More than 14 years ago in "Half-Remembered Worlds" (2002-02-18) I described two science-fiction stories stuck deep in my head that I couldn't properly identify. A few days ago, on the Stack Exchange sf Q&A board, I asked again — and one of the tales was immediately identified! In fact, somebody else had asked about it in 2011. The description:

... a surreal planet where, as one moves toward the poles, time flows faster, words get shorter, language becomes crisper — and at the northernmost zones a war rages forever, apparently in a mirror-reflection across a singularity ...

... and the answer: "Traveller's Rest", by David Masson, published in 1965 and anthologized the following year in a couple of collections. The full text of the story is online. It's still fascinating to read, though more amateurish than it seemed at the time. Rich Horton writes about the author in an online essay. Thank you!

^z - 2016-04-27