His stories are what I think of when I say ‘hard SF’, where the ideas are central to the story most science fiction is merely adventure stories with an SF setting, and you could tell the same story in a fantasy or historical setting. Ted Chiang’s short stories contain more craft, more in the way of ideas, than most full-length novels. I want to see it again already, so I can just enjoy it, instead of constantly anticipating how well it does/does not match the short story. The only downside to this is that I will never get to see the film fresh, unaware, I will never really know if it works on its own. I re-read ‘Story of Your Life’ before going to see Arrival (and I read it again to write this post) I wanted to make sure I really understood the original ideas before seeing the adaptation. I loved this film so much, I think it is a great film in its own right, and I think it is probably the best adaptation possible, even if it doesn’t manage to do the central concept of Chiang’s short story justice. SPOILER ALERT: I am writing about the film Arrival specifically as an adaptation of Ted Chiang’s short story ‘Story of Your Life’, so it will be spoiler heavy for both.
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