No two of Exhalations stories are alike. . In medieval Baghdad, a penniless man is brought before the most powerful man in the world, the caliph himself, to tell his story. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have been otherwise. Narrators who, at first glance, appear to be human turn out to be anything but; settings that seem like our world are gradually revealed to besomething else entirely. It is said that repentance and atonement erase the past. (pp. Again, amazing, how thoughts of life and living are spread before the reader in such a feast of words. : Fuwaad is amazed. The author has such an amazing command of that elusive literary quality which is called voice that partway through I forgot that I wasn't listening to a master storyteller. I recently read The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate from author Ted Chiang. Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/27/the-merchant-and-the-alchemists-gate-by-ted-chiang/, Taking Stock of 2015 The Frumious Consortium, We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle, Women Of Myth by Jenny Williamson & Genn McMenemy, Fitter. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false. (p. 75). A wandering merchant in medieval Baghdad is brought before the Caliph, and recounts tales of ingenious gates that allow time travel to the past and future. In this novelette, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a merchant in ancient Baghdad is brought before the Caliph, the chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, with a story of time travel brought on by the Egyptian Alchemist . Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord. That is all, but that is enough. This novelette absolutely blew me away. Irene Woodward, a tough New Yorker, covers up the bruises received, Lin-Greenbergs exceptional debut novel (after the collection Vanished) explores a complex web of relationships at a fading mall in Albany, N.Y. The prose is just ok perhaps, but what I found more surprising is the impeccable way the author deals with the subject of time travel. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate won both the Nebula Award and Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and, frankly it's easy to see why. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. understand his motives when he refuses to change his ways, even after Santiago shows [3], Publishers Weekly wrote a positive review for the story, calling it "skillfully written". The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang, July 23, 2007, Subterranean Press edition, Hardcover in English. by Randall Munroe The Martian by Andy Weir The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate by Ted Chiang Pyramids by Terry Pratchett So, Anyway by John Cleese The End of the Sentence by []. The Alchemist. The stores owner introduces himself as Bashaarat (the name may mean good news), and he appears to have unlimited time available for Fuwaad. "The Gate of Years", it turns out, is a wormhole through which a person can travel forwards and backwards in time. When Fuwaad again expresses his skepticism, Bashaarat offers to show him something no one else has seen before. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Exhalation by Ted Chiang: Summary and reviews OH MY GOD. x\IvQQ(ev DEj2_qc"m~|Q1?|1nZn_SP>r?r]An>=nj_1~~|.wWogO}_xZyv~F.i9EiO'8hCH^[rvE\UK.i?yO|||~^i7xi{ ( N3X:*M#JvWC1v|Vl~-Qe)iVOx wEO9$ 6|lb.@h3=A O MIGHTY CALIPH AND Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence; a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives. him the benefits of taking risks. The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate, the first story in Ted Chiangs luminous new collection Exhalation, opens with a benediction: O mighty caliph and commander of the faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence. Our narrator, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, informs us that he was born here in Baghdad, City of Peace, and that he has spent his life as a purveyor of fine fabricssilk from Damascus and linen from Egypt and scarves from Morocco that are embroidered with gold. Now, he stands in attendance before the caliph without a single dirham in my purse, but with a strange and winding story to tell. , ISBN-10 I wish I could tell you more, but that would be spoilers. It's revealed that his circumstances and journey are extraordinary. The younger version listens to the older, gaining many tips on staying alive amid accident and disease, living to an old age in wealth and comfort. for a group? Rather, using the Gate is like taking a secret passageway in a palace, one that lets you enter a room more quickly than by walking down the hallway. : A Mindful Approach To Exercise And Nutrition by Ellie Goulding, A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind by Michael Axworthy, The Red Scholars Wake by Aliette de Bodard, River Of Wrath (St Benedict #2) by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor, River Of Ashes (St Benedict #1) by Alexandrea Weis and Lucas Astor, Theogony / Works and Days / Shield by Hesiod, A History of Britain Volume II: The Wars of the British 1603-1776 by Simon Schama, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, Never Deal With a Dragon / Choose Your Enemies Carefully / Find Your Own Truth by Robert N. Charrette, Movie review: Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated) by Ainslie Hogarth, A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, An Interview with Kim Alexander, author of The Sand Prince, The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glenn Cook, How to Train Your Dragon by DreamWorks Animation. The crystal merchant is unwilling to pursue his Personal Legend (and the requirement of his religious faith) by traveling to Mecca, because he is afraid of what his life will be like after completing this goal. Alice Through the Looking Glass (Chapter 4), The Confessions of the Chelmsford Witches, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court excerpt, Gullivers Travels (A Voyage to Lilliput), Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298) and Archbishop of Genoa, A True Discourse Declaring the Damnable Life and Death of One Stubbe Peeter. All Rights Reserved. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. (The baker is another irredeemable character, as For the true brilliance of Chiangs work lies in his range and versatility as a storyteller. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Great short read. The shop owner invites Fuwaad into the back workshop to see a mysterious black stone arch which serves as a gateway into the future, which the shop owner has made by the use of alchemy. This Gate, yes. He relays the tales the door maker told him about a rope maker and a weaver whoeachventured through a 20-year-spanning door more than once, and then the tale of the well-to-do man's wife who did the sameall before heimparts his own time-hopping adventure. The story I have to tell is truly a, ABSTRACT:Ted Chiang's sf narratives"thought experiments," in his wordsare written in a variety of genres and cover a variety of ideas, including considerations of temporal issues such as time, By clicking accept or continuing to use the site, you agree to the terms outlined in our. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. The story as a whole is broken into several parts, which nest and braid together in a way that isnt obvious from the beginning. After the tale, Fuwaad, who is considering using the Gate, talks with Bashaarat about the nature of time and choice. << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> Stronger. The Merchant And The Alchemists Gate. Fantasy & Science Fiction 113.3 (2007): 135-160. But for many years I owned a shop in Cairo, and it was there that I first built a Gate of Years. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate One of my favourite authors is Ted Chiang. This was a surprising and fascinating read where Arabian nights meets time travel. I couldnt help but wonder whether women in medieval Baghdad could really move around so freely without a chaperone, but enjoyed the tale within a tale within a tale structure. Younger Bashaarat, when Fuwaad finds him, is as enigmatic as his older self. The other tales came from his shop in Cairo, where there had been a Gate for many years. In the second tale, a man named Ajib steals money from his future self, leading to misfortune. This one is emotionally rich as well as formally playful, containing stories within stories, just like Scheherazade's 1001 NIGHTS, from which Chiang draws as a major influence. You can also subscribe without commenting. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Completely in keeping with the stories of the Arabian Nights, right down to the stories with the story, the Baghdad and Cairo setting, the characters / character types and the format of the story. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. Ouch. Earlier you said I was the first to whom you showed this. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate Quotes - Goodreads The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Goodreads Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2013. Nested stories of portals to alternative lives, set and told like a Tale of the Arabian Knights. PDF The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - ShulCloud What did they learn when talking to their older selves? This is a Gate of Years. Ted Chiang's The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate : printSF - reddit I didn't just like this one, I loved it too. Works that focus on the former often neglect the latter, and vice versa. Another twist to SF and fantasy of the last ten years is the emergence of prominent international authors, and a more solid footing for authors of color. NGV5Y^+`z=]tmFZ cJ7] 2@: To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. Ted Chiang is an American speculative fiction writer. Contact us Sci-fi & Fantasy Anthology by Whatcom Community College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. He tells himself that he read analysis of The Unimportance of Death and Fear Previous Epilogue Next The Pursuit of Your Personal Legend It looks like you're offline. merchant). "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," the first story in Ted Chiang's luminous new collection Exhalation, opens with a benediction: "O mighty caliph and commander of the faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence."Our narrator, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, informs us that he was born "here in Baghdad, City of Peace," and that he has spent his life as a "purveyor of . Copyright 2023 Masters Review. Chiang remains the master of the sf short story. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. In short, it is to extract some hope from a lost situation (peace?). This curious time-travel novella from Hugo-winner Chiang (Stories of Your Life and Others You'll also receive an email with the link. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate. Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2014. My problem was that I'm pretty sure that I've read it before in an anthology or something, though I don't remember what the anthology was, and I wish this had been clearer so that I would have known that I had already read the story before I bought it. for a similar feeling about time and cause. A wonderful short story which travels in unexpected directions! In the medieval Middle East, an alchemist has developed a kind of time machine. Calmer. Paulo Coelho and The Alchemist Background. Later: Enter Another" by, This page was last edited on 22 May 2022, at 23:25. Above all, it's a story about recognizing the will of Allah and accepting it, no matter what form it takes. Despite the alchemist's warning that "what is made cannot be unmade," and three illustrative tales about others' attempts to alter the past, the merchant is determined to return to an earlier time to save his long-dead wife. , ISBN-13 "Past and future are the same . Reading Ted Chiang's 'The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate' That wish . Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - amazon.com for a customized plan. Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. The merchant and the alchemist's gate - WorldCat Hearing Bashaarats words, I felt as if I were reeling. ?W1\js! (one code per order). "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is from EXHALATION by Ted Chiang, published by Penguin Random House Audio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin . In medieval Baghdad, a merchant obtains an audience with the caliph toapprise him ofa merchant-alchemist whohas created doors between past and future. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is from EXHALATION by Ted Chiang, published by Penguin Random House Audio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random . SFE: Chiang, Ted - SF Encyclopedia He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989). : It's a great story. Theres a joy in it, the thrill of discovery, of following Chiangs inquisitive mind wherever it may lead. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. Shaffer blends tragedy and triumph in a whimsical and gratifying debut romance about what makes a family. Not that it isn't worth rereading. Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! Terms of Use | Privacy Policy, Love at the End of the World by Lindy Biller, The Masters Review Volume X With Stories Selected by Diane Cook. 20% This curious time-travel novella from Hugo-winner Chiang (. ) Title: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. But wait, theres more, adds Bashaarat. This is a mesmerizing short story, and a worthy successor for Chiang's previous collection: Stories of Your Life and Others. It was a prized location that must have been expensive to acquire, so I entered to peruse its wares. It is filled with wonders, the like of which Fuwaad has never seen before. Writer, editor, translator, project manager, reformed bookseller. The crystal merchant takes no pride in his I knew it was foolhardy; men of experience say, Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity, and I understood the truth of those words better than most. The Masters Review | Book Review: Exhalation by Ted Chiang The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. So the nesting of narrative continues, as Fuwaad recounts to the sultan the story that Bashaarat told him, The Tale of the Fortunate Rope Maker. In it, a young rope maker gains contact with his older self, a man who has prospered greatly in the course of time. This one however revolves around time travel / alternative lives. Many embrace unconventional structures, like Daceys Patent Automatic Nanny, framed as a catalog entry for a museum of imaginary artifacts, or the brilliant The Truth of Fact, The Fact of Feeling, which weaves together two tales separated by continents and centuries to explore the relationship between human memory and the emergence of new technologies. Despite the alchemist's warning that "what is made cannot be unmade," and three illustrative tales about others' attempts to alter the past, the merchant is determined to return to an earlier time to save his long-dead wife. Top subscription boxes right to your door, 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. Also blogs at A Fistful of Euros, though less frequently than here these days. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is a wonderful and touching blend of Middle Eastern storytelling and matter-of-fact, accessible science fiction. [4] In a review of Chiang's collection Exhalation, Kirkus Reviews commented specifically on The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, calling it "an instant classic". It wont be the last! If our lives are tales that Allah tells, then we are the audience as well as the players, and it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons. This is great fun, in part because Chiang is so skilled at marrying his premises to scientific reality that it can be hard to tell where the two even diverge. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. A poor man is brought before the Caliph. Want 100 or more? Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. to make a pilgrimage to Mecca because he thinks he will have nothing to live for At 13, Lucy Hart ran away from home to escape neglectful parents, Atwood (The Handmaids Tale) explores love and loss in this brilliant collection that mixes fantastical stories about the afterlife with realism. his own life decisions. FB7 V!Ov??4DEv+V.UXi(X'=&SW-2 fSJpJ,37]#Y%A: ]Z$;9X G9!SZqgln-[_WG 6 !5i' DxN] l$36t>(R9n{0B?xsc|F_.~*$UGXC`8d@(d-ylZr /CS}z&_+8"'01sf!B=ZkbZo\p4M i,nuMq^x~UXN|+V8nc%ZQWHV8JVi+c{"Q_#A=,'_b-zHIF+[~l((6 bBs53MZQ| yp}:bYhlDqNp2&y,3/9Sj5L\ +{06L`hH++!ndS+{`5^.#@}K"E Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2007. Published 2007. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Call me a miserly skinflint if you will, but 9 quid for 60 pages seems a bit much. I have, and so have numerous customers of mine. Fuwaad is skeptical: Alchemy? I said. Hardcover - July 23, 2007. $24.99 "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" imagines a time machine that obeys Einstein's theory of relativity essentially a doorway that you walk through from the present, emerging on the . The merchant and the alchemist's gate Find a copy in the library Finding libraries that hold this item. This edition,from Subterranean Press, is beautifully illustrated, both bookcover and interior designs. Stepping through the Gate of Years moves the stepper twenty years forward of backwards in time. He currently works as a technical writer in the software industry and resides in Bellevue, near Seattle, Washington. That is all, but that is enough.". I really enjoyed this noodly time-travel causality story. 3334). Wed love to have you back! Learn how your comment data is processed. 27 z&^*0)Y\cxfT{|uZNactP(",!A`RxI'l.IL$1V?8],+Ef^=6|:-CQ.JW1>>wV+O_dgvc2d]G /Q0V@"Z ZQ='vxoN` gAuDF Q 5Fl*2-"8PVBVC)#?%aL+;M.?+2u>g : Whatever the case, Chiangs worlds are vividly realized, immersive and utterly unexpectedand not a single one gives up its secrets easily, leaving it to the reader to peel back the layers and puzzle out what kind of story theyve stepped into. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. Comparison Between 'The Merchant And The Alchemist's Gate' You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. You can view our. Exhalation is his first book in nearly two decadessince 2002s Stories of Your Life and Othersand brings together the mere seven (!) By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Bashaarat smiled. Details Abstract: This curious time-travel novella is a gracefully told lesson about accepting fate-or, as better suits this medieval Arabian setting, the will of Allah. Time paradoxes, physics being broken and non-linear timelines all lead to plot holes in the hands of an inexperienced author. Loved the fairy tale like feel, the time travel, the narration. maintains a crystal shop on the top of a hill in Tangier, and was rather successful (July), Here's the first must-read SF book of the year. Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2010. The first part is also called The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate, and starts with a scene from The 1001 Nights, with the first-person addressing the mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful and promising that were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of ones eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted.. This novelette won the Hugo in 2007. Tien-chi Chiang. hgYu`> Zhyz 8#4]Lt The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (July 23, 2007 edition) | Open What I showed you before was a Gate of Seconds, he said. When a potential customer walks in, the inventor offers him the chance to go through his gateway and through time - but first he tells the stories of three other people who took such a journey, and what befell them. The novella The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (2007 chap) is an intricately woven Oriental Fantasy involving Time Travel. We publish articles and book reviews on the blog and hold workshops that connect emerging and established writers. [2], Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a fabric merchant in medieval Baghdad, discovers a new shop in the marketplace. But it doubles as a preamble for Chiangs entire oeuvre, especially for those first-time readers who, lured by the author who wrote the short story that inspired 2016s soulful sci-fi blockbuster Arrival, are likely double-checking the dust jacket right around now to make sure they picked up the right book. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate Random Tech Excursions Across its nine stories, the discovery of a parallel Earth sparks an existential crisis for the devout; self-aware automatons organize and demand their rights; and a colony of robots gazes toward the sky and ponders its imminent demise. We only accept submissions from writers who can benefit from a larger platform. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Many thanks to Cheri and Kevin for another delightful experience. A very short book set in medieval Baghdad. acts foolishly in not pursuing his Personal Legend, making it difficult to The universe began as a giant breath being held, Chiang writes in the title story, likening the ever-expanding space around us as a giant exhalation. Within these nine, glittering narratives, we can glimpse the possibilities such an exhalation might hold: the thrumming complexities of the heart, the malleability of time, a universe that only grows more expansive and mysterious with each passing minute. If it had been written with a more sci-fi setting, it still would have been good, but less fantastical. Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2013. Your email address will not be published. Discount, Discount Code Citation: Ted, Chiang. The crystal merchant is the most fully fleshed-out irredeemable character in SFE: SF Encyclopedia Picture Gallery An additional star for the enriching discussions Another excellent story by Ted Chiang actually, it's three stories, set in a framing device. You have stepped through? For a while it had seemed that Chiang would continue exclusively to work as a story writer, as it was difficult to conceive of a full-length novel sustaining the intense unremitting focus of his best work. Episode 89: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - YouTube The longest, the moving and magisterial The Lifecycle of Software Objects, spans more than a hundred pages; the shortest barely cracks four. >]j{a(@tX1:Elyp`o)Y;"5M58JP}PV@J[J(}{!T1t 5U=if+E@P=-TIB+FQ.>pbM5055.bE]ZJ It begins with a walk in the bazaar, but soon grows into a tale unlike any other told in the caliph's empire. Want to create or adapt books like this? I have no need to spoil more about the stories . Could fantasy be more intelligently exquisiteand, ultimately and surprisingly, morally sound than this? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In the third tale, Hassan's wife Raniya travels forward and backward in time to protect her husband and teach him how to be a good lover. My thanks to Kevin Ansbro for the enlightening, delightful find! >u~n "53c H|^&P=#hOQ~W.nr7w}Zp1|%HW?J0M8 2$Z_ME I can, my lord, but that is not in fact what most seek from alchemy. It begins when he is searching for a gift to give a business associate and happens to discover a new shop in the marketplace. Subscribers receive quality lists of upcoming deadlines for lit mags and contests, free fiction, and exclusive content regarding writing, craft, and interviews from established authors. When, after numerous trials in the desert, Fuwaad arrives in Baghdad, he finds he cannot change what he hoped to rectify. : Other Titles. Also available online through the WCC Library databases. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. is a gracefully told lesson about accepting fateor, as better suits this medieval Arabian setting, the will of Allah. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. A Baghdad merchant discovers an alchemical device that can send a traveler back in time 20 years. His aim is to travel through time in Cairo, visit Baghdad on his personal errand, and then return to Cairo to make it back through the Gate. Although he is a good man who is I've tempered my anger since writing this, and have amended it. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is from EXHALATION by Ted Chiang, published by Penguin Random House Audio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.This episode is sponsored by Penguin Random House (www.penguinrandomhouse.com/levar) and Betterhelp (www.betterhelp.com/levar code: LEVAR). He Full size (pixels) 600 wide x 960 high Permalink See all Gallery appearances of Chiang. Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/27/the-merchant-and-the-alchemists-gate-by-ted-chiang/, [] by Terry Pratchett Muse of Fire by Dan Simmons What If? Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", uses intricate writing style to describe its subject matter in an elegant way. I liked this best (so far; I haven't read everything else of his) of what I've read of his work. Bashaarat regrets that he cannot honor the request, as the Gate in Baghdad has just been completed. The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner . on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% In the manner of the Arabian Nights, Chiang wrapsstorieswithin a story, and all of them interrelate to argue that "the past and the future are the same." A time travel story; a set of parables; a meditation on regret and happiness, on wisdom and change; and, quite possibly, an oblique commentary on desiring to enter Baghdad and change everything; the braided narrative of The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate contains all of these. .tSO:dYKKu+b6[317XoN^PCz&DW3w;)SADZky~\#,B] 1RAt}{'b0>~XBU$8l#X&Bck F=? -MP`3I;i.n{`2"e>(] B+]2~jRhs_O:?EO EUAp:{}0' GGI)/o`ZHrU"^[Dxsm7Gk#gTaA\1Zl aaabMgO?FlOSAGGMup=DVCY1. March 3, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Another twist of the braid, and Bashaarat tells The Tale of the Wife and Her Lover. The weavers wife hops back and forth through the Gate of Years more than any other character, conspiring with herself and running roughshod on anyone elses notion of causality. creating and saving your own notes as you read. I picked it up as a standalone e-book that was part of the Humble Bundle mentioned here, and its the first work Ive read by Ted Chiang.