In the end, perseverence.

A mother introduces her child to an orchard aboard a space station.

On a floating city, a boy risks everything to save his baby sister.

When the police escort an aging Puerto Rican man off his front porch, he expects to be shot. Instead, he finds himself on the way to a floating island where he may find peace after all.

These and 17 other stories explore the role of hope at the extremes of human experience. The writers have imagined a variety of dangerous futures, and they’ve also imagined connection and compassion guiding the people of the future.

In twisted underground passageways, in the desolation of space, and on barren landscapes where the fate of a few seeds could make or break the future, the protagonists of Stellar Parallax: Human Hope in Grimdark Worlds find glimmers of light in darkness. Together, these stories ask: when we can’t count on our world to be rational or safe, where does that leave us? And what can we build when everything we once trusted falls apart?

Featuring stories by Aaron Timothy Ponce, K.M. Veohongs, Em Harriett, Roberto Cofresí Hopgood, Susan L. Lin, Heather Zoppetti, Austen Lee, Lucy Zhang, Fendy S. Tulodo, Jason P. Burnham, Marie-Hélène Lebeault, Monique Cuillerier, Lancer Kind, Jon Negroni, Stuart Conover, H.V. Patterson, R F Daniels, Naomi Klouda, Joyce Frohn, Frank Baird Hughes.

Edited by A.J. Van Belle