Fiction that explores self-ownership is wildly underserved

You rarely find good fiction that explores self-ownership, and it feels like the market is dominated by putting the “right” people in charge.

I used to read on the Amazon Kindle. Then I groaned near the end of most books I read. I switched to audio, only to groan again.

So many times, I crossed the same damn thing. Current government is evil, so let’s replace evil government with good government. Or, let’s abolish the State and rail against the laws of human nature so communism can take over and people, somehow, will voluntarily work for “the collective good.”

I can write an entire nonfiction book on why the latter would never work at this current stage of human evolution. Maybe it will down the road, but I’m not holding my breath.

That’s why I write fiction that explores self-ownership. Some might call self-ownership selfish, and maybe it is. But humans are naturally selfish creatures, and it’s why a stateless, communist society would never prosper.

If it could, then there wouldn’t have been so many deaths in so-called communist countries in the previous century.

It’s one of many reasons I ultimately became a stateless-loving anarcho-capitalist. A system based on financial incentives and voluntary contracts would work better, and it’s one common denominator linking my work together, regardless of its genre.

Self-ownership and anarcho-capitalism thrive in my work

In The Arcane Prophecy, you see this firsthand. No, anarcho-capitalism and free markets don’t lead to a perfect society. They’ll never lead to equal outcomes, and inequality is rampant between those who are successful and those who aren’t.

But does that mean unequal outcomes are bad? Not in the slightest. Not when success gets rewarded and failure gets punished. There’s also nothing wrong with using land and capital to create a labor force, and incentivizing that labor force to work while you earn profits and increase profit margins.

But to be successful, self-ownership is a kingpin. People must be responsible for their actions, as their success depends on it. I can underperform at my day job because I don’t feel like giving it my all, or whatever. Well, guess what? I deserve to lose my financial incentive.

If I don’t like my day job, I can terminate my employment and find employment elsewhere. Or, I can start my own business via financial risk. Ultimately, the buck stops with me.

It’s why fiction that explores self-ownership, like what’s in The Arcane Prophecy, is so important for the young adult audience.

The best way to change the culture is to write with youth in mind

Whether my books wear the ‘young adult,’ ‘new adult,’ or ‘adult’ label is irrelevant. Kids are gonna read what they want; I should know. Every book I write keeps the Youth of America specifically in mind.

And no, not all my fiction’s clean. But again, I’m not gonna say, “This book’s inappropriate for a 13-year-old” when I was watching and reading racy content when I was 13. I’m not gonna be a hypocrite, even if most of the adult population is.

It’s why I don’t worry about filtering my language here. Was I talking that way at 13? Hell yeah. So, even when my fiction reads dirty, the youth’s still in mind, knowing that if they’re interested, they’re gonna pick up the work and read it.

So why not inject self-ownership all over the horizon and get through to those kids? And why not provide an antithesis to the hundreds of thousands of authors who all but train kids to think the “right people” will fix societal issues, even if they collectively despise tyranny? That might work in fiction, but I’ve lived through seven presidencies and not a single one of them made drastic changes.

Therefore, the “right people” don’t exist, and nobody from the government is coming to save you, even if they want to act like superheroes.

Fiction that explores self-ownership from every angle

Some of my work starts off in communist societies, except those societies recognized one massive detail: it needed a strong, centrally-planned State to operate. Others started off in socialist dystopias, where strong State-ownership doesn’t fare well for contingents of the population.

But the protagonists, regardless of the story, understand that change starts not with the State, or “electing the right people,” but with the individual. That leads to self-ownership taking shape, and from there, change can occur.

For the reader, that doesn’t mean a violent revolution or firing the first shot in what would lead to a violent overthrow of the State. My characters fight back, don’t get me wrong, but only when the State strikes first. That’s when they realize that yes, they can be a collective resisting force, but they’ll never improve anything if they become the same thing they’re fighting against.

Because no matter how benign some might think the State is, the truth is, the State is the same no matter where it’s located, or who’s running it. It exists via coercion and theft through taxation. Some argue that this is legal, but just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. Especially in the eyes of nature, itself.

So, if you’re ready to explore self-ownership, check out my backlist of books at The Rebel Lore Vault and start reading. And check back frequently, because the Vault gets a good bit of updates.