''Stories of Your Life and Others'' is a collection of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

by American writer

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the ...

originally published in 2002 by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

. It collects Chiang's first eight stories. All of the stories except "Liking What You See: A Documentary" were previously published individually elsewhere. It was reprinted in 2016 as ''Arrival'' to coincide with the adaptation of "

Story of Your Life "Story of Your Life" is a science fiction novella by American writer Ted Chiang, first published in '' Starlight 2'' in 1998, and in 2002 in Chiang's collection of short stories, '' Stories of Your Life and Others''. Its major themes are langu ...

" as the film ''Arrival''. Chiang's second collection, '' Exhalation: Stories'' was released in 2019.

* "

Tower of Babylon The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

" (originally published in '' Omni'', November 1990) (

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

winner) * "

Understand Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of ...

" (originally published in ''

Asimov's ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'', August 1991) * "

Division by Zero In mathematics, division by zero is division (mathematics), division where the divisor (denominator) is 0, zero. Such a division can be formally expression (mathematics), expressed as \tfrac, where is the dividend (numerator). In ordinary ari ...

" (originally published in '' Full Spectrum 3'', June 1991) * "

" (originally published in '' Starlight 2'', November 1998) (

and

Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is an annual literary award presented by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best short science fiction story ...

winner) * "

Seventy-Two Letters “Seventy-Two Letters” is a science fiction novella by American writer Ted Chiang, published in June 2000 in the Ellen Datlow's anthology ''Vanishing Acts''. The novella can also be found in the anthologies ''Year's Best SF 6'' (2001), edited ...

" (originally published in ''Vanishing Acts'', June 2000) (

Sidewise Award The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Overview The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in wh ...

winner) * " The Evolution of Human Science" (originally published as "Catching Crumbs from the Table" in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'', June 2000) * "

Hell Is the Absence of God "Hell Is the Absence of God" is a 2001 fantasy novelette by American writer Ted Chiang, first published in , and subsequently reprinted in ''Year's Best Fantasy 2'', and in ''Fantasy: The Best of 2001'', as well as in Chiang's 2002 anthology, ' ...

" (originally published in '' Starlight 3'', July 2001) (

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the pl ...

and

winner) * " Liking What You See: A Documentary" * "Story Notes" (story collection essay)

Reception

Reviewing the book at the ''

SF Site SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, former vehicular country code for Finland In arts and entertainment Genre ...

'', Greg L. Johnson said that this collection shows why Chiang's stories continue to win awards. Johnson wrote that "it will not take readers new to these stories very long to appreciate their quality and beauty". He added that science fiction relies on short fiction writers to "examine new ideas and push the boundaries of the field", and Chiang has demonstrated he is "more than up to that task". English fantasy author

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( ; born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and literary critic. He often describes his work as ''weird fiction'' and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called '' New Weird''. Mi ...

wrote in a review in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that Chiang's stories in this collection "unfold with a logic that is ineluctable and compassionate". Here "humanism is inextricable from rationalism", and "it is the rationalism of the characters – and the writer – that makes them emotional and human". Miéville further said that despite the extensive use of mathematics, physics and language in the stories, they are infused with a "profound humanism" that makes "the most abstruse philosophical conjectures ... resonant and emotional". ''

'' ranked ''Stories of Your Life and Others'' 80 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

References

External links

* {{isfdb title, 40036 2002 short story collections Science fiction short story collections Tor Books books Works by Ted Chiang Asian-American short story collections

Contents

Reception

References

External links