I enjoyed this science fiction book that explores how different people handle a lump sum payment from the government.
No two people handle the universal payment the same. This book really made me think!
However, I feel the author did not go into enough depth about what took place before the Universal Payments came into effect.
I hope the author continues writing about these characters with more info.
This book was unique and I would definitely buy a second or third book in this series!

An interesting book. A variety of perspectives, all somewhat bleaker than expected. Well-written, offers plenty of food for thought (including some atypical observations about potential UBI).

January Fifteenth follows four perspectives on the titular January 15th, the day all Americans receive their Universal Basic Income payments and how each person from said walk of life goes about their day.

This novel was very well written, the story is propulsive and the readability is great. I especially enjoyed the storylines surrounding the group of rich college kids and the storyline with the journalist and her sister. Those had the most personality imbued into the characters and I found it constantly compelling when I reached their respective perspectives.

I think where the book can fall slightly flat is in the two other plot lines, one being a woman escaping her abusive ex-wife and the other a teen girl walking with her sister-wives to get their UBI. These storylines, like the other two are well written, though not as compelling in terms of character. They also leave a lot to be desired in a way that doesn’t make these respective plot lines feel resolute in where they end. Though each ending is open, the former two plot lines feel well rounded enough to warrant the open endings, while the latter two felt like there was more to be said.

Overall, I really enjoyed the care that was put into this topic, and representing certain struggles that beset the US government and the discussion of UBI not being a catchall solution to rampant inequality.

I’m totally going to check out the authors other work and this was an enjoyable first foray into her fiction! Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the opportunity to read this early!

This is Swirsky’s first novella, I believe, and it’s a look at four women’s lives on the day of UBI (universal basic income) dispersement. Swirsky has written about this academically, but it’s neat to see her turn her storytelling to a speculative future based on a thing she’s studied extensively. Each story manages to wrap up over the space of the six sub sections, and each had fairly well done characters and good individual plots. None of the stories ends with their lives being magically fixed because of UBI, but you can see the effects of it in their lives, whether it’s allowing for abused spouses to flee, or making it easier to take care of relatives. I will warn for domestic abuse and suicide in front of a crowd. Definitely worth a read when it comes out.

If the United States actually had Universal Basic Income, what would that be like in the lives of actual humans? What problems would it solve? What problems would it cause? What would the consequences be? Swirsky explores the question by bringing it to life through several different characters. My favorites were the woman fleeing an abusive spouse who comes for her every year on the day the checks are distributed, and the woman in a cult on her way to pick up a check and turn it over to the cult's leaders, but all of the threads were well worth reading, for people who are interested in UBI and people who just like good, character-driven science fiction.

January Fifteenth is a novella set in the near future where everyone in the US receives an annual Universal Basic Income disbursement on January 15th every year.

The impacts of the UBI are explored through the stories of four people: a journalist raising her teenage daughter, a woman hiding herself and her kids from her violent ex-wife, a wealthy college student attending a party where the rich find ways to waste the money they don't need, and a pregnant teenage cult wife walking with her sister wives to get her UBI.

The author explores various points of view and does a good job of creating a somewhat realistic picture of how the UBI would impact culture. By focusing on the events of a single day, the stories are compressed and do not really resolve. Which I liked.

Overall I enjoyed reading this, but the novella length left me wanting a little more. I would also have liked to see some more discussion about the different views of the UBI. Still, it was a good piece of writing.

Thank you, Tordotcom, for allowing me to read January Fifteenth early!

It is difficult to review this title. I expect a level of excellence from Tordotcom, its titles and authors, and Rachel Swirsky is definitely an excellent writer, but I just couldn't connect with this story.

This is a very interesting premise, though I think my real-world depression over how far our society is from having a UBI made the book less enjoyable to read than it should have been. The writing is tight and engaging, and the disparate characters were really great to follow over the course of this novella, though.