the merchant and the alchemist's gate theme the merchant and the alchemist's gate theme

This is great fun, in part because Chiang is so skilled at marrying his premises to scientific reality that it can be hard to tell where the two even diverge. What a lovely and meaningful tale. , ! For whos to say the human condition is limited to humanity? acts foolishly in not pursuing his Personal Legend, making it difficult to You can view our. ) is a gracefully told lesson about accepting fateor, as better suits this medieval Arabian setting, the will of Allah. Alice Through the Looking Glass (Chapter 4), The Confessions of the Chelmsford Witches, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court excerpt, Gullivers Travels (A Voyage to Lilliput), Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298) and Archbishop of Genoa, A True Discourse Declaring the Damnable Life and Death of One Stubbe Peeter. . Discount, Discount Code You'll be billed after your free trial ends. 4 0 obj Again, amazing, how thoughts of life and living are spread before the reader in such a feast of words. https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/27/the-merchant-and-the-alchemists-gate-by-ted-chiang/, Taking Stock of 2015 The Frumious Consortium, We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle, Women Of Myth by Jenny Williamson & Genn McMenemy, Fitter. Episode 89: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - YouTube "Grief burns but does not consume." A grieving merchant stumbles into the shop of an Alchemist, who shows him a device that. A poor man is brought before the Caliph. ). Half lyrical Arabian Nights legend and half old school cautionary SF tale, this skillfully written story and its theme of insurmountable fate may comfort as many readers as it makes uncomfortable. The stores owner introduces himself as Bashaarat (the name may mean good news), and he appears to have unlimited time available for Fuwaad. Tales within taleswith alchemy and magic mirrors that allow time travel. Join us for the conclusion of this time travel tale set in medieval Baghdad. Fuwaad does not tell Bashaarat why he wishes to visit the past, though he does tell the sultan. The first part is also called The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate, and starts with a scene from The 1001 Nights, with the first-person addressing the mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful and promising that were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of ones eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted.. My problem was that I'm pretty sure that I've read it before in an anthology or something, though I don't remember what the anthology was, and I wish this had been clearer so that I would have known that I had already read the story before I bought it. , ISBN-13 Call me a miserly skinflint if you will, but 9 quid for 60 pages seems a bit much. The Assassins Gate, a widely read book about the invasion, was published two years before Chiangs novelette.) Post was not sent - check your email addresses! This surprised me, for he did not seem the type to make such a sharpers claim. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. In the second tale, a man named Ajib steals money from his future self, leading to misfortune. Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. for a similar feeling about time and cause. The Alchemist. Exhalation, like its predecessor, also ends with a brief, fascinating appendix of story notes detailing Chiangs inspiration and process for each story. The story was written in Arabian night style (stories within story) with a time machine as the magical device. This edition,from Subterranean Press, is beautifully illustrated, both bookcover and interior designs. imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is a time traveling science fantasy (or perhaps soft sci-fi), it is also a fable and morality tale in the classic tradition of The Arabian Nights, with a frame story and story within story (frame within frame? Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.. In medieval Baghdad, a merchant obtains an audience with the caliph toapprise him ofa merchant-alchemist whohas created doors between past and future. "Nothing erases the past. Currently based in Berlin, following stints in Moscow, Tbilisi, Munich, Washington, Warsaw, Budapest and Atlanta. | The story I have to tell is truly a, ABSTRACT:Ted Chiang's sf narratives"thought experiments," in his wordsare written in a variety of genres and cover a variety of ideas, including considerations of temporal issues such as time, By clicking accept or continuing to use the site, you agree to the terms outlined in our. z&^*0)Y\cxfT{|uZNactP(",!A`RxI'l.IL$1V?8],+Ef^=6|:-CQ.JW1>>wV+O_dgvc2d]G /Q0V@"Z ZQ='vxoN` gAuDF Q 5Fl*2-"8PVBVC)#?%aL+;M.?+2u>g The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices. 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. The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner . Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. Irene Woodward, a tough New Yorker, covers up the bruises received, Lin-Greenbergs exceptional debut novel (after the collection Vanished) explores a complex web of relationships at a fading mall in Albany, N.Y. Excellent! Full size (pixels) 600 wide x 960 high Permalink See all Gallery appearances of Chiang. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Please try again. This one however revolves around time travel / alternative lives. 3334). 3gO|pzq1'HC`L- ;zin4EALnv`CL8#Om0XYivyrKa@ Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. That is all, but that is enough. Within the context of the story, he serves as an Its immediately clear, too, why Chiang is so revered in genre circles, or why his small body of work has swept just about every science fiction award you can name. If you wish, I can tell you the story of one such person. Bashaarat proceeded to tell me such a story, and if it pleases Your Majesty, I will recount it here. creating and saving your own notes as you read. , Dimensions "Past and future are the same . For time travel story fans, you could guess the promised interwoven plot twists. O MIGHTY CALIPH AND Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence; a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives. To give even the barest summary risks doing you, the reader, a disservice. For the true brilliance of Chiangs work lies in his range and versatility as a storyteller. What did they learn when talking to their older selves? "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" Part 1 by Ted Chiang. If our lives are tales that Allah tells, then we are the audience as well as the players, and it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Sci-fi & Fantasy Anthology Fantasy Required Readings The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate Read Online Another twist to SF and fantasy of the last ten years is the emergence of prominent international authors, and a more solid footing for authors of color. The format is probably inspired by Scheherazade, but Chiang cuts to the heart with 3 or 4 tales. Olson, Ray, Copyright American Library Association. Not that past and future are identical, but that they stay the same and cannot be altered, evenif one could journey back to the former or forward to the latter to change it. Ace your assignments with our guide to The Alchemist! Copyright 2023 Masters Review. What I showed you before was a Gate of Seconds, he said. laser ignition devices?) Dont have an account? years, plus two new stories written for this book. 27 "The Gate of Years", it turns out, is a wormhole through which a person can travel forwards and backwards in time. It is said that repentance and atonement erase the past. (pp. 20% The crystal merchant is the most fully fleshed-out irredeemable character in To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! I found it was brilliantly written. Want 100 or more? stream The best kind of science fiction." Barack Obama, via Facebook"THE UNIVERSE BEGAN AS AN ENORMOUS BREATH BEING HELD."In these nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity's oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a . Highly recommended. (The baker is another irredeemable character, as By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is a wonderful and touching blend of Middle Eastern storytelling and matter-of-fact, accessible science fiction. A wise and enchanting parable told in delightful fairytale fashion in the time of the Arabian Nights. The future is fixed, then? Youve successfully purchased a group discount. If this was my first exposure to Ted Chiang I would have thought Very good storyteller but not sure what the fuss is about. The story as a whole is broken into several parts, which nest and braid together in a way that isnt obvious from the beginning. March 3, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Learn more. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a fantasy novelette by American writer Ted Chiang, originally published in 2007 by Subterranean Press and reprinted in the September 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But wait, theres more, adds Bashaarat. It begins with a walk in the bazaar, but soon grows into a tale unlike any other told in the caliph's empire. The Merchant And The Alchemists Gate. Fantasy & Science Fiction 113.3 (2007): 135-160. This story was an absolute joy to read. The best introduction to Ted Chiang is to read the anthology. So the nesting of narrative continues, as Fuwaad recounts to the sultan the story that Bashaarat told him, The Tale of the Fortunate Rope Maker. In it, a young rope maker gains contact with his older self, a man who has prospered greatly in the course of time. He graduated from Brown University with a Computer Science degree. Everyone in the world should read this. His aim is to travel through time in Cairo, visit Baghdad on his personal errand, and then return to Cairo to make it back through the Gate. Also available online through the WCC Library databases. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Fate guides Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a well-travelled purveyor of fine fabrics, to an intriguing shop in the metalsmiths' quarter of Baghdad. Fuwaad is amazed. Also blogs at A Fistful of Euros, though less frequently than here these days. And yet: All the while I thought on the truth of Bashaarats words: past and future are the same, and we cannot change either, only know them more fully. In short, it is to extract some hope from a lost situation (peace?). History. Fuwaad agrees, and Bashaarat leads him deeper in through a workshop, arrayed with devices whose functions I could not guessbars of metal wrapped with enough copper thread to reach the horizon, mirrors mounted on a circular slab of granite floating in quicksilver (centrifuges? : x\IvQQ(ev DEj2_qc"m~|Q1?|1nZn_SP>r?r]An>=nj_1~~|.wWogO}_xZyv~F.i9EiO'8hCH^[rvE\UK.i?yO|||~^i7xi{ ( N3X:*M#JvWC1v|Vl~-Qe)iVOx wEO9$ 6|lb.@h3=A Top subscription boxes right to your door, 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2010. This is a mesmerizing short story, and a worthy successor for Chiang's previous collection: Stories of Your Life and Others. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2007) [chap: hb/Jacob McMurray] Image courtesy of SF Site. The crystal merchant understands that he The universe began as a giant breath being held, Chiang writes in the title story, likening the ever-expanding space around us as a giant exhalation. Within these nine, glittering narratives, we can glimpse the possibilities such an exhalation might hold: the thrumming complexities of the heart, the malleability of time, a universe that only grows more expansive and mysterious with each passing minute. Alchemy does describe a means to make gold, but the procedure is so arduous that, by comparison, digging beneath a mountain is as easy as plucking peaches from a tree. (p. 12). He ?W1\js! Narrators who, at first glance, appear to be human turn out to be anything but; settings that seem like our world are gradually revealed to besomething else entirely. hgYu`> Zhyz 8#4]Lt And not just because Kip Thorne's wormhole work is some of my favorite theoretical physics. You have done this? I asked him. once hes achieved his dream. Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Eventually, interconnections between the four storiessurface, and they boggle the mind, more so, perhaps, than anyof the tales of similareffect in Chiang's dazzling Stories of Your Life and Others (2002). But for many years I owned a shop in Cairo, and it was there that I first built a Gate of Years. Stronger. : Metempsychosis: Or, The, Urrea (The House of Broken Angels) transports readers to the Western Front of WWII in his stunning latest. Renews March 10, 2023 This surprised me. conservative approach to life, but he feels rooted in his ways. *Y}lA&IC@?,`6YLc~DB~jUG_gn6_IifN;K5^[,ttx.X"[ZEge|t E:). He bade me follow him into another room, further in the back. Academic Search Premier. What do most seek, then? For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! maintains a crystal shop on the top of a hill in Tangier, and was rather successful As unchangeable as the past? The shop owner tells him three stories of people who have traveled through the gate to meet their future selves. To tell you any more would mean I would start to give the story away. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate. [3], Publishers Weekly wrote a positive review for the story, calling it "skillfully written". (p. 71). The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate Quotes Showing 1-4 of 4. Performing Arts. At the conclusion of that tale, Fuwaad asks to visit his own past. It's a story that includes not just . Ted Chiang is such an elegant, concise writer! In other words, the novel portrays his fate as one to avoid, despite the It was a prized location that must have been expensive to acquire, so I entered to peruse its wares. It is filled with wonders, the like of which Fuwaad has never seen before. When a potential customer walks in, the inventor offers him the chance to go through his gateway and through time - but first he tells the stories of three other people who took such a journey, and what befell them. Besides, to reduce Chiangs fiction to its sci-fi componentsalternate timelines, artificial intelligence, etc.is to grossly miss the point. In the manner of the Arabian Nights, Chiang wrapsstorieswithin a story, and all of them interrelate to argue that "the past and the future are the same." The Merchant and The Alchemist's Gate - Plot Summary Plot Summary The story follows Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a fabric merchant in the ancient city of Baghdad. It begins with a walk in the bazaar, but soon grows into a tale unlike any other told in the caliph's empire. It's a wonderful story. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate won both the Nebula Award and Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and, frankly it's easy to see why. The author has such an amazing command of that elusive literary quality which is called voice that partway through I forgot that I wasn't listening to a master storyteller. Get help and learn more about the design. NGV5Y^+`z=]tmFZ cJ7] 2@: I liked this best (so far; I haven't read everything else of his) of what I've read of his work. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is from EXHALATION by Ted Chiang, published by Penguin Random House Audio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin . The merchant and the alchemist's gate Find a copy in the library Finding libraries that hold this item. His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan. [1] In 2019, the novelette was included in the collection of short stories Exhalation: Stories. I'm not entirely sure what Ted does with his time, since over the course of seventeen years, he's written fewer than a dozen short stories, the sum of which would easily fit into a typical novel. Nothing erases the past. Many embrace unconventional structures, like Daceys Patent Automatic Nanny, framed as a catalog entry for a museum of imaginary artifacts, or the brilliant The Truth of Fact, The Fact of Feeling, which weaves together two tales separated by continents and centuries to explore the relationship between human memory and the emergence of new technologies. The crystal merchant takes no pride in his Each page of Exhalation bursts with color, with heart, with probing curiosity about faith, parenthood, free will, and their place in the universe. example of the dangers of an unfulfilled life, evident in his disappointment over A Baghdad merchant discovers an alchemical device that can send a traveler back in time 20 years. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. He relays the tales the door maker told him about a rope maker and a weaver whoeachventured through a 20-year-spanning door more than once, and then the tale of the well-to-do man's wife who did the sameall before heimparts his own time-hopping adventure. Yet if two decades are the cost of admission for stories as immaculate as these, so be it. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," the first story in Ted Chiang's luminous new collection Exhalation, opens with a benediction: "O mighty caliph and commander of the faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence."Our narrator, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, informs us that he was born "here in Baghdad, City of Peace," and that he has spent his life as a "purveyor of . "Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.". Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app. Sci-fi & Fantasy Anthology by Whatcom Community College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. I have no need to spoil more about the stories . Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2014. This novelette absolutely blew me away. In a series of narratives we come to know that using this device can be . $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2007. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. If it had been written with a more sci-fi setting, it still would have been good, but less fantastical. Earlier you said I was the first to whom you showed this. (one code per order). This Gate, yes. In the medieval Middle East, an alchemist has developed a kind of time machine. .tSO:dYKKu+b6[317XoN^PCz&DW3w;)SADZky~\#,B] 1RAt}{'b0>~XBU$8l#X&Bck F=? -MP`3I;i.n{`2"e>(] B+]2~jRhs_O:?EO EUAp:{}0' GGI)/o`ZHrU"^[Dxsm7Gk#gTaA\1Zl aaabMgO?FlOSAGGMup=DVCY1. Subscribers receive quality lists of upcoming deadlines for lit mags and contests, free fiction, and exclusive content regarding writing, craft, and interviews from established authors. The Father in "Fullmetal Alchemist" claims he wants knowledge and to achieve perfection. Try again. Its true that The Merchant, at least in its opening pages, bears little resemblance to Arrivals alien invasion dramatics, or for that matter, the sci-fi genre in general. They seek a source of gold that is cheaper than mining ore from the ground. I didn't just like this one, I loved it too. Whatever the case, Chiangs worlds are vividly realized, immersive and utterly unexpectedand not a single one gives up its secrets easily, leaving it to the reader to peel back the layers and puzzle out what kind of story theyve stepped into. Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord. Its a magical store, of course, or at the very least a shop run by a learned person with access to the products of a great many cunning artificers. Please wait while we process your payment. Ted Chiang is an American speculative fiction writer. (p. 84). Rather, using the Gate is like taking a secret passageway in a palace, one that lets you enter a room more quickly than by walking down the hallway. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate One of my favourite authors is Ted Chiang. This novelette won the Hugo in 2007. This was a surprising and fascinating read where Arabian nights meets time travel. A wandering merchant in medieval Baghdad is brought before the Caliph, and recounts tales of ingenious gates that allow time travel to the past and future. He tells himself that he read analysis of The Unimportance of Death and Fear Previous Epilogue Next The Pursuit of Your Personal Legend All Rights Reserved. In the first tale, the rope-maker Hassan learns where to find a buried treasure that will make him wealthy. Although he is a good man who is He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989). If it pleases your Majesty, he offers, I will recount it here.. We publish fiction and nonfiction online year round and put out an annual anthology of the ten best emerging writers in the country, judged by an expert in the field. Very well-written and enchanting. Although he arrives too late, he does receive a message telling him that she loved him. understand his motives when he refuses to change his ways, even after Santiago shows This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revelatory ideas and deeply sympathetic characters. Other Titles. Great short read. I've tempered my anger since writing this, and have amended it. After lengthy discourse on astrology, mathematics, geomancy, and medicine, conversation turns to alchemy (nuclear technology?). We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. Details Abstract: This curious time-travel novella is a gracefully told lesson about accepting fate-or, as better suits this medieval Arabian setting, the will of Allah. I have, and so have numerous customers of mine. The accion takes place in Cairo and Bagdag and the themes and style are reminiscent of those . "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is from EXHALATION by Ted Chiang, published by Penguin Random House Audio, an. who has become complacent and given up the pursuit of his Personal Legend. This collection contains all six previously published, Is science fiction a literature of ideas, or of characters? Chiang has acquired a massive reputation on the basis of very few pieces of short fiction. 2015. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy, Love at the End of the World by Lindy Biller, The Masters Review Volume X With Stories Selected by Diane Cook. The story that he recounts to the Caliph begins with a walk through the market, where he notices that one of the largest shops in the market had been taken over by a new merchant. Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", uses intricate writing style to describe its subject matter in an elegant way. There was a problem loading your book clubs. , Item Weight " The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate " is a fantasy novelette by American writer Ted Chiang, originally published in 2007 by Subterranean Press and reprinted in the September 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Exhalation is the sort of book thats so good its hard to know what to say about it besides read it. Every sentence fits; every word glimmers; the level of precision, like an engineer crafting a line of code, is evident in every line. My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have been otherwise. I couldnt help but wonder whether women in medieval Baghdad could really move around so freely without a chaperone, but enjoyed the tale within a tale within a tale structure. You have stepped through? The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of . Unable to add item to List. on 50-99 accounts. This curious time-travel novella from Hugo-winner Chiang (Stories of Your Life and Others The longest, the moving and magisterial The Lifecycle of Software Objects, spans more than a hundred pages; the shortest barely cracks four. Book Summary. The prose is just ok perhaps, but what I found more surprising is the impeccable way the author deals with the subject of time travel. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2013. Never write a review in the heat of an angry moment. A time travel story; a set of parables; a meditation on regret and happiness, on wisdom and change; and, quite possibly, an oblique commentary on desiring to enter Baghdad and change everything; the braided narrative of The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate contains all of these. This episode is sponsored by Penguin Random House . I picked it up as a standalone e-book that was part of the Humble Bundle mentioned here, and its the first work Ive read by Ted Chiang. merchant). [2], Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a fabric merchant in medieval Baghdad, discovers a new shop in the marketplace. Title: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate Title Record # 834616 Author: Ted Chiang Date: 2007-07-00 Type: SHORTFICTION Length: novelette Language: English User Rating: 9.00 (3 votes) Your vote: Not cast VOTE Current Tags: Iraq (1), egypt (1), merchants (1), time travel (1) Add Tags. K/R*'0D "{HM]AC!5iLh Re `rZ ]'cmy_ucHO*XGBHY{ The novella The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (2007 chap) is an intricately woven Oriental Fantasy involving Time Travel. Another twist to SF and fantasy of the last ten years is the emergence of prominent international authors, and a more solid footing for authors of color. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. There were many to whom I showed that Gate, and who made use of it. (p. 20). Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2013. Despite the alchemist's warning that "what is made cannot be unmade," and three illustrative tales about others' attempts to alter the past, the merchant is determined to return to an earlier time to save his long-dead wife. OH MY GOD. A short fairy tale-like story about time travel and the choices we make and responsibility. Listen to this episode from LeVar Burton Reads on Spotify. When, after numerous trials in the desert, Fuwaad arrives in Baghdad, he finds he cannot change what he hoped to rectify. for a customized plan. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. [1] In 2019, the novelette was included in the collection of short stories Exhalation: Stories. Typically, writers without published novels or story collections or with low circulation. This one is emotionally rich as well as formally playful, containing stories within stories, just like Scheherazade's 1001 NIGHTS, from which Chiang draws as a major influence. Above all, it's a story about recognizing the will of Allah and accepting it, no matter what form it takes. It's a great story. But it doubles as a preamble for Chiangs entire oeuvre, especially for those first-time readers who, lured by the author who wrote the short story that inspired 2016s soulful sci-fi blockbuster Arrival, are likely double-checking the dust jacket right around now to make sure they picked up the right book. My thanks to Kevin Ansbro for the enlightening, delightful find! Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. Well, that has changed, and this story is one of the ones leading the charge. From an award-winning science fiction writer, the long-awaited new collection of stunningly original, humane, and already celebrated short stories. Half lyrical Arabian Nights legend and half old school cautionary SF tale, this skillfully written story and its theme of insurmountable fate may comfort as many readers as it makes uncomfortable. Subscribe now. This is a Gate of Years. Contact us fact that he comes across as a good person. Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/27/the-merchant-and-the-alchemists-gate-by-ted-chiang/, [] by Terry Pratchett Muse of Fire by Dan Simmons What If? Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. : Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. Theres a joy in it, the thrill of discovery, of following Chiangs inquisitive mind wherever it may lead.