The settings are as varied as medieval Baghdad and the near-future to a universe made of metal, and within the pages of this collection, you will find time travel, artificial intelligence, religion, androids and automatons, alternate dimensions, parallel universes, and Peurto Rican parrots, but ultimately each story is an introspective look at humanity, with the shortest story being under four pages and the longest clocking in at just over a 100 pages. And with this collection too, Ted Chiang continues to explore the themes that he has come to be known for, in a way only he can – tackling big questions (by way of first premises) about free will & the immutability of fate, implications of technology on our lives, and how people see themselves in a new light and grapple with themselves when their most cherished, fundamental beliefs and truths are challenged. Because he has – since 1990 – published just 17 pieces of short fiction only, and nine of these find a place in his second collection, Exhalation, which includes two short stories never published before.Īs with his first collection, Stories of Your Life And Others – from which Story of Your Life was the basis for the film Arrival – this latest collection, Exhalation is proof that not all mind expanding substances are illegal. He’s been described as a science fiction genius, a superstar and the best science fiction writer of his generation, but there’s one word no one would use when speaking about him: Prolific*.
Over the course of almost 30 years of his writing career, Ted Chiang has come to be acknowledged as a contemporary great of science fiction, not just by readers but by fellow SF writers, and critics as well.
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