new ted chiang!
Jan. 9th, 2019 11:44 amOoh, new Ted Chiang collection in May.
(Chiang is the author of a handful of short stories, perhaps most notably "Story Of Your Life" which got made into the movie Arrival. I liked Arrival less than most people but that's mostly because I liked the source material so much.)
Two new-new stories, plus one that's new to me (the title story), plus reprints of his two Subterranean novellas. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is an enjoyable meditation on predestination, with a time travel aspect and a Persian style that I'm partial to. I tend to pick it up every so often and reread it, just for the writing. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects"... I need to reread, I've only read it the once but I remember thinking it was quite good. It's longish, though, so it's more of a commitment than Merchant.
I hope that's not the complete table of contents; I know he's got a few other stories since "Stories Of Your Life And Others". In particular, I hope it'll include What's Expected Of Us, which was printed in Nature, um, fourteen years ago, and strikes me as sort of minimalist Chiang: predestination, spooky, and enough of a human touch to make it interesting and memorable.
(Chiang is the author of a handful of short stories, perhaps most notably "Story Of Your Life" which got made into the movie Arrival. I liked Arrival less than most people but that's mostly because I liked the source material so much.)
Two new-new stories, plus one that's new to me (the title story), plus reprints of his two Subterranean novellas. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is an enjoyable meditation on predestination, with a time travel aspect and a Persian style that I'm partial to. I tend to pick it up every so often and reread it, just for the writing. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects"... I need to reread, I've only read it the once but I remember thinking it was quite good. It's longish, though, so it's more of a commitment than Merchant.
I hope that's not the complete table of contents; I know he's got a few other stories since "Stories Of Your Life And Others". In particular, I hope it'll include What's Expected Of Us, which was printed in Nature, um, fourteen years ago, and strikes me as sort of minimalist Chiang: predestination, spooky, and enough of a human touch to make it interesting and memorable.