Symmetry magazine, which is put out by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, recently published an essay by William S. Higgins on Jack Williamson’s 1942 short story “Collision Orbit.” That story contained science fiction’s first reference to contraterrene, or as we know it today, antimatter. You can find a manuscript page from that story here.

A sidebar to the main article references my 2003 visit to the Williamson ranch. Included are photos of the shack in which Jack wrote “Collision Orbit.” That’s me at right inside Jack’s shack.

The article has been linked to by many blogs, usually those focused on either science or science fiction. But what I found most interesting were the two links from sites unconcerned with either of those topics.

Here’s a link from Materialicious, which bills itself as “just another shelter blog,” and here’s one from Shedworking, which is “a lifestyle guide for shedworkers.”

Who knew that there was such a thing as shed fandom?