A new film, Arrival, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, is based on one of the stories in this collection.

"Shining, haunting, mind-blowing tales . . . this collection is a pure marvel. [Ted] Chiang is so exhilarating so original so stylish he just leaves you speechless." Junot Diaz

"United by a humane intelligence that speaks very directly to the reader, and makes us experience each story with immediacy and Chiang's calm passion." China Miéville, Guardian

With his masterful first collection, multiple-award-winning author Ted Chiang deftly blends human emotion and scientific rationalism in eight remarkably diverse stories, all told in his trademark precise and evocative prose.

From a soaring Babylonian tower that connects a flat Earth with the firmament above, to a world where angelic visitations are a wondrous and terrifying part of everyday life; from a neural modification that eliminates the...