The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Ted Chiang
Novelette
Number of words : 10600
Percent of complex words : 7.6
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 18.4
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 10.4
Flesch : 67.8
Flesch-Kincaid : 8.4
PEOPLE
Caliph
A monarch.
Fuwaad ibn Abbas
A storyteller.
Basharaat
A shopkeeper and Gate keeper.
Hassan
A rope maker.
Ajib ibn Taher
A rug weaver.
Taahira
Ajib's wife.
Raniya
Hasim's wife.
Najya
Fuwaad's wife.
Maimuna
A physician's assistant.
PLACES
Baghdad
Capital of Iraq.
Damascus
Capital of Syria.
Cairo
Capital of Egypt.
Street of Black Dogs
Where you should only walk along the North side.
Habbaniya
Part of Cairo.
Basra
A city in Iraq.
Kufa
A city in Iraq.
TECHNOLOGY
Astrolabe
An historical astronomical instrument.
Quicksilver
The metal mercury.
Gate of Seconds
Hoop device separating a small span of time.
Gate of Years
Hoop device separating a large span of time.
Cordovan
Horse leather.
Khurasani turban
A upper class round turban.
CONCEPTS
Alchemy
The idea that you can transmute one substance into another via illogical means.
Djinni
Arab mythological sentient creatures.
MEDIA
The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker
A Gate story.
The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole from Himself
A Gate story.
The Tale of the Wife and Her Lover
A Gate story.
FOOD
Pistachios
A type of nut.
Pomegranates
A type of fruit.
ANIMALS
Camels
Used as transport in desert caravans.
PLOT
A bloke in trouble recounts several stories to a Caliph, surrounding a man who has a gate that you can travel in time through - and meet future or past selves.
Therefore some of the stories loop around
The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker.
Hassan finds his older self wealthy.
The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole From Himself
Ajib finds his future self seems poor, but has a stash of gold. Money gets his wife kidnapped, and he ends up having to provide this lot anyway.
The Tale of the Wife & Her Lover
Some time meddling here by Hassan's wife Raniya, with Hassan's own younger self.
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20080214145811/http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/tc01.htm
Number of words : 10600
Percent of complex words : 7.6
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 18.4
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 10.4
Flesch : 67.8
Flesch-Kincaid : 8.4
PEOPLE
Caliph
A monarch.
Fuwaad ibn Abbas
A storyteller.
Basharaat
A shopkeeper and Gate keeper.
Hassan
A rope maker.
Ajib ibn Taher
A rug weaver.
Taahira
Ajib's wife.
Raniya
Hasim's wife.
Najya
Fuwaad's wife.
Maimuna
A physician's assistant.
PLACES
Baghdad
Capital of Iraq.
Damascus
Capital of Syria.
Cairo
Capital of Egypt.
Street of Black Dogs
Where you should only walk along the North side.
Habbaniya
Part of Cairo.
Basra
A city in Iraq.
Kufa
A city in Iraq.
TECHNOLOGY
Astrolabe
An historical astronomical instrument.
Quicksilver
The metal mercury.
Gate of Seconds
Hoop device separating a small span of time.
Gate of Years
Hoop device separating a large span of time.
Cordovan
Horse leather.
Khurasani turban
A upper class round turban.
CONCEPTS
Alchemy
The idea that you can transmute one substance into another via illogical means.
Djinni
Arab mythological sentient creatures.
MEDIA
The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker
A Gate story.
The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole from Himself
A Gate story.
The Tale of the Wife and Her Lover
A Gate story.
FOOD
Pistachios
A type of nut.
Pomegranates
A type of fruit.
ANIMALS
Camels
Used as transport in desert caravans.
PLOT
A bloke in trouble recounts several stories to a Caliph, surrounding a man who has a gate that you can travel in time through - and meet future or past selves.
Therefore some of the stories loop around
The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker.
Hassan finds his older self wealthy.
The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole From Himself
Ajib finds his future self seems poor, but has a stash of gold. Money gets his wife kidnapped, and he ends up having to provide this lot anyway.
The Tale of the Wife & Her Lover
Some time meddling here by Hassan's wife Raniya, with Hassan's own younger self.
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20080214145811/http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/tc01.htm