January fifteenth

Nebula Award winner Swirsky (Throughout the Drowsy Dark) half-steps out of her usual short story milieu with a thoughtful novel comprising four interwoven stories framed by the near-future implementation of Universal Basic Income, or UBI. Hannah, a single mom fleeing her abusive ex-wife; Janelle, a journalist raising her trans teenage sister; Olivia, a wealthy, drugged-out college kid; and Sarah, a pregnant teen trapped in a polygamous cult, all experience the annual payout day as a defining event, though "defining" does not in every case imply change. Hannah, for example, ends up very nearly where she began, albeit with greater clarity about her choices. Sarah travels the greatest distance both physically and mentally as she moves from inarticulate rage around the cult's inequalities to the point of a life-changing decision. Swirsky loads up on hot-button issues, particularly in the case of the overburdened Janelle. While each of the other, impliedly white, women deals with a single situation that has some political valence but is experienced as personal, Janelle, who is Black, juggles multiple conflicts, all especially fraught. As an organizing principle, UBI works well, especially when Swirsky goes light on ideological explication and focuses on her characters responding to the changes it brings. Fans of plausible political speculative fiction should check this out. (June)

This novella by Swirsky (known for Nebula- and Hugo-nominated speculative short fiction like A Memory of Wind) is set in a near-future United States where universal basic income (UBI) has become the law of the land. Swirsky chronicles the effects of UBI on the lives of four disparate women on the 10th anniversary of the policy's implementation. For Hannah, the extra money made it possible for her and her two children to leave her abusive ex-wife. Olivia, a self-indulgent college student, parties with her equally privileged friends on what they call "Waste Day" with the determination to waste the money as fast and frivolously as possible. Sarah, 15 and pregnant, is seemingly doomed to bring her own child into the same cult she was raised in, but takes the help that the social workers at the distribution center are determined to offer. And finally, Janelle, an activist who helped bring UBI into existence, interviews people for their opinions on the money that has made it possible for her to raise her younger sister on her own. VERDICT Swirsky's slice-of-life UBI stories, present just a few possible effects of this hotly debated topic. Without either political rhetoric or exhortation, these brief glimpses of other lives give readers the chance to see what might be in a world with a social safety net. Highly recommended for readers of political and social science-oriented SF.--Marlene Harris