About

A Library of Mathematical Fiction

“Mathfiction” is a very niche genre of science fiction which deploys mathematical concepts in literary tales in many different variants, styles, and garbs. More than two thousand stories which fall under this rubric are already known in the English language alone. More are being found and catalogued from old archives. And a new generation of science fiction writers is writing many more of these at a very rapid clip…

The present site aims to be a single repository of all such mathematical fiction. Its vision is to be a fairly complete, freely accessible Library of Mathematical Fiction…

The Rationale

While many examples of mathfiction are known and even reviewed, the availability of the source material itself has always been a challenge. Some of the older works can be found on sites like gutenberg.org and archive.org. However, most of these stories remain hidden in old magazines, library scans, or even stay unidentified as mathfiction. The geographic availability of the stories is also uneven. Readers in USA with access to interlibrary resources may be able to get hold of a few gems with some diligent and patient work, but for most of the world, there is no easy recourse. And then there is the real risk of losing these precious works to the babel of global information glut. A single library housing as many as these works as can be found (and allowed by copyright considerations) will sustain them in their entirety, out of obscurity.

Since the contents of the library are freely available to read and download, aficionados of this narrow but intellectually rich sub-genre can get the immediate gratification of diving into a fascinating literary world. They can make a first-hand judgment about the literary quality and ‘mathiness’ of a cited work rather than relying on independent reviews.

Finally, one hopes that the availability of complete stories will spur more writers to develop mathfiction in newer, deeper directions…

Relation to Kasman Database

Prof. Alex Kasman, of College of Charleston, South Carolina (USA), had started a systematic database to catalogue mathfiction circa 1999 and maintains an excellent website at:

https://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/default.html

Over the decades, with substantial reviews and summaries of such stories, his database now displays more than 1600 entries as of June 1, 2024, with no signs of slowing down in growth. It has formed an invaluable tool for researchers and SF connoisseurs as a central waterhole to find information on some of the finest pieces of mathfiction workmanship; works of which most would have been unaware but for his singular effort to pull together information on all known mathfiction in one place.

This Library of Mathfiction is an adjunct to Prof. Kasman’s sterling database. We actively link back to his website for the extensive reviews available there and take pains to emphasize that the current site is not meant to be a replication of his yeoman efforts but to supplement them by making the cited works available to readers. To be clear, he is not involved in developing or maintaining this site, nor is he responsible for its content, errors, or any other issues in any way.

There are some works of fiction which Prof. Kasman does not consider to be mathfiction according to his well-detailed principles. Our definition of mathfiction is slightly different and more liberal. So you will find some entries here which are not reviewed in the Kasman Database. These are clearly identified as such.

We Need Your Help!

The effort to load ALL available mathfiction is substantial and will take time. There will also be many cases where we are simply unable to load the content or reference it elsewhere due to copyright issues or because the works have not been found. But we aim to reach the mark of 2,000 stories by the end of 2025…

Clearly, we can use all the help we can get. If you would like to contribute a review of an existing entry, or propose a new entry with a copy of the original work, please contact us!

Clearly, we can use all the help we can get. If you would like to contribute a review with a copy of the original work, please contact us.

Credits

Site Content: Vijay Fafat

Site Maintenance: Mythili Vutukuru

Site Construction: Harjeet Singh