Exhalation: Stories

06/20/20

I see Chiang’s stories as sheaths for big ideas. His words don’t sashay the way DFW’s words do, but they are elegant and clear and give you things to think about. You can tell that this man was (/is?) a technical author. (Where my own writing is often pleonastic mumbo-jumbo around a simple thought, Chiang’s writing is crystal portraiture of a grand premise. I find that a lot more admirable.)

Favorites

• “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”
• “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”
• “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”
• “The Great Silence”
• “What’s Expected of Us”