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Synopsis
'Lean, relentless, and incandescent.' Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys
This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revelatory ideas and deeply sympathetic characters. In 'The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate,' a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and the temptation of second chances. In the epistolary 'Exhalation,' an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications not just for his own people, but for all of reality. And in 'The Lifecycle of Software Objects,' a woman cares for an artificial intelligence over twenty years, elevating a faddish digital pet into what might be a true living being. Also included are two brand-new stories: 'Omphalos' and 'Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom.'
In Exhalation, Ted Chiang wrestles with the oldest questions on earth - What is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human? - and ones that no one else has even imagined. And, each in its own way, the stories prove that complex and thoughtful science fiction can rise to new heights of beauty, meaning, and compassion.
PRAISE FOR EXHALATION
'A collection of short stories that will make you think, grapple with big questions, and feel more human. The best kind of science fiction.' Barack Obama
'The stories in Exhalation are a shining example of science fiction at its best. They take both science and humanism deeply seriously, which is why it's so satisfying to watch Chiang's shining, intricate machine at work: You know that whatever the machine builds, it will tell you something new about human beings.' Vox
'This collection is a stunning achievement in speculative fiction, from an author whose star will only continue to rise.' Los Angeles Review of Books
'likely to linger in the memory the way riddles may linger-teasing, tormenting, illuminating, thrilling.' New Yorker
'Chiang is, among other things, a short story specialist... He takes an idea (sometimes big, sometimes small, most often somewhere nebulously in-between) and gives it exactly the number of words it needs.' NPR New & Used
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What Reviewers Are Saying
As much thought experiments as stories, Ted Chiang's exquisite mechanisms employ science fiction as an instrument to probe the human condition. Like the chronicler of Exhalation's title narrative, he opens the back of his own head and lays bare its mysterious golden motion for the hushed appreciation of an awestruck audience. Beautifully written and conceived, this is a marvellous, astonishing collection that we would do well to read before the worlds it conjures are upon us. Urgently recommended. -- Alan Moore Deeply beautiful . . . This book is as generous as it is marvelous, and I'm left feeling nothing so much as grateful for it. * New York Times * Exhalation is a breath of fresh air . . . If there's an overarching theme, it's that we should take time to appreciate the miracle of existence and cherish the free will we have to pursue our destinies - while we still can. * Financial Times * A beguiling mix of compassion and awe, worthy of comparisons to the work of Philip K. Dick . . . An immensely pleasing book. * San Francisco Chronicle * We all know Ted Chiang is a fucking genius, but: Ted Chiang is a fucking genius. -- Carmen Maria Machado 'Like such eclectic predecessors as Philip K. Dick... Jorge Luis Borges, Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, China Mieville, and Kazuo Ishiguro, Chiang has explored conventional tropes of science fiction in highly unconventional ways... Magically inventive... each [story is]... likely to linger in the memory the way riddles may linger - teasing, tormenting, illuminating, thrilling.' * New Yorker * Ted Chiang's stories are lean, relentless, and incandescent. -- Colson Whitehead 'Chiang is a master. . . . The Alice Munro of science fiction.' * LitHub * '[Chiang] is so good that this book qualifies as an event.' * Newsday * Illuminating, thrilling . . . Individual sentences possess the windowpane transparency that George Orwell advocated as a prose ideal. -- Joyce Carol Oates * New Yorker * Smart, sharp, self-contained experiments of thought and feeling whose impact goes beyond their page count; the more you think about them, the more possibilities they open up. * SFX Magazine * 'Ted Chiang has no contemporary peers... His name deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Carver, Poe, Borges, and Kafka. Every story is a universe. Every story is a diamond. You will inhale Exhalation in a single, stunned sitting, because true genius doesn't come along nearly as often as advertised. This is the real thing.' * Blake Crouch * 'Ted Chiang writes with such a matter-of-fact grace and visionary power that one simply takes on faith that his worlds and his characters exist, whether they are human or robot or parrot; he is the rare author who makes me feel, also, that he believes in his readers, in our integrity and our imagination.' -- Karen Russell Breaks down what it really means to be human. * Time * So jammed with brilliant, mind-exploding ideas it's like the author packed fireworks between the covers. * National Public Radio * 'Meticulously crafted and innovative short fiction... Chiang's stories are uniformly notable for a fusion of pure intellect and molten emotion... narrative[s] of refined human sensitivity and soulfulness... While this combination represents the ideal definition and practice of all science fiction, it's seldom achieved... Masterful and striking... plucks both heartstrings and gray matter in equal measure.' * Washington Post * 'Chiang produces deeply moving drama from fascinating first premises... These stories are brilliant experiments, and [Chiang's] commitment to exploring deep human questions elevates them to among the very best science fiction.' * Publisher's Weekly starred review * 'This stellar collection... begins with an instant classic... Visionary speculative stories that will change the way readers see themselves and the world around them: This book delivers in a big way.' * Kirkus starred review * Each of his devastating stories mines little pieces of humanity from unexpected points of view. * Vulture * 'Explores emotional and physical landscapes with precise and incisive prose... Chiang remains one of the most skilled stylists in SF, and this will appeal to genre and literary-fiction fans alike.' * Booklist starred review * 'Chiang is always thought provoking, and his latest collection is no exception.' * Library Journal starred review *