UNITED STATES AUTHOR · SCIENCE FICTION · FICTION
Ted Chiang
Also known as: Chiang, Ted, Chiang, T.
Ted Chiang (Chinese: 姜峯楠; pinyin: Jiāng Fēngnán; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer, whose work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. He has published the short story collections Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) and Exhalation: Stories (2019). His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He was an artist in residence at the University of Notre Dame from 2020 to 2021. Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker, where he writes on topics related to computing such as artificial intelligence.
In memory of Brian Chiang and Jenna Felice.
Most acclaimed
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF. Now, collected here for the first time are all seven of this extraordinary writer's stories so far--plus an eighth story written especially for this volume. What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven--and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Stories of your life . . . and others.
Vanishing Acts
Picoult's richly layered and suspenseful novel explores the power of love and memory . . . what happens when the past we have been running from catches up to us.'The compelling story weaves characters and plot so richly that it's impossible to take sides in the questions of what was justified and what wasn't.' - Woman's Day'A polished and riveting read.' - Australian Women's WeeklyDelia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance, and her own Search and Rescue bloodhound which she uses to find missing persons. But as she plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. What are these memories and what do they mean? In shock and confusion, Delia must search out the truth among these newly discovered recollections even when they threaten to devastate her life, and the lives of those she loves most.With consummate skill and sensitivity, Jodi Picoult examines what happens when the past we have been running from catches up to us, and questions who we trust to tell us the story of our lives before we are capable of remembering it ourselves. Vanishing Acts is an impressive exploration of the very nature and power of memory.
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
The story of two people and the artificial intelligences they helped create, following them for more than a decade as they deal with the upgrades and obsolescence that are inevitable in the world of software. At the same time, it's an examination of the difference between processing power and intelligence, and of what it means to have a real relationship with an artificial entity.