Ted Chiang Reading Order

23 books (1991–2026)

Ted Chiang's work appears in 22 anthologies spanning from 1991 to 2026, with the series ongoing and best read in publication order starting with Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine from August 1991. These collections represent a range of science fiction and speculative fiction anthologies, including themed collections, award compilations, and year's best selections that feature his contributions alongside work from other authors. The series demonstrates Chiang's presence across major science fiction publishing venues over more than three decades.

Start with Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1991, the first of 22 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1991 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Starlight 2 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Year's Best SF 4 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Vanishing Acts 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Nebula Awards 35 (2001) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Starlight 3 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Supermen 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	I premi Hugo 2002 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Hard SF Renaissance 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Feeling Very Strange 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Year's Best SF 11 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	The WisCon Chronicles, Volume 1 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 21 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Twenty-First Annual Collection 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Lightspeed Magazine, December 2012 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Lightspeed Magazine, July 2016 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction May/June 2016 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Edited By 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Nebula Awards Showcase 55 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	The Penguin Book of the International Short Story 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

12 books (1990–2019)

Ted Chiang's science fiction short stories and novellas span nearly three decades, from Tower of Babylon in 1990 through Omphalos in 2019. The eleven pieces in this complete collection should be read in publication order, which traces the author's evolving exploration of language, consciousness, technology, and philosophy. These standalone stories are celebrated for their intellectual depth and imaginative premises, each offering a distinct meditation on how humans understand reality and meaning.

Start with Tower of Babylon, the first of 11 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	Tower of Babylon 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Understand (in Asimov's) 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Story of Your Life (in Stories of Your Life and Others) 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Seventy-Two Letters (in Vanishing Acts) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Hell Is the Absence of God 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	What's Expected of Us 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Lifecycle of Software Objects 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Great Silence 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Omphalos 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (2002–2019)

Ted Chiang's two science fiction short story collections should be read in publication order, beginning with Stories of Your Life and Others (2002), which was later retitled Arrival, followed by Exhalation (2019). This complete series spans nearly two decades and showcases Chiang's renowned speculative fiction, blending scientific concepts with philosophical inquiry. Both collections are standalone and can be enjoyed independently, though reading them in order provides a chronological view of the author's evolving style and themes.

Start with Stories of Your Life and Others / Arrival and read in order.

#	Title
1	Stories of Your Life and Others / Arrival 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Exhalation 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

18 books (1996–2013)

The Year's Best SF Anthology is a completed 18-book series of annual science fiction collections published between 1996 and 2013. Each volume gathers the finest short science fiction stories from its respective year, selected and edited by Ted Chiang. Readers should start with the first volume and proceed in publication order to experience how the genre evolved across nearly two decades. These standalone annual editions can also be sampled individually based on specific years of interest.

Start with Year's Best SF, the first of 18 books in the Year's Best SF Anthology series.

#	Title
1	Year's Best SF 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Year's Best SF 2 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Year's Best SF 3 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Year's Best SF 4 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Year's Best SF 5 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Year's Best SF 6 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Year's Best SF 7 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Year's Best SF 8 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Year's Best SF 9 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Year's Best SF 10 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Year's Best SF 11 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Year's Best SF 12 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Year's Best SF 13 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Year's Best SF 14 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Year's Best SF 15 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Year's Best SF 16 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Year's Best SF 17 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Year's Best SF 18 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible