Exhalation

Bashaarat. How may I assist you?
 
These are remarkable items that you have for sale. I deal with traders from every corner of the world, and yet I have never seen their like. From where, may I ask, did you acquire your merchandise?
 
I am grateful to you for your kind words, he said. Everything you see here was made in my workshop, by myself or by my assistants under my direction.
 
I was impressed that this man could be so well versed in so many arts. I asked him about the various instruments in his shop and listened to him discourse learnedly about astrology, mathematics, geomancy, and medicine. We spoke for more than an hour, and my fascination and respect bloomed like a flower warmed by the dawn, until he mentioned his experiments in alchemy.
 
Alchemy? I said. This surprised me, for he did not seem the sort to make such a sharper s claim. You mean you can turn base metal into gold?
 
I can, my lord, but that is not in fact what most seek from alchemy.
 
What do most seek, then?
 
They seek a source of gold that is cheaper than mining ore from the ground. Alchemy does describe a means to make gold, but the procedure is so arduous that, by comparison, digging beneath a mountain is as easy as plucking peaches from a tree.
 
I smiled. A clever reply. No one could dispute that you are a learned man, but I know better than to credit alchemy.
 
Bashaarat looked at me and considered. I have recently built something that may change your opinion. You would be the first person I have shown it to. Would you care to see it?

Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post

Deeply beautiful. . . . These stories are carefully curated into a conversation that comes full circle, after having traversed extraordinary terrain. . . . [Exhalation] is as generous as it is marvelous, and I m left feeling nothing so much as grateful for it.
Amal El-Mohtar, The New York Times Book Review

A master of the form. [Chiang s] new collection of nine stories theming free will and choice, virtual reality and regret is so provocative, imaginative, and soulful that it makes Black Mirror look drab and dull by comparison.
David Canfield, Entertainment Weekly, The 10 best books of 2019...so far

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

A handful of living science fiction writers have attained godlike status N.K. Jemisin, Cixin Liu, and Ann Leckie, to name a few. But Ted Chiang is the only one who s done it without writing a novel. In fact, he s published far less than his neighbors on the genre s current Mount Rushmore, usually just one short story every two years. But oh, his stories. They re a religious experience. . . . In Exhalation, which could be subtitled Black Mirror For Optimists, every story seems crafted with one objective in mind pure awe. . . . A moving book about fate and free will that is destined to become a literary landmark of the 2010s.
Adam Morgan, The A.V. Club

These are humane, skillfully assembled stories, populated by vivid and memorable characters. . . . [Chiang s] best stories boast a beguiling mix of compassion and awe. . . . His versatility and intellectual restlessness have yielded an immensely pleasing book.
Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle

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 marvelous, astonishing collection that we would do well to read before the worlds it conjures are upon us. Urgently recommended.
Alan Moore
 
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

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, author of Orange World

Ted Chiang has no contemporary peers when it comes to the short story form. 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, author of Dark Matter

Exquisitely crafted. . . . One after another, Chiang s stories claim their place in your mind until you re completely swept up in his provocative and at times even charming world. . . . Each story is a carefully considered, finely honed machine. . . . What makes Exhalation particularly brilliant is that not one of the stories feels like it s designed to be thought-provoking in a stilted, academic way. Chiang is an entertaining, empathetic writer first, before being one of contemporary sci-fi s intellectual powerhouses, and each story reads that way. . . . [Chiang is] one of the most exciting voices in his field.
BookPage (starred review)

Chiang s long-awaited second collection. . .continues to explore emotional and metaphysical landscapes with precise and incisive prose. . . . Chiang remains one of the most skilled stylists in sf, and this will appear to genre and literary-fiction fans alike.
Booklist (starred review)

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 (starred review)

Chiang produces deeply moving drama from fascinating first premises. . . . These stories are brilliant experiments, and his commitment to exploring deep human questions elevates them to among the very best science fiction.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Chiang is always thought provoking, and his latest collection is no exception.
Library Journal (starred review)