Antervasna : Adult Stories In English

If you’re looking for free English stories to read online, Project Gutenberg is a great starting point – there are thousands of free classics here to choose from. For more contemporary stories, Wattpad is great to look around, and fanfiction is catered for on AO3. If you’re after some short science fiction or fantasy stories, then you should check out ‘Tor.com’ for free reads online, as well as libraries offering free digital loans from Open Library, and stories from Medium’s creative section, each story briefly told to read online. There are lots of choices online here, so look around to find out what type of stories online that you enjoy most.

It's half the fun of the secret relationship, navigating the logistical nightmares, the elaborate co-ordination, the obscure language and the plethora of alibis. Deception is a practical business and if you’re going to have a secret relationship, you have to treat it as a business. Stories about the mechanics of secrecy are about competence, about teamwork and the dull grey details of the pragmatic relationship. Yes, it’s not all passion, there’s also the matter of lipstick on collars, who told what lie to whom and checking the couple’s shared calendar to make sure you’re not booked for anything else at the same time. It makes for a very interesting relationship and explores how even the most grey of missions can form the most intense of bonds. But, it’s also very exhausting and ultimately unsustainable. There’s a lot of mental energy to maintain the deception of the secret relationship and it starts to take over your life. You begin to neglect your friends and family, you start to neglect your career. The cracks start to appear not through some dramatic revelation but through the slow and agonizing process of fatigue. It’s a very real and relatable way to explore the secret and raise the stakes.

From a reader-for-fun perspective, this blend is everywhere. Search online for “romance” or “general fiction” on indie platforms or in online forums (e.g. Wattpad, Fictionpress) to find tons of stories, including the example above right: a conservative family’s daughter discovers her sexulity during her study abroad program. Or, a tech CEO returns to his hometown and finds that he has reconnected with a childhood friend in a way that challenges his modern beliefs about relationships.

The traditional story often provides the conflict for the character to overcome or even the forbidden situation. Meanwhile, the modern story explores the same situation through the character’s inner feelings and conflicts as they grapple with their desires. You can find plenty of examples of such stories on any serial fiction app under Indian romance or ‘desi’ tags, although most of them vary in terms of quality.