Better Worlds is a series of 10 original science fiction stories commissioned by The Verge.

Contemporary science fiction often feels fixated on a sort of pessimism that peers into the world of tomorrow and sees the apocalypse looming more often than not. At a time when simply reading the news is an exercise in exhaustion, anxiety, and fear, it’s no surprise that so many of our tales about the future are dark amplifications of the greatest terrors of the present. But now more than ever, we also need the reverse: stories that inspire hope.

The Verge is at its best when it’s not just a tech blog. I follow The Verge Long Reads in my RSS feed where some great journalism lives. But I still poke at the front page every couple of weeks because if I didn’t, I’d miss projects like Better Worlds. I wish we had more journalism making enough money to do projects like this.