Alien Induction

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang

Jun 12th, 2026 by Rusty

"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a short story by Ted Chiang that has been nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. It is about a fabric merchant in ancient Baghdad who discovers a time portal.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Fuwaad ibn Abbas, long time resident of the City of Peace, is searching for a gift to give a business associate when he discovers a new shop that contains a wide variety of interesting items for sale. After discussing the origin of the items, the shop owner takes Fuwaad into the back workshop to show him his latest discovery in the field of alchemy - a gateway through which one can travel into the future. Fuwaad, obviously intrigued, is regaled with stories of others who have passed through the gate to converse with their future selves. Wiser and more desperate than the people in the stories, Fuwaad comes up with a proposition that he hopes will redeem his soul.

Bashaarat looked at me and considered. "I have recently built something that may change your opinion. You would be the first person I have shown it to. Would you care to see it?"

"It would be a great pleasure."

"Please follow me." He led me through the doorway in the rear of his shop. The next room was a workshop, arrayed with devices whose functions I could not guess—bars of metal wrapped with enough copper thread to reach the horizon, mirrors mounted on a circular slab of granite floating in quicksilver—but Bashaarat walked past these without a glance.

Instead he led me to a sturdy pedestal, chest high, on which a stout metal hoop was mounted upright. The hoop's opening was as wide as two outstretched hands, and its rim so thick that it would tax the strongest man to carry. The metal was black as night, but polished to such smoothness that, had it been a different color, it could have served as a mirror. Bashaarat bade me stand so that I looked upon the hoop edgewise, while he stood next to its opening.

"Please observe," he said.

Bashaarat thrust his arm through the hoop from the right side, but it did not extend out from the left. Instead, it was as if his arm were severed at the elbow, and he waved the stump up and down, and then pulled his arm out intact.

My Two Cents:

I have only read two stories by Ted Chiang, but Wow! I am quite impressed with the utter thoughtfulness and detail portrayed by this man's writings. If you are a connoisseur of fine stories then you owe it to yourself to read this one. Go... Now! Read this amazingly written tale!

• The good:

A very interesting story that is just so darn fun to read!
It is broken up into four separate stories, so it really feels like you're reading a handful of tiny tales.
I loved the setting and tone of this story. The author expertly captures the feeling of a bustling marketplace in ancient Baghdad.
I am a sucker for stories that involve people trying to change the time line to suit their interests - and this one ranks right up there with the best of them!

• The bad:

Honestly, there wasn't much I didn't like in this story. But if my arm was twisted I would say that it has some mild adult situations - such as the time when a woman must seduce her husband's former self in order to teach him the finer points of love!

Fact Sheet:

• Page Count: 18

• Word Count: 10,583

• "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" garnered the following awards:

It has been nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
It has also been nominated for the 2007 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

Where you can find "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate":

This story first appeared in September 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
You can read a very nice free version of "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" at the Internet Archive's Way Back Machine.