongst all people and every phase of life is catered for to ensure that each human being lasts for their designated 125 years. When one's time on Earth has been exhausted, their body is surrendered to harvest new life. When an infant is grown from the deceased, it supplants its lifegiver and is sterilised to maintain the order of the population. Within this society lineage and genealogy are of no importance; gender has been removed from sex, and from sex the production of human life. Pip was created in Etheca twenty-eight years ago. She is an only child to her two caregivers and has no plans to be one herself. She has trained her whole life to become a leading libera at the Menkin centre, with the hope that she can study the wakers who have established life in Hera, a municipality beyond Etheca. Pip and her team set out on their assignment, and discover that wakers willingly reject medical intervention; their society is rife with sickness and premature death. They meet Eve, a teenage girl desperate to flee Hera, who reveals to Pip and her auxiliary libera, Don, that she is growing a child and will soon undergo a dangerous biological process called birth. Pip is determined to not only save this girl, but to investigate the possibilities she can bring to improve the quality of life in Hera. Unbeknownst to Pip, Don begins to obsess over this new-found understanding of birth, endeavouring to uncover the very genesis of humankind, a notion which threatens to dismantle all of Etheca.

Sequel to 'Rip - Trust'. Three years after the murder of his mother and little brother, Rip has finally started to settle into his uncle's home having found security and love. The ghosts of his childhood however are starting to haunt him now even more than ever and in ways that sabotage and undermine his attempt to become a person he himself can respect and love.

Annie, a 26-year-old working woman, ends up pregnant after a one-night stand following a breakup and work event. Despite advice to terminate the pregnancy and not knowing the identity of the father, she chooses to keep the baby. Annie attempts to find the father and raise her child, leading her to join a Single Moms Club. There, her optimistic approach divides her from the other leery, single mothers who continuously struggle with parenthood.

Society says: solitude is an epidemic that needs to be cured. But what if, for you, it's a conscious choice? The Manifesto of Solitude is a revolutionary exploration that challenges the cultural imperative of connectedness. Based on interviews with people from 20 countries and scientific data from around the world, this book proves: you can be happy, fulfilled, and a complete person - alone. If you've ever felt pressure to start a family, get married, have children, but deep down knew you wanted something different - this book is for you.

basically the sci-fi trope of technology gaining autonomy

Anna Whitfield never questioned the safety of her small-town church life-until Elias walked in. Charismatic, devout, and new to Fairhaven, he seems eager to serve, eager to belong. Too eager. What begins as chance meetings and friendly encouragement soon spirals into something far more dangerous? Notes appear under Anna's door. Flowers she never asked for. Late-night messages laced with Scripture. To everyone else, Elias is the picture of Christian sincerity. To Anna, he is a shadow tightening around her life. As his fixation escalates from subtle surveillance to public confrontation, Anna must fight to be believed-and to survive the devotion of a man convinced that God Himself has chosen her as his bride. Obsession hides behind faith. Love blurs into control. And one woman learns how thin the line is between sanctuary and cage.

In a society where identity can be manufactured, Elian dares to replicate the woman whose fleeting kindness altered the course of his life. But when Echo-the clone-opens her eyes, she's nothing like the memory he clings to. As reality fractures and Echo begins to question her own origin, Elian is forced to confront what he's truly chasing: love, redemption... or something far more elusive. One moment sparked obsession. One replica threatens everything. Sometimes, the past shouldn't be rebuilt-it should be forgotten.

Two essays analyzing Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire through feminist and Marxist critical lenses.