January Fifteenth

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.