The Gently Orbiting Blonde

What if the greatest threat to your marriage wasn't infidelity or money troubles, but anti-gravity? On his wedding night, scientist Bill Wright is so consumed by his experiments that he completely neglects his new wife, Helene. When she storms out in frustration and returns with a mysterious package, Bill's gravity-defying device goes haywire, sending himself and fellow scientist Gladys into an unintended orbital dance around their living room. The situation escalates with hilariously chaotic consequences as the laws of physics bend to the will of romance and rivalry. Peterson captures something delightful about mid-century scientific optimism: the belief that even the most absurd domestic crises could be solved with the right formula. The story zips along with genuine comic timing, playing jealously and devotion against each other while furniture and people float toward the ceiling. It's a frothy, inventive piece that treats the cosmic strangeness of falling in love as seriously as it treats the science, which is to say: not very, and that's exactly the point. For readers who miss a time when science fiction could be playful, romantic, and completely unconcerned with grimness.