Our attempts to turn over a new leaf and start fresh in the new year often fail, but there is real power in choosing new beginnings, regardless of the time of year—be it through adopting a new perspective, or by literally leaving everything behind, with no backup plan, or simply following an intuitive feeling to look in a different direction. Here are five stories that explore how we begin again—and what happens when we do:
“This Village” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
You may have a reason different from the others, but you needed a place to go to and the village is here. You will make a place for yourself, building your own little house out of fruits and candies and dough. It’ll protect you while you start a new, temporary life here—for you may not stay forever.
“Catch a Fallen Star” by A.A. McNamara
Greger almost succeeded in going above ground and escaping during curfew. He’s what people call a slum rat, and Valentin—an older vet, one the council is looking for a reason to retire—is a rat catcher who cannot let Greger get away, even if it means being above ground as the planet’s orbit crosses an asteroid belt. The boy was too foolhardy, Valentin thinks, but he also understands: when you live in the slums, denied proper resources because you lost a citizenship lottery, you want to fight, make a better life, a new beginning. But Valentin has a job to do…otherwise he will be the one forced out of the life he’s been leading.
“A Tale of Two Tarōs” by Marie Brennan
The orphan Tarō survives by being friendly with old people who give him food, stealing only when things get really desperate. One day a rich stranger, looking out of place in his expensive clothing, attracts Tarō’s attention, who steals a beautiful coral box that belongs to the man. Later, seeing the stranger crying, Tarō approaches him and finds that the man whom everyone in the village disdains as peculiar is actually sad and grieving. Can Tarō do something to help him out, make a new start?
“A Place to Grow” by A.T. Greenblatt
After their world was destroyed and everyone set adrift in the void, Arthur and Simon made a new world for themselves and their niece, Lillian. She’d started to become attached to the current one, but her uncles have decided it’s time to build another place. It’s not the first time they’ve started from scratch, fixing imperfections with each new iteration, trying to rebuild the world that was originally theirs, the one they didn’t have to create.
Lillian doesn’t want to leave; she has a garden she’s worked very hard on with her friends. But as her uncles’ apprentice, she has to do as they say, helping them move. Or…she had to, until she makes the decision to stay and try to make the current, imperfect world work, even if it means defying her family.
“When It’s Time to Harvest” by Renan Bernardo
Juvenal and Nádia built the Torre Verde Vertical Farm together over decades; the farm currently feeds 300,000 people. Now, as they’re both approaching 80 years of age, Juvenal wants to retire and relax. But Nádia worries that the farm isn’t perfectly automated yet; there’s still plenty to do before it can function without human intervention. She’s been working on it by writing a guide for others to keep the farm running without their help, but Juvenal doesn’t want to wait. Will she be able to keep her promise or will their retirement be continually delayed?
