"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novelette by American writer

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (; pinyin: ''Jiāng Fēngnán''; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula Award, Nebula awards, four Hugo Award, Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus Award, ...

, originally published in 2007 by

Subterranean Press Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily Horror fiction, horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novel ...

and reprinted in the September 2007 issue of ''

Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

''. In 2019, the novelette was included in the collection of short stories '' Exhalation: Stories''.

Plot

Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a fabric merchant in medieval

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, discovers a new shop in the marketplace. The shop owner invites Fuwaad into the back workshop to see a mysterious black stone arch which serves as a gateway into the future, which the shop owner has made by the use of

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

. The shop owner tells him three stories of people who have traveled through the gate to meet their future selves. In the first tale, the rope-maker Hassan learns where to find a buried treasure that will make him wealthy. In the second tale, a man named Ajib steals money from his future self, leading to misfortune. In the third tale, Hassan's wife Raniya travels forward and backward in time to protect her husband and teach him how to be a good lover. When Fuwaad learns that the shop keeper has another gate in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

that will allow people to travel into the past, he attempts to travel backward to see his deceased wife. Although he arrives too late, he does receive a message telling him that she loved him.

Reception

''Publishers Weekly'' wrote a positive review for the story, calling it "skillfully written". In a review of Chiang's collection ''Exhalation'', ''Kirkus Reviews'' commented specifically on ''The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate'', calling it "an instant classic". It won the 2008

Hugo Award for Best Novelette The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of ...

and the 2008

Nebula Award for Best Novelette The Nebula Award for Best Novelette is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to a science fiction or fantasy novelette. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novelette if it is between 7,5 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, The Fantasy short stories 2007 short stories Hugo Award for Best Novelette–winning works Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Nebula Award for Best Novelette–winning works Short stories by Ted Chiang Subterranean Press books