The Devil and Simon Flagg

by Arthur Porges

Devilish short story that centres around Fermat’s Last Theorem. It is originally published within a collection of short stories.

http://simonsingh.net/books/fermats-l...

Genres: Short Stories

Unknown Binding

About the author

was an American author of numerous short stories, most notably during the 1950s and 1960s, though he continued to write and publish stories until his death. He was a teacher of mathematics, brother of Irwin Porges; he began publishing sf with "Modeled in Clay" for Man to Man (August/September 1950), and subsequently published about 220 stories – a few as Peter Arthur, Abel Jacobi, Derek Page and Pat Rogers – without releasing any of them in book collections. Over half that output is mystery fiction and the balance fairly evenly divided between fantasy and sf. He was a strong and inventive writer, especially of fantasy; many of his ingenious mystery stories fall into the "impossible crime" category or are Sherlock Holmes parodies featuring Stately Homes. In the sf world, he is probably still best known for "The Fly" (September 1952 F&SF), not to be confused with George Langelaan's twice-filmed tale with the same title, and "The Ruum" (October 1953 F&SF) involving an implacable alien Robot programmed to collect specimens of certain Terran lifeforms, leading to a memorably long and gruelling chase of the protagonist. Most of Porges' best fiction appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and in Amazing Stories and Fantastic under the enlightened editorship of Cele Goldsmith. Porges was fascinated with puzzles resolved by invocation of basic scientific principles. This was the basis of his Ensign de Ruyter series, which began with "Urned Reprieve" (October 1964 Amazing); in "Wheeler Dealer" (March 1965 Amazing), for example, natives of a low-pressure world who devote most of their time to ritual prayer become a useful workforce when the protagonist adapts the Crookes radiometer principle to make their prayer-wheels turn unaided. The series was collected posthumously as Eight Problems in Space (coll of linked stories 2008) edited by Richard Simms.
Porges was content to write and sell stories and did not pursue book collection, so it has been left to others to compile volumes of his best material. Mike Ashley assembled a selection of his best supernatural fiction in The Mirror and Other Strange Reflections (coll 2002), but the majority of his collections have been compiled by Richard Simms, who maintains an Arthur Porges website [see links below]. These include a volume of previously unpublished early writings, The Calabash of Coral Island and Other Early Stories (coll 2008). The essential volume of Porges sf stories is The Ruum and Other Science Fiction Stories (coll 2010). A full list of other volumes is given below

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This deal with the devil short story was originally published in the August 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It was then re-printed in Deals with the Devil edited by Basil Davenport which was published in 1958.

I have read many of the stories written by Arthur Porges. Most of them are just average to good. There are 2 or 3 of his stories that are really superb. This is one of the really great ones.

This story is very well-written and with a very unique and clever plot. It has a real twist at the end.
It is also just very cute and sweet, in a way.

I think this is one of the 10 best short stories that I have ever read in my life.

[zerogravitas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious short story of the devil selling his soul to a mathematician, fully available for free on Simon Singh's website.

[vhatos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дуже давно читав це оповідання у якомусь збірнику і воно сподобалось тлумаченням автора взаємовідносин людини та диявола, який зацікавився вирішенням математичної задачі.