MathFiction: The Third Party (David Moles)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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The Third Party (2004)

David Moles
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Contributed by "William E. Emba"

Two conflicting groups of humans make contact with a forgotten human world. One of the natives turns out to be a brilliant mathematician, independently discovering Cantor's diagonalization argument, and is confused that a colleague considers it obvious.

This short story appeared in the September 2004 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.

(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to The Third Party

According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:

Planck Time by Michael Iwoleit
The Planck Dive by Greg Egan
Six Thought Experiments Concerning the Nature of Computation by Rudy Rucker
In Fading Suns and Dying Moons by John Varley
A Catastrophe Machine by Carter Scholz
Touching Centauri by Stephen Baxter
Singleton by Greg Egan
The Monopole Affair by Ken Wharton
The Grass and Tree by Eliot Fintushel
The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow / Charles Stross

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Categories:

Genre	Science Fiction,
Motif
Topic	Infinity, Logic/Set Theory,
Medium	Short Stories,

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Where are the new works of mathematical fiction?: As you can see from this chronological listing, this database includes many works of mathematical fiction for each year from 1990 to 2025. Strangely, only two are listed for 2026, so far. Either less mathematical fiction is being published than in previous years or I'm just having more trouble finding it. If you know of any works of fiction that should be added to this list, especially recently published ones, please let me know. (Keep in mind that I do not include self-published works or children's fiction that just covers elementary mathematical concepts.) Thanks!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)