Known for his novella that inspired the Academy Award-winning film Arrival, Ted Chiang is among those writers who masterfully confront the anxieties of modern life through tales of technology and science, inspiring us to reconsider reality. In his latest collection, nine stories of refined, accessible prose prove both poignant and disturbing as Chiang reaches into subject matter like artificial intelligence and time travel. The longest story in Exhalation, “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” best exemplifies Chiang’s sneakily unnerving ability to foreshadow dark futures, as his characters care for digital pets who become uncomfortably life-like.

Buy now: Exhalation

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