Exhalation: Stories 

By Ted Chiang

368 pages

Published May 7, 2019 by Alfred A. Knopf

I’m halfway through the book, and I’m liking it. I’m impressed by it, yet I can’t say exactly why. Ted Chiang is a writer I’ve never read before. These stories are not like anything I’ve read before. Exhalation reminds me of Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and David Saunders’s Fox 8.

Exhalation feels like a slightly new kind of fiction. Three examples:

* 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 second chances.

* In “Exhalation,” an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal.

* In “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom,” the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.

Chiang’s fiction is fascinating. And inventive. And ingenious. And that means it’s sometimes challenging. But so far, I’m feeling that it’s well worth it. Because, running through everything else it provides, these stories are full of fun.

Critical Response 

The critical response has been universally positive. Almost gushing!

* “Illuminating, thrilling…. Like such eclectic predecessors as Philip K. Dick, James Tiptree, Jr., Jorge Luis Borges, Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, China Miéville, and Kazuo Ishiguro, Chiang has explored conventional tropes of science fiction in highly unconventional ways.” (Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker)

* “Delirious and exciting as hell… [Chiang’s] stories brim with wonder and horror, spectacle and mundanity, philosophy and religion. Tapping into a range of speculative traditions, from pulp and fantasy to the rigorous scientific accuracy of hard sci-fi and the popcorn thrills of soft sci-fi, his work has a profound richness.” (Stephen Kearse, The Nation)

* “Exquisite…. The stories in Exhalation are a shining example of science fiction at its best. They take both science and humanism deeply seriously.” (Constance Grady, Vox)

* “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 Reviews)

Ted Chiang was born in Port Jefferson, NY, and currently lives near Seattle. His short story “Story of Your Life” was the basis of the film Arrival.

Chiang has won four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards, and has been featured in The Best American Short Stories. His debut collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, has been translated into 21 languages.