Unlike Robert Zemeckis’ world in the movie Back to the Future, in Ted Chiang’s vision, journeying to the past cannot change what happens in the future. Like a tale out of Arabian Nights, this narrator takes us on a mind-bending adventure through time in ancient Baghdad.

Here are a few of my favorite stories from the collection:

Although the tales fall firmly in the camp of science fiction, taking place in speculative, alternate, or futuristic realities, the philosophical questions that his stories provoke – about the nature of time, memory, digital responsibility, fate, and free will – are what I found most interesting and, I think, give Chiang’s work a broader appeal beyond just fans of science fiction. But for this infrequent science fiction reader, Exhalation: Stories was my introduction to Ted Chiang’s work.Įxhalation is a collection of nine short stories and novellas, some of which have been published before in science fiction anthologies or magazines, and others whose inclusion in this book mark their debut. Over the last two decades, his stories have won numerous Hugo and Nebula science fiction awards, and his novella “Story of Your Life” was turned into the Academy Award-nominated movie Arrival. Science fiction readers are, undoubtedly, well-acquainted with Chiang. Not necessarily a debut author, but new in the sense that you’ve never previously read anything by him or her. One of the best experiences, as a reader, is when you discover a new writer with whom you feel a connection.

Exhalation stories