# Please help me find the title of this SF story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610 "2013-07-26T18:20:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/1 "2013-07-26T18:20:16Z")
I read science fiction voraciously, but I am bad about remembering titles— It concerned a Muslim man living in the Middle East in the relatively recent past. It was during a time of conflict between Moslems and Hindus. The man was a mathematician and philosopher. Years ago, he had had a vision of a compelling female spirit who was connected in some way to pure mathematics. He basically spends his whole life trying to invoke this spirit again. He has a dear old friend who is Hindu, whom he believes to have been killed in the conflicts, but later finds again. It is a very beautiful story. It may have been in “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” (Gardner Dozois) in the last few years. Anyone remember it? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/2 "2013-07-26T18:37:54Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I read science fiction voraciously, but I am bad about remembering titles— > > It concerned a Muslim man living in the Middle East in the relatively recent past. It was during a time of conflict between Moslems and Hindus. > > The man was a mathematician and philosopher. Years ago, he had had a vision of a compelling female spirit who was connected in some way to pure mathematics. He basically spends his whole life trying to invoke this spirit again. > > He has a dear old friend who is Hindu, whom he believes to have been killed in the conflicts, but later finds again. > > It is a very beautiful story. It may have been in “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” (Gardner Dozois) in the last few years. > > Anyone remember it? I can’t search at the moment but here’s a link to a list of Dozois’ anthologies -you can click on each one to see a list of contents [Summary Bibliography: Gardner Dozois](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?198) ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/3 "2013-07-27T21:00:31Z")
**Andy L:** Thank you, what a splendid resource! Sadly, I couldn’t find it in there. But I did decide I really am going to have to buy those books! I’m pretty sure the author was Middle or Near Eastern. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/4 "2013-07-27T21:03:45Z")
nm, turns out not to apply in this case. I’ll still put my money on Andy L to find the answer. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/5 "2013-07-27T21:16:15Z")
Well, here’s some more plot … I believe that he first saw the spirit in a library. He makes mention at one point of an Arabic custom of divination using a random sentence spoken by a passerby. At the end of the story, the spirit comes for him as he is dying. I believe that she is a particular, special kind of spirit. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/6 "2013-07-28T00:19:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > nm, turns out not to apply in this case. I’ll still put my money on Andy L to find the answer. Thaks for your confidence. I think it’s “Infinities” by Vandana Singh, described here [MathFiction: Infinities (Vandana Singh)](http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/mfview.php?callnumber=mf942) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/7 "2013-07-28T00:33:31Z")
I believe Andy L is correct… I read it in [The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Seventh Edition by Gardner Dozois](http://www.amazon.com/Years-Best-Science-Fiction-ebook/dp/B003P9XI5W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374971427&sr=8-1&keywords=dozois+twenty-seventh), a wonderful sci-fi anthology that I look forward to buying every year. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/8 "2013-07-28T09:10:35Z")
That’s it! Thank you!! Forgetfullness fought. Woo hoo! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-the-title-of-this-sf-story/664610/9 "2013-07-28T18:33:59Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > That’s it! Thank you!! Glad to help.