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Strange Wine
From Harlan Ellison, whom The Washington Post regards as a "lyric poet, satirist, explorer of odd psychological corners, and purveyor of pure horror and black comedy," comes Strange Wine.
Discover among these tales the spirits of executed Nazi war criminals who walk Manhattan streets; the damned soul of a murderess escaped from Hell; gremlins writing the fantasies of a gone-dry writer; and the exquisite Dr. D'arque Angel, who deals her patients doses of death...
Contents:
· Introduction: Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don’t Look So Terrific Yourself · in
· Croatoan · ss F&SF May ’75
· Working with the Little People · ss F&SF Jul ’77
· Killing Bernstein · ss Mystery Monthly Jun ’76
· Mom · nv Silver Foxes Aug ’76
· In Fear of K · ss Vertex Jun ’75
· Hitler Painted Roses · ss Penthouse Apr ’77
· The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat · ss Universe 6, ed. Terry Carr, Doubleday, 1976
· From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet · ss F&SF Oct ’76
· Lonely Women Are the Vessels of Time · ss MidAmeriCon Program Book, Kansas City, MO., 1976
· Emissary from Hamelin · ss 2076: The American Tricentennial, ed. Edward Bryant, Pyramid, 1977
· The New York Review of Bird [original version] · nv *
· Seeing · nv Andromeda 1, ed. Peter Weston, London: Futura, 1976
· The Boulevard of Broken Dreams · vi Los Angeles Review #1 ’75
· Strange Wine · ss Amazing Jun ’76
· The Diagnosis of Dr. D’arqueAngel [“Doctor D’arqueAngel”] · ss Viva Jan ’77
Discover among these tales the spirits of executed Nazi war criminals who walk Manhattan streets; the damned soul of a murderess escaped from Hell; gremlins writing the fantasies of a gone-dry writer; and the exquisite Dr. D'arque Angel, who deals her patients doses of death...
Contents:
· Introduction: Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don’t Look So Terrific Yourself · in
· Croatoan · ss F&SF May ’75
· Working with the Little People · ss F&SF Jul ’77
· Killing Bernstein · ss Mystery Monthly Jun ’76
· Mom · nv Silver Foxes Aug ’76
· In Fear of K · ss Vertex Jun ’75
· Hitler Painted Roses · ss Penthouse Apr ’77
· The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat · ss Universe 6, ed. Terry Carr, Doubleday, 1976
· From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet · ss F&SF Oct ’76
· Lonely Women Are the Vessels of Time · ss MidAmeriCon Program Book, Kansas City, MO., 1976
· Emissary from Hamelin · ss 2076: The American Tricentennial, ed. Edward Bryant, Pyramid, 1977
· The New York Review of Bird [original version] · nv *
· Seeing · nv Andromeda 1, ed. Peter Weston, London: Futura, 1976
· The Boulevard of Broken Dreams · vi Los Angeles Review #1 ’75
· Strange Wine · ss Amazing Jun ’76
· The Diagnosis of Dr. D’arqueAngel [“Doctor D’arqueAngel”] · ss Viva Jan ’77
262 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1978
136 people are currently reading
2344 people want to read
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,075 books2,780 followersHarlan Jay Ellison (1934-2018) was a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism.
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
November 13, 2020
I read
Deathbird Stories
some years back, upon Stephen King's recommendation, who sung Ellison's praises in Danse Macabre, and considers both of these short story collections some of the finest horror fiction released in their time. I don't remember much of Deathbird Stories except for a few stand-outs (including the incredible title story) that have stayed with me all these years, and the fact that most of them managed to shock me while often walking a very fine line to distasteful. Their outrageousness, and the fact that I had expected pure horror fiction only to find that his background was firmly rooted in science and speculative fiction—two genres I wasn't particularly interested in in my early 20s—led to my relegating the other recommended collection to the bottom of my reading pile... until Ellison passed away at the end of June, which seemed like a good opportunity to delve back into his works.
Ellison was a divisive figure in writer circles, a self-professed hostile asshole, known for his outspoken and abrasive personality (his Wikipedia page has a 9-part "controversies and disputes" section), which shines through in this particular collection, where he wrote an introduction to each story, usually telling the reader where the idea came from, or why and how and where he wrote them. I thought that all of these introductions were highly interesting and actually contributed to my understanding or enjoyment of the tale that followed, for the most part. The whole collection opens with a longer introduction titled Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself, where he goes on a rant about the mind-numbing dangers of television:
I can get behind the sentiment, but I find it a bit rich coming from someone who made his living by penning screenplays for shows such as Star Trek, Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and later, Babylon 5 and The New Twilight Zone. I don't have a problem with most of his views, just the holier-than-thou attitude and douchey, patronizing, sometimes sexist way he expressed them in. Anyway, the fact that he was an unlikeable, bitter old bully of a writer isn't news, so I'll try and separate the man from his work: I admire how he didn't pull any punches in the controversial topics he chose to write about, and he was capable of distilling the most wonderful thoughts on the craft and impact of writing in the simplest words, such as this excerpt from the same introduction:
The three stars rating is almost a given, as most short stories collections are a mixed bag that ultimately averages out. There was only one story I really did not like, The New York Review of Bird, although the introduction to it was really interesting in its own right, if a bit self-indulgent. My favorites were Hitler Painted Roses and the titular Strange Wine, with Croatoan, The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, In Fear of K, and Emissary from Hamelin as other personal stand-outs.
Croatoan · ★★★★
It's a testament to his already mentioned polemical nature that he chose to place this story as the very first in the collection. It's about a man who is forced to descend into New York's sewers by his hysterical girlfriend... to retrieve the aborted fetus he flushed down the toilet. It gained him death threats from pro choice and pro life defenders alike, but it's really less about abortion rights and more about personal responsibility.
Working With the Little People · ★★★1/2
The token story about writer's block that every writer seems to have to write at some point in their career. Rather amusing in parts and uncharacteristically light-hearted, it provides some commentary on the impact of legends.
Killing Bernstein · ★★1/2
An executive at a toy company kills his female ex-lover colleague whom he suspects of trying to sabotage his career... but then she turns up at work the next day looking just fine. It had the potential of turning into an absolutely brilliant story about obsession, madness, and the cracking boundaries between fantasy and reality, but then he ruined it with a ridiculously literal ending.
Mom · ★★★
In this tongue-in-cheek tale, so very different from everything else by Ellison I've read thus far, the ghost of a Jewish mother keeps nagging her surviving, grown son and tries to set him up with a respectable Jewish woman.
In Fear of K · ★★★★
A man and woman who despise each other are trapped in an underground pit surrounded by a labyrinth prowled by an unseen monster they've taken to calling K. A rather chilling allegory about fear of the unknown, and the things we'd rather suffer through than face whatever awaits in the dark.
Hitler Painted Roses · ★★★★★
My favorite if I had to choose one, this story about injustice has little to do with its eye-catching title; it's about how reputation and belief affect and change reality, while following the damned soul of a woman wrongly executed for murder who has made her escape from Hell. What makes this story all the more remarkable is that he wrote it during a live radio broadcast during which listeners called in suggesting phrases he had to work in.
The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat · ★★
It's hard to write a story about sounds, but he somehow pulled it off. The imagery and descriptions were absolutely breathtaking, and I thought the underlying idea quite intriguing, but it ultimately fell flat for me (pun intended).
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet · ★★
Written over three days while sitting on display in a bookshop window, this story is actually twenty-six pastiches. Each letter of the alphabet is given a nonsense word and a paragraph-length vignette—sometimes just a few lines. Hard to rate as a whole and mostly forgettable (although I quite liked the one for the letter F), it's mostly note-worthy for the pretty unique stunt he pulled in writing it.
Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time · ★★★1/2
A brief and grim allegorical tale about loneliness, clearly a product of its time, when the sexual revolution was still in full swing.
Emissary from Hamelin · ★★★★
The fabled Pied Piper comes back to Earth with an ultimatum and a warning to humans to stop destroying the planet.
The New York Review of Bird · ★ (or none at all)
A farcical, much too long story that's nothing but the vehicle for a personal rant; Ellison’s own pseudonym (which he slapped on his work to alert readers when he felt that it had been butchered beyond repair by others) comes to life and is on a mission to destroy the forces of evil who reign in the book publishing industry. Ridiculously bad, and very telling of his character.
Seeing · ★★★
Violent, grim, and nasty sci-fi horror with a slight Blade Runner vibe. In the future, a rich and powerful old lady arranges the kidnapping of a young woman with genetically rare "forever eyes", which can see much more than ordinary light, to have them transplanted into her own head.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams · ★★★★
Probably the most effective and chilling story in the collection, all the more remarkable because of its brevity. An old man who was at the Nuremberg trials sees dead Nazi war criminals walking down a Manhattan street...
Strange Wine · ★★★★★
Admittedly, this titular story lays it on pretty thick, but I loved it anyway. It follows an unlucky and unhappy man who believes he's actually an alien sent to Earth to live in a human body as a punishment for crimes he cannot remember.
The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel · ★★1/2
A gorgeous doctor periodically injects her high-paying patients with doses of distilled essence of Death so they can build up a tolerance and live forever.
Ellison was a divisive figure in writer circles, a self-professed hostile asshole, known for his outspoken and abrasive personality (his Wikipedia page has a 9-part "controversies and disputes" section), which shines through in this particular collection, where he wrote an introduction to each story, usually telling the reader where the idea came from, or why and how and where he wrote them. I thought that all of these introductions were highly interesting and actually contributed to my understanding or enjoyment of the tale that followed, for the most part. The whole collection opens with a longer introduction titled Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself, where he goes on a rant about the mind-numbing dangers of television:
"I now believe that television itself, the medium of sitting in front of a magic box that pulses images at us endlessly, the act of watching TV, per se, is mind crushing. It is soul deadening, dehumanizing, soporific in a poisonous way, ultimately brutalizing. It is, simply put so you cannot mistake my meaning, a bad thing."
I can get behind the sentiment, but I find it a bit rich coming from someone who made his living by penning screenplays for shows such as Star Trek, Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and later, Babylon 5 and The New Twilight Zone. I don't have a problem with most of his views, just the holier-than-thou attitude and douchey, patronizing, sometimes sexist way he expressed them in. Anyway, the fact that he was an unlikeable, bitter old bully of a writer isn't news, so I'll try and separate the man from his work: I admire how he didn't pull any punches in the controversial topics he chose to write about, and he was capable of distilling the most wonderful thoughts on the craft and impact of writing in the simplest words, such as this excerpt from the same introduction:
"This is a collection of fantasies, strange wine. Fifteen draughts your mind can quaff. They lie here, silent, waiting for you to activate them with your imagination.
In writing them, I fulfilled myself. That is why I write. If this book were never to be opened and read they would, nonetheless, have served their purposes for me. I wrote them. But now they belong to you. They were mine only as long as they were unformed and incomplete. That is the nature of the tragedy: the work is mine only when it is being done. Thereafter it must be remanded to the custody of the readers, and the writer can only hope for intelligence, patience, and tender mercies.
I urge those of you who find pleasure or substance in these random dreams to ignore the analyses of academicians and critics. Ignore what they tell you these stories are "about." Surely, you will decide what they're about. What they mean and what they meant when I wrote them are quite different. When I wrote them they had personal significance for me. What they will do for you depends on how you feel at the moment you read them, whether or not you feel estranged or loved, what kind of a day you have had, where your emptiness lies on that particular day."
The three stars rating is almost a given, as most short stories collections are a mixed bag that ultimately averages out. There was only one story I really did not like, The New York Review of Bird, although the introduction to it was really interesting in its own right, if a bit self-indulgent. My favorites were Hitler Painted Roses and the titular Strange Wine, with Croatoan, The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, In Fear of K, and Emissary from Hamelin as other personal stand-outs.
Croatoan · ★★★★
It's a testament to his already mentioned polemical nature that he chose to place this story as the very first in the collection. It's about a man who is forced to descend into New York's sewers by his hysterical girlfriend... to retrieve the aborted fetus he flushed down the toilet. It gained him death threats from pro choice and pro life defenders alike, but it's really less about abortion rights and more about personal responsibility.
Working With the Little People · ★★★1/2
The token story about writer's block that every writer seems to have to write at some point in their career. Rather amusing in parts and uncharacteristically light-hearted, it provides some commentary on the impact of legends.
Killing Bernstein · ★★1/2
An executive at a toy company kills his female ex-lover colleague whom he suspects of trying to sabotage his career... but then she turns up at work the next day looking just fine. It had the potential of turning into an absolutely brilliant story about obsession, madness, and the cracking boundaries between fantasy and reality, but then he ruined it with a ridiculously literal ending.
Mom · ★★★
In this tongue-in-cheek tale, so very different from everything else by Ellison I've read thus far, the ghost of a Jewish mother keeps nagging her surviving, grown son and tries to set him up with a respectable Jewish woman.
In Fear of K · ★★★★
A man and woman who despise each other are trapped in an underground pit surrounded by a labyrinth prowled by an unseen monster they've taken to calling K. A rather chilling allegory about fear of the unknown, and the things we'd rather suffer through than face whatever awaits in the dark.
Hitler Painted Roses · ★★★★★
My favorite if I had to choose one, this story about injustice has little to do with its eye-catching title; it's about how reputation and belief affect and change reality, while following the damned soul of a woman wrongly executed for murder who has made her escape from Hell. What makes this story all the more remarkable is that he wrote it during a live radio broadcast during which listeners called in suggesting phrases he had to work in.
The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat · ★★
It's hard to write a story about sounds, but he somehow pulled it off. The imagery and descriptions were absolutely breathtaking, and I thought the underlying idea quite intriguing, but it ultimately fell flat for me (pun intended).
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet · ★★
Written over three days while sitting on display in a bookshop window, this story is actually twenty-six pastiches. Each letter of the alphabet is given a nonsense word and a paragraph-length vignette—sometimes just a few lines. Hard to rate as a whole and mostly forgettable (although I quite liked the one for the letter F), it's mostly note-worthy for the pretty unique stunt he pulled in writing it.
Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time · ★★★1/2
A brief and grim allegorical tale about loneliness, clearly a product of its time, when the sexual revolution was still in full swing.
Emissary from Hamelin · ★★★★
The fabled Pied Piper comes back to Earth with an ultimatum and a warning to humans to stop destroying the planet.
The New York Review of Bird · ★ (or none at all)
A farcical, much too long story that's nothing but the vehicle for a personal rant; Ellison’s own pseudonym (which he slapped on his work to alert readers when he felt that it had been butchered beyond repair by others) comes to life and is on a mission to destroy the forces of evil who reign in the book publishing industry. Ridiculously bad, and very telling of his character.
Seeing · ★★★
Violent, grim, and nasty sci-fi horror with a slight Blade Runner vibe. In the future, a rich and powerful old lady arranges the kidnapping of a young woman with genetically rare "forever eyes", which can see much more than ordinary light, to have them transplanted into her own head.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams · ★★★★
Probably the most effective and chilling story in the collection, all the more remarkable because of its brevity. An old man who was at the Nuremberg trials sees dead Nazi war criminals walking down a Manhattan street...
Strange Wine · ★★★★★
Admittedly, this titular story lays it on pretty thick, but I loved it anyway. It follows an unlucky and unhappy man who believes he's actually an alien sent to Earth to live in a human body as a punishment for crimes he cannot remember.
The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel · ★★1/2
A gorgeous doctor periodically injects her high-paying patients with doses of distilled essence of Death so they can build up a tolerance and live forever.
April 24, 2016
This was my first encounter with Harlan Ellison. Well, almost. I had read his introduction to the fourth Sandman volume The Season of Mists, which I'd always enjoyed, but nothing beyond that.
And now Strange Wine... A collection of short fiction that reveals a very fertile imagination and a sense of language that ranks among the best short fiction writers of the 20th century (at the very least). The collection, first published in 1978, includes an introduction railing against the evils of television and fifteen short stories of varying length, each with a presentation by Ellison himself (which often is just as much fun reading as the stories themselves).
The material sweeps between horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, the merely fantastical and metafiction, yet is all rooted in excellent storytelling and Ellison's absolutely wonderful prose.
The opening story "Croatoan" sets the mood and the ride just keeps going after that.
Ellison is a must read among American 20th century writers and a true master of the short story format.
And now Strange Wine... A collection of short fiction that reveals a very fertile imagination and a sense of language that ranks among the best short fiction writers of the 20th century (at the very least). The collection, first published in 1978, includes an introduction railing against the evils of television and fifteen short stories of varying length, each with a presentation by Ellison himself (which often is just as much fun reading as the stories themselves).
The material sweeps between horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, the merely fantastical and metafiction, yet is all rooted in excellent storytelling and Ellison's absolutely wonderful prose.
The opening story "Croatoan" sets the mood and the ride just keeps going after that.
Ellison is a must read among American 20th century writers and a true master of the short story format.
July 27, 2019
I always think it's funny when I read a collection of "all new" stories only to learn I've read over half of them already, but them's the breaks. :)
Maybe I shouldn't have been so dedicated in reading as many Harlan Ellison stories, huh!? Ah well, that's okay. He writes great shorts.
My Favorites were "From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet" - Super short stories for each letter of the alphabet.
"The New York Review of Bird" - a wonderful tribute (or otherwise) to Cordwainer Smith.
and especially "Seeing" - a pretty hard SF tribute to perception in all it's glories. :)
I might have enjoyed this collection better if I hadn't already read most. But again that's okay! It comes with the territory of shorts!
Maybe I shouldn't have been so dedicated in reading as many Harlan Ellison stories, huh!? Ah well, that's okay. He writes great shorts.
My Favorites were "From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet" - Super short stories for each letter of the alphabet.
"The New York Review of Bird" - a wonderful tribute (or otherwise) to Cordwainer Smith.
and especially "Seeing" - a pretty hard SF tribute to perception in all it's glories. :)
I might have enjoyed this collection better if I hadn't already read most. But again that's okay! It comes with the territory of shorts!
July 10, 2011
When someone says the name “Harlan,” I usually think Harlan Coben. I am afraid to say I have never heard of Harlan Ellison for fear it might send this caustic, “speak your mind” author into apoplexy. Ellison is more known for short stories than full length novels. STRANGE WINE is a collection of fifteen short stories “from the nightside of the world” published in 1978. I had heard his name tossed around on a few chat lists, even saw a video of a rant against studios that expected him to donate a script rather than receive payment. One excellent example of his distaste of the publishing “experts” is “The New York Review of Bird.” This story finds Cordwainer Bird wreaking havoc on a bookstore that dares to hide his books in the basement versus in the front window with the bestsellers. I like the story “Mom” the best as the ghost of a Jewish mother still tries to control her son’s life. The title story, “Strange Wine” leaves the reader, or should leave the reader with a great lesson about life. Ellison has an unforgettable writing style, somewhere between exceptional and phenomenal.
Read
August 27, 2021The quality of the stories in this collection range from decent to brilliant. In tone they range from lighthearted to nightmarish. "Croatoan" is the darkly sparkling gem of the collection, a masterpiece of grotesque imagery and raw emotion: an archetypical Harlan Ellison story. It deserves to be immortal.
Overall, I wouldn't quite rank Strange Wine with Angry Candy or Deathbird Stories as one of Ellison's best collections. But it's still a greater achievement than most writers are capable of. Recommended for all fans of fantasy and horror, and to anyone who appreciates powerful writing.
Overall, I wouldn't quite rank Strange Wine with Angry Candy or Deathbird Stories as one of Ellison's best collections. But it's still a greater achievement than most writers are capable of. Recommended for all fans of fantasy and horror, and to anyone who appreciates powerful writing.
July 15, 2012
Harlan Ellison is one of those writers who I don't like as a person, but I do like his work. Strange Wine is a short story anthology and it's good. Very good. Normally I write more in-depth reviews, but short of reviewing each story in this anthology (which I am not going to do) just trust me when I say that the stories are all consistently well written. They cover the gamut from humorous to horrifying and all points in-between. I have no trouble giving it four stars.
July 28, 2011
Harlan Ellison had (and still has) a wild imagination. Published over thirty years ago, this short story collection showcases how easily he brewed ideas. “Mom” is about the ghost of a Jewish mother nagging after her surviving son. “Croatoan” is about aborted babies and abandoned crocodiles residing in the sewers. “The New York Review of Bird” is about Ellison’s own invented pseudonym coming to life and harassing a bookstore clerk.
The collection left me grateful that we have the umbrella of Speculative Fiction. While many are brooding, few of these try to become Horror stories. Most of these aren’t really Science Fiction or Fantasy either; they’re simply outlandish. “Hitler Painted Roses” begins with an almost-comedic opening, but transitions into melodrama as the lone escapee from Hell finds her target. Ellison’s imagination obviously doesn’t belong to one Genre-genre, but rather under a wide umbrella of the strange.
What unites these stories is attitude. Many protagonists sound just like Ellison, sometimes bitter, often worn down on patience or will to live, fruitlessly struggling for something. Sometimes they make you laugh, but others they hit Noir levels of grit. The attitude of a life incomprehensibly conspiring to leave them tried or unhappy binds the collection. That would be insufferable if not for Ellision’s fantastic imagination for ways to do it.
Those ideas see varying degrees of success as proper stories. “Mom” is a fairly complete comedy. “The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel” is a grim descent into fascination with immortality, and has a traditional flow of plot. Meanwhile “The New York Review of Bird” never really has a focus, being the vehicle for a rant; “Working With the Little People” is more of a cute idea than a story; and “Croatoan” veers from being mainstream malaise fiction to something surreal. Most are worth reading simply because of the ingenuity behind them. Even if it fails to establish an arc, it’ll probably hit you with something neat.
The titular story is actually the weakest in the collection. "Strange Wine" follows a man who believes he's actually an alien sent to earth to live in a human body for his crimes. He sees our planet as a kind of prison or Hell. It's a neat concept that Ellison does nothing with: the man is unhappy with his situation, sees a psychiatrist who makes him repeat his situation, then dies and is told earth isn't a punishment, but actually the nicest place in the universe and he should have enjoyed it. The message isn't just obvious; it's repeated over paragraphs. There's no actual execution on the novel premise. It's merely preaching a point (if a nice one) at you, without any art around it.
You can’t help coming away with an opinion of Ellison as a person. The collection opens with an essay ranting against television. Many of the stories have some central opinion or are in first person, and his first person voice sounds very similar every time – very similar, too, to his forewords. Every story is also accompanied by a foreword, typically about how he got the idea. Some of these real stories are as amusing as any of his fiction, like that a few were written in a glass department store window while the author was on public display. But others cross into Artist Statement territory, that awful space that robs readers of their own experience and force you to only see a point the writer was trying to make. In them he expresses disdain for the insane, browbeats anyone who has ever believed in any superstition or conspiracy theory, and relates at least three fights he had with people. He sells himself as a curmudgeon who really would like things to be better, and as in the foreword to “Strange Wine,” admits that his own jaded nature is always challenged by some great act of individual kindness or goodness. It’s the last angle on the attitude of his fiction, that thing that causes the protagonist of “Crotoan” to see the alligators and undead babies, and rather than call them monsters, decide to take care of them.
The collection left me grateful that we have the umbrella of Speculative Fiction. While many are brooding, few of these try to become Horror stories. Most of these aren’t really Science Fiction or Fantasy either; they’re simply outlandish. “Hitler Painted Roses” begins with an almost-comedic opening, but transitions into melodrama as the lone escapee from Hell finds her target. Ellison’s imagination obviously doesn’t belong to one Genre-genre, but rather under a wide umbrella of the strange.
What unites these stories is attitude. Many protagonists sound just like Ellison, sometimes bitter, often worn down on patience or will to live, fruitlessly struggling for something. Sometimes they make you laugh, but others they hit Noir levels of grit. The attitude of a life incomprehensibly conspiring to leave them tried or unhappy binds the collection. That would be insufferable if not for Ellision’s fantastic imagination for ways to do it.
Those ideas see varying degrees of success as proper stories. “Mom” is a fairly complete comedy. “The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel” is a grim descent into fascination with immortality, and has a traditional flow of plot. Meanwhile “The New York Review of Bird” never really has a focus, being the vehicle for a rant; “Working With the Little People” is more of a cute idea than a story; and “Croatoan” veers from being mainstream malaise fiction to something surreal. Most are worth reading simply because of the ingenuity behind them. Even if it fails to establish an arc, it’ll probably hit you with something neat.
The titular story is actually the weakest in the collection. "Strange Wine" follows a man who believes he's actually an alien sent to earth to live in a human body for his crimes. He sees our planet as a kind of prison or Hell. It's a neat concept that Ellison does nothing with: the man is unhappy with his situation, sees a psychiatrist who makes him repeat his situation, then dies and is told earth isn't a punishment, but actually the nicest place in the universe and he should have enjoyed it. The message isn't just obvious; it's repeated over paragraphs. There's no actual execution on the novel premise. It's merely preaching a point (if a nice one) at you, without any art around it.
You can’t help coming away with an opinion of Ellison as a person. The collection opens with an essay ranting against television. Many of the stories have some central opinion or are in first person, and his first person voice sounds very similar every time – very similar, too, to his forewords. Every story is also accompanied by a foreword, typically about how he got the idea. Some of these real stories are as amusing as any of his fiction, like that a few were written in a glass department store window while the author was on public display. But others cross into Artist Statement territory, that awful space that robs readers of their own experience and force you to only see a point the writer was trying to make. In them he expresses disdain for the insane, browbeats anyone who has ever believed in any superstition or conspiracy theory, and relates at least three fights he had with people. He sells himself as a curmudgeon who really would like things to be better, and as in the foreword to “Strange Wine,” admits that his own jaded nature is always challenged by some great act of individual kindness or goodness. It’s the last angle on the attitude of his fiction, that thing that causes the protagonist of “Crotoan” to see the alligators and undead babies, and rather than call them monsters, decide to take care of them.
September 21, 2011
Crusty old bastard (and still longtime favorite) Harlan Ellison takes some pretty cruel potshots at copy editors ("literary vampires") no fewer than five times in his introductions to the fifteen stories in Strange Wine. I caught several errors in his writing that any copy editor worth her Chicago Manual would have immediately stricken, including my personal pet hatred, "It didn't phase me." It's FAZE, dammit! Take that, Harlan!
February 22, 2025
I enjoyed these short stories written in the 1970s by Ellison very much and I especially enjoyed his introduction to every story.
October 12, 2010
This is my first encounter with Harlan Ellison, my interest being piqued by his mention in Stephen King's Danse Macabre. I'm a fan of short form in general and especially the type of stories published during what I consider the golden period of the 50s through the 70s.
Strange Wine is a little darker than works by Philip K. Dick, doesn't have the moralistic twist ending favored by Ray Bradbury, and isn't as darkly terrifying as Charles Beaumont. What it does have is an energy, a clarity of purpose, that those other authors don't. Harlan Ellison is pissed off. He wants change. He wants people to know things, to feel things and all that comes through in his writing. And it makes for some great short stories that you can mull over for hours.
My favorites include "From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet," the titular "Strange Wine," and "Seeing."
Strange Wine is a little darker than works by Philip K. Dick, doesn't have the moralistic twist ending favored by Ray Bradbury, and isn't as darkly terrifying as Charles Beaumont. What it does have is an energy, a clarity of purpose, that those other authors don't. Harlan Ellison is pissed off. He wants change. He wants people to know things, to feel things and all that comes through in his writing. And it makes for some great short stories that you can mull over for hours.
My favorites include "From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet," the titular "Strange Wine," and "Seeing."
March 23, 2013
I've been a fan of Ellison for a quarter of a century and this, by far, is my favourite book of his. If you have never come across Ellison before, you're in for a treat. A master story-teller, he breaks new ground with practically every story, whether it is in the style of the telling - such as "From A to Z, The Chocolate Alphabet"-, or in the subject matter - "Croatoan." Whatever the style or the subject matter, the voice of Ellison is unmistakable, -uncompromising, vivid, funny, and perceptive- so that even if an Ellison story did not have his name above it, you would quickly guess whom it was. The stories range from the humorous "Mom" to the serious "In Fear of K." Whatever he writes, he is thoroughly entertaining. What makes this collection of stories different from his others is that this collection has an introduction for every story. With any other writer, this would be an intrusion; but with Ellison, it works, because the man is funny, wise, and entertaining. They are basically a miscellany of anything that Ellison wants to talk about: How he came to write this or that story; where he wrote it; the ideas behind it- and sometimes the connection to the story is tenuous." The New York Review of Bird" for instance. You won't care. It is all good stuff. I usually find at least one story in any collection that I don't like, and this book is no exception. "Seeing" I found unreadable. This is a mere quibble. Everything else in here is just dandy. It even has a wonderful cover by Leo and Dianne Dillon. What more can a person want?
October 2, 2007
I first read this book in high school. I've dipped into it regularly since then. Technically, you can call it "fantasy" or "science fantasy". I call it American literature of the highest degree.
Ellison is one of my main inspirations as a writer. His work transcends the "science fiction/fantasy" tag. Ellison is an American Borges, a U.S. Italo Calvino He easily takes his place among first-tier 20th Century American short story writers. The guy's language, his vision, are just that original. His work is utterly American, in the best of all possible ways.
If Ellison's collected stories intimates you due to length, start here. You won't regret it.
Ellison is one of my main inspirations as a writer. His work transcends the "science fiction/fantasy" tag. Ellison is an American Borges, a U.S. Italo Calvino He easily takes his place among first-tier 20th Century American short story writers. The guy's language, his vision, are just that original. His work is utterly American, in the best of all possible ways.
If Ellison's collected stories intimates you due to length, start here. You won't regret it.
May 6, 2016
So I've read a few of these stories and they read like the worst kind of art school pretentiousness.
And in between each story theres an exposition by the author who whines about 'kids these days and their damn tv,' while boasting about his sexual prowess and equating the act of writing to something akin to all the acts of Jesus, Buddha and Odin combined.
He comes across like such a wanker I can't finish this.
And in between each story theres an exposition by the author who whines about 'kids these days and their damn tv,' while boasting about his sexual prowess and equating the act of writing to something akin to all the acts of Jesus, Buddha and Odin combined.
He comes across like such a wanker I can't finish this.
September 30, 2010
Another superb collection of Harlan Ellison's unique fiction. This is my second favorite Ellison short fiction collection right behind Deathbird Stories. Highlights: The stunning "Hitler Painted Roses" and the equally impressive "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". Also, The introductory essay "What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don’t Look So Terrific Yourself" is not to be missed.
January 11, 2025
I have many Ellison collections at home and often forget which one has which stories. This is not my favorite but has some decent and interesting stories.
Each story begins with an introduction that often explains where he was or what he was thinking when writing it. Valuable? Maybe if you’re interested in his work process or thoughts about his writing.
There’s also a long intro about the negative effects of television on society and human intelligence. Hilarious considering we hadn’t even got to the internet when this was published.
The standouts for me are:
“Croaton,” probably the most controversial and possibly going to piss off people on both sides of the abortion argument. I agree with another reviewer who points out it’s really about responsibility.
“Strange Wine,” a man who has delusions that he’s an alien to explain his misery. Bittersweet ending.
“Seeing” has a cyberpunk vibe, lots of action, and a killer ending.
Two lighter ones: “The Little People,” in which a blocked writer gets some unusual helpers. “The Chocolate Alphabet” is composed of mini-stories that are fun to read.
A few that have a common theme of men who can’t deal with women or are really bad at it, both romantically and professionally:
"Killing Bernstein"
"The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel"
"Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time"
This was published in the 1970s and some of the ideas feel a bit dated. I recommend starting with Greatest Hits to get a glimpse of Ellison at his best before going for one of these older collections.
Each story begins with an introduction that often explains where he was or what he was thinking when writing it. Valuable? Maybe if you’re interested in his work process or thoughts about his writing.
There’s also a long intro about the negative effects of television on society and human intelligence. Hilarious considering we hadn’t even got to the internet when this was published.
The standouts for me are:
“Croaton,” probably the most controversial and possibly going to piss off people on both sides of the abortion argument. I agree with another reviewer who points out it’s really about responsibility.
“Strange Wine,” a man who has delusions that he’s an alien to explain his misery. Bittersweet ending.
“Seeing” has a cyberpunk vibe, lots of action, and a killer ending.
Two lighter ones: “The Little People,” in which a blocked writer gets some unusual helpers. “The Chocolate Alphabet” is composed of mini-stories that are fun to read.
A few that have a common theme of men who can’t deal with women or are really bad at it, both romantically and professionally:
"Killing Bernstein"
"The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel"
"Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time"
This was published in the 1970s and some of the ideas feel a bit dated. I recommend starting with Greatest Hits to get a glimpse of Ellison at his best before going for one of these older collections.
October 18, 2020
Stephen King sold me on this one. I read Danse Macabre earlier this year and made mental notes of works he mentioned that I might enjoy. Strange Wine was on my list and it was worth tracking down a copy. I’ll leave you with a quote from Uncle Steve about Ellison before going into the individual stories: “Most of all we sense outrage and anger - as with the best Ellison stories, we sense personal involvement, and have a feeling that Ellison is not so much telling the tale as he is jabbing it viciously out of its hiding place”.
Croatoan:
Ellison said the following about Croatoan: “It is a story about being responsible. Its magazine publication brought howls of outrage from male sexists, feminists, right-to-life advocates, pro-abortion supporters and even a snotty note from someone in the New York City department of drains and sewers. Apparently they all read it as they chose, and not as I intended. Poor things”. The short was inspired by Ellison’s affair with a woman who ended up getting pregnant and having an abortion. In short: A hidden city in the sewers, complete with citizens of aborted fetuses & flushed-down alligators. Quite a story to start the collection off with, and disturbing to say the least.
Working with the Little People:
An author finds himself unable to write and peaking at the age of 27. Until one evening when he hears someone using his typewriter only to find tiny creatures, or mythological gremlins, doing the work for him.
Killing Bernstein
A man working for a toy company is seeing the company child psychologist (Netta Bernstein) until she suddenly starts being critical /puts his ideas down and starts jeopardizing his job. He ends up killing her. Several times. First he suffocates her. Then finds her in the office alive and well the next day. He then kills her with a cooking mallet. Finds her at work yet again. Next he murders her with a tire iron. At this point he doesn’t find her at the office, but is told that she had to take a leave of abscence and gone to Washington on family business. What is going on? I quite liked this short.
Mom:
Probably one my fav shorts in this collection. Lance Goldfein’s mother recently passed away but death has not kept her from wanting to find her boy a nice Jewish girl. Genuinely hilarious, and at times horrific; imagine your mum coming back to check your stools, berate you for masturbating and criticize your choice in sexual partners during the deed... made me laugh several times.
In Fear of K:
Claudia & Noah are in a chamber with tunnels leading into more tunnels (effectively a maze) and are frightened of an otherworldly being/monster known to them as K. K lives on their emotions of fear and hate. It means them no harm, but without these emotions it would starve to death. This one gave me Lovecraftian vibes.
Hitler Painted Roses:
Margaret Thrushwood escapes hell. In life she was the house keeper of a well to do family that got slaughtered. The town thought her guilty & drowned her in a well. She ends up in hell because of a clerical error whilst the real murderer (her lover) ends up in heaven. The story leads us to an interesting confrontation. This was also the story I came for after reading about it in Danse macabre.
The wine has been left open too long and the memory has gone flat:
Strange tale about a universe which has gone old and tired along with the beings in it. A group of aliens/beings suffering from near-absolute ennui gather on a planet and share sounds as a way of communicating. One of the participants is set to share a sound that will change their perspectives.
From A to Z, in the chocolate alphabet:
Interesting concept. Back in 1976 Ellison decided to sit in the front window of a book store and write a story every day for 6 days as a service to A Change of Hobbit. The promotion stated that if you bought over $10 worth of books one of the days Ellison was there, you’d get a signed copy of that day’s story. Somehow (explained in more detail in the intro to the story) we ended up with a short story composed of 26 (number of letters of the English alphabet) short-short stories. Some are just a sentence long, others longer, some quirky, others forgettable, but all very much Ellison’s. He also ended up doing something similar again and wrote a “sequel” in another book store in 1990. I’ll leave you with this Ellison quote from the intro: “I offered to do something that had never been done before... I like doing that sort of thing... it upsets people”.
Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time:
Mitch had a casual thing with Anne who recently killed herself. He doesn’t seem to feel too bad about it though. Ultimately a story of loneliness, he gets more than he bargained for in the next woman he meets.
The emissary from Hamelin:
Set in a dystopian future (year 2076) in which the world has basically been poisoned and is drowning in plastic, the adults of the world are given an ultimatum by a mysterious child; Basically “clean up your act now, or else”.
Clever take on the classic tale of the pied Piper.
The New York review of Bird:
Ellison’s pseudonym ‘Cordwainer Bird’ was turned into a character battling an evil literary conspiracy in this funny and fast-paced short story. Ellison, always the fighter for author’s rights, shines through in this tale of a one-man show & (non-caped) crusader who is out to battle the literary power’s that be. I had a lot of fun reading this.
Seeing:
This story set in the future was Ellison’s twist on the Burke & Hare murders and his own fear of things in the eyes (e.g lenses). Verna is a woman with mutant eyes that certain people will pay a lot to get for themselves.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams:
Patrick Fenton is in a restaurant when he starts seeing executed Nazis walking the streets like he hadn’t seen them killed years ago as a clerk for the Nuremberg trials. Only a few pages long but one of the most haunting stories that packs a punch.
Strange Wine:
I don’t quite know how to describe this short, but I’ll go with existential horror. Willis Kaw has just lost his daughter in an accident, his son will probably never walk again & he believes he is an alien from another world that has been sent to Earth in order to serve a sentence for a crime he can’t remember.
The Diagnosis of Dr. D’arqueAngel:
Small doses of death as inoculation against real death? To be used to get away with the murder of your significant other? This is a story Ellison was rightly proud of and apparently both Ray Bradbury and Frank Herbert wanted and intended to write on the same topic as well. The idea came about during an event they were all part of, but (as far as I know) only Ellison ended up actually writing it.
Croatoan:
Ellison said the following about Croatoan: “It is a story about being responsible. Its magazine publication brought howls of outrage from male sexists, feminists, right-to-life advocates, pro-abortion supporters and even a snotty note from someone in the New York City department of drains and sewers. Apparently they all read it as they chose, and not as I intended. Poor things”. The short was inspired by Ellison’s affair with a woman who ended up getting pregnant and having an abortion. In short: A hidden city in the sewers, complete with citizens of aborted fetuses & flushed-down alligators. Quite a story to start the collection off with, and disturbing to say the least.
Working with the Little People:
An author finds himself unable to write and peaking at the age of 27. Until one evening when he hears someone using his typewriter only to find tiny creatures, or mythological gremlins, doing the work for him.
Killing Bernstein
A man working for a toy company is seeing the company child psychologist (Netta Bernstein) until she suddenly starts being critical /puts his ideas down and starts jeopardizing his job. He ends up killing her. Several times. First he suffocates her. Then finds her in the office alive and well the next day. He then kills her with a cooking mallet. Finds her at work yet again. Next he murders her with a tire iron. At this point he doesn’t find her at the office, but is told that she had to take a leave of abscence and gone to Washington on family business. What is going on? I quite liked this short.
Mom:
Probably one my fav shorts in this collection. Lance Goldfein’s mother recently passed away but death has not kept her from wanting to find her boy a nice Jewish girl. Genuinely hilarious, and at times horrific; imagine your mum coming back to check your stools, berate you for masturbating and criticize your choice in sexual partners during the deed... made me laugh several times.
In Fear of K:
Claudia & Noah are in a chamber with tunnels leading into more tunnels (effectively a maze) and are frightened of an otherworldly being/monster known to them as K. K lives on their emotions of fear and hate. It means them no harm, but without these emotions it would starve to death. This one gave me Lovecraftian vibes.
Hitler Painted Roses:
Margaret Thrushwood escapes hell. In life she was the house keeper of a well to do family that got slaughtered. The town thought her guilty & drowned her in a well. She ends up in hell because of a clerical error whilst the real murderer (her lover) ends up in heaven. The story leads us to an interesting confrontation. This was also the story I came for after reading about it in Danse macabre.
The wine has been left open too long and the memory has gone flat:
Strange tale about a universe which has gone old and tired along with the beings in it. A group of aliens/beings suffering from near-absolute ennui gather on a planet and share sounds as a way of communicating. One of the participants is set to share a sound that will change their perspectives.
From A to Z, in the chocolate alphabet:
Interesting concept. Back in 1976 Ellison decided to sit in the front window of a book store and write a story every day for 6 days as a service to A Change of Hobbit. The promotion stated that if you bought over $10 worth of books one of the days Ellison was there, you’d get a signed copy of that day’s story. Somehow (explained in more detail in the intro to the story) we ended up with a short story composed of 26 (number of letters of the English alphabet) short-short stories. Some are just a sentence long, others longer, some quirky, others forgettable, but all very much Ellison’s. He also ended up doing something similar again and wrote a “sequel” in another book store in 1990. I’ll leave you with this Ellison quote from the intro: “I offered to do something that had never been done before... I like doing that sort of thing... it upsets people”.
Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time:
Mitch had a casual thing with Anne who recently killed herself. He doesn’t seem to feel too bad about it though. Ultimately a story of loneliness, he gets more than he bargained for in the next woman he meets.
The emissary from Hamelin:
Set in a dystopian future (year 2076) in which the world has basically been poisoned and is drowning in plastic, the adults of the world are given an ultimatum by a mysterious child; Basically “clean up your act now, or else”.
Clever take on the classic tale of the pied Piper.
The New York review of Bird:
Ellison’s pseudonym ‘Cordwainer Bird’ was turned into a character battling an evil literary conspiracy in this funny and fast-paced short story. Ellison, always the fighter for author’s rights, shines through in this tale of a one-man show & (non-caped) crusader who is out to battle the literary power’s that be. I had a lot of fun reading this.
Seeing:
This story set in the future was Ellison’s twist on the Burke & Hare murders and his own fear of things in the eyes (e.g lenses). Verna is a woman with mutant eyes that certain people will pay a lot to get for themselves.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams:
Patrick Fenton is in a restaurant when he starts seeing executed Nazis walking the streets like he hadn’t seen them killed years ago as a clerk for the Nuremberg trials. Only a few pages long but one of the most haunting stories that packs a punch.
Strange Wine:
I don’t quite know how to describe this short, but I’ll go with existential horror. Willis Kaw has just lost his daughter in an accident, his son will probably never walk again & he believes he is an alien from another world that has been sent to Earth in order to serve a sentence for a crime he can’t remember.
The Diagnosis of Dr. D’arqueAngel:
Small doses of death as inoculation against real death? To be used to get away with the murder of your significant other? This is a story Ellison was rightly proud of and apparently both Ray Bradbury and Frank Herbert wanted and intended to write on the same topic as well. The idea came about during an event they were all part of, but (as far as I know) only Ellison ended up actually writing it.
January 21, 2008
This is one of my favorite Harlan Ellison short stories collections, and it's probably mainly for the awesome, and brilliant "Hitler Painted Roses." I don't know how many times I've read this story but it's truly unforgettable, horrifying, and beautiful.
The one negative of the story: it introduced me to the evil that is Gilles de Rais. I did a little research on this infamous man in history and still haven't been able to sweep him from my mind. *shudder*
The one negative of the story: it introduced me to the evil that is Gilles de Rais. I did a little research on this infamous man in history and still haven't been able to sweep him from my mind. *shudder*
May 5, 2017
Though none of the stories collected here are among what I would consider the very, very best of Ellison, they're all good stories, full of life and feeling, and are thought-provoking and moving work. Each features an interesting individual introduction, and are by turns amusing, full of anguish, and always entertaining. The stories originally appeared in the mid-'70s, one of Ellison's most productive periods.
March 28, 2009
Holy shit.
June 20, 2018
Took my time with this one, as I'd like to enjoy Ellison's imagination for the remainder of my days. Some of the most inspired fiction ever imagined.
May 29, 2022
This 1978 anthology collects 15 stories written by Ellison in the mid-70s – some of them in bookstore windows, on the air in a radio studio where callers suggested ideas, and in a Chinese restaurant during dinner with friends who claimed all the good ghost stories had already been written. Or so says Ellison in his introductions, and given his penchant for building up his own mythology, it’s always possible he’s exaggerating. But no matter – Ellison intros come with the territory, and it’s in character I suppose that some of the intros are longer than some of the stories here.
As usual with Ellison, there’s a mix of horror, sci-fi and urban fantasy, which Ellison ties together (kind of) in his intro with the idea that reading books is like drinking strange wine that fuels our imagination – and without that imagination, we will go the way of the dinosaurs, who had none. Which is as good an excuse as any, I suppose. Anyway, these stories are nothing if not imaginative: literary gremlins, murder victims who don’t stay dead (or in Hell), alien sound contests, black-market transplants, a man who thinks he’s an alien, haunted Nazis, misogynists who receive supernatural poetic justice, and a “chocolate alphabet”, among other things.
A few stories fall a bit flat, but for the most part, this is a pretty solid collection – whatever you think of his personality and ego, Ellison knows how to tell a story. Even when he gets into deliberately provocative territory (i.e. lead-off story “Croatoan, which he claims angered pretty much everyone on either side of the abortion debate), he still delivers a gripping tale. Stephen King has cited Strange Wine as one of the best horror anthologies ever published. He might just be right.
As usual with Ellison, there’s a mix of horror, sci-fi and urban fantasy, which Ellison ties together (kind of) in his intro with the idea that reading books is like drinking strange wine that fuels our imagination – and without that imagination, we will go the way of the dinosaurs, who had none. Which is as good an excuse as any, I suppose. Anyway, these stories are nothing if not imaginative: literary gremlins, murder victims who don’t stay dead (or in Hell), alien sound contests, black-market transplants, a man who thinks he’s an alien, haunted Nazis, misogynists who receive supernatural poetic justice, and a “chocolate alphabet”, among other things.
A few stories fall a bit flat, but for the most part, this is a pretty solid collection – whatever you think of his personality and ego, Ellison knows how to tell a story. Even when he gets into deliberately provocative territory (i.e. lead-off story “Croatoan, which he claims angered pretty much everyone on either side of the abortion debate), he still delivers a gripping tale. Stephen King has cited Strange Wine as one of the best horror anthologies ever published. He might just be right.
October 12, 2024
Take the film they made of Jaws. That is a terrifying film. It collapses entire audiences, and not merely because of the cinematic tricks. People in the middle of Kansas, people who've never even seen an ocean or a shark, go into cardiac arrest. Why should that be? There are terrors much closer to us -- muggers on the streets, a positive biopsy report, being smashed to pudding in a freeway accident -- terrors that can reach us; why should we be so petrified by that shark? I reject abstractions: the vagina dentatus, that paranoid hobgoblin of Freudian shadow-myth; the simplicity of our recoiling from something filled with teeth, an eating machine. I have another theory.
The shark is one of the few life forms that has come down to the present virtually unchanged from the Devonian. So few: the cockroach, the horseshoe crab, the nautilus, the coelecanth -- probably older than the dinosaurs. The shark.
When we were still aquatic creatures... there was the shark. And even today, in the blood that boils through us, the blood whose constituency is the same as sea water, in the blood and somewhere deep in our racial memory, there is still the remembrance of the shark. Of swimming away from that inexorable eating machine, of crawling up onto the land to be safe from it, of vowing never to return to the warm seas where the teeth can reach us.
When we see the shark, we understand that that is one of the dreadful furies that drove us to become human beings. Natural enemy from beyond the curtain of time, from beneath the killing darkness. Natural enemies.
-- "Killing Bernstein"
"It's necessary to know that dreams come from someplace close. From someplace dear. Otherwise, they would be no better than wishes for money or great runs of land or all the caviar you can eat."
-- "Hitler Painted Roses" (my favorite story in the collection, absolutely beautiful)
Y is for YGGDRASIL
The legendary Nordic ash tree with its three roots extending into the lands of mortals, giants, and Niflheim, the land of mist, grows in Wisconsin. Legend has it that when the tree falls, the universe will fall. Next Wednesday, the State Highway Commission comes through that empty pasture with a freeway.
-- "A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet"
The shark is one of the few life forms that has come down to the present virtually unchanged from the Devonian. So few: the cockroach, the horseshoe crab, the nautilus, the coelecanth -- probably older than the dinosaurs. The shark.
When we were still aquatic creatures... there was the shark. And even today, in the blood that boils through us, the blood whose constituency is the same as sea water, in the blood and somewhere deep in our racial memory, there is still the remembrance of the shark. Of swimming away from that inexorable eating machine, of crawling up onto the land to be safe from it, of vowing never to return to the warm seas where the teeth can reach us.
When we see the shark, we understand that that is one of the dreadful furies that drove us to become human beings. Natural enemy from beyond the curtain of time, from beneath the killing darkness. Natural enemies.
-- "Killing Bernstein"
"It's necessary to know that dreams come from someplace close. From someplace dear. Otherwise, they would be no better than wishes for money or great runs of land or all the caviar you can eat."
-- "Hitler Painted Roses" (my favorite story in the collection, absolutely beautiful)
Y is for YGGDRASIL
The legendary Nordic ash tree with its three roots extending into the lands of mortals, giants, and Niflheim, the land of mist, grows in Wisconsin. Legend has it that when the tree falls, the universe will fall. Next Wednesday, the State Highway Commission comes through that empty pasture with a freeway.
-- "A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet"
April 21, 2022
As most short story collections, this one is no exception in being uneven. There are some stories in here that feel quite dated, and other that just didn't resonate with me, while others are fabulous. The real saving grace is the essay introductions to each story, which were almost more engaging at time than the stories themselves.
A few ratings and my two cents:
* "Croatoan" 4/5 - Creepy and weird. Cool ending.
* "Working With the Little People" 4/5 Highly enjoyable.
* "Killing Bernstein" 1.5 / 5 - Stupid and mysogynistic.
* "Mom" 3/5 - Entertaining, but didn't do a lot for me.
* "In Fear of K" 4/5 - Weird and cool.
* "Hitler Painted Roses" 5/5 - Odd and cool, with some fabulous ideas about morality, blame and the court of public opinion
* "The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat" 1/5 - Didn't hold my attention at all.
* "From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet" 5/5 - Crazy full of weird, strange and engaging ideas!
* "The New York Review of Bird" 4/5 - Entertaining jaunt through pseudonym fantasy.
* "Strange Wine" 3/5 A bit more needed to happen with this concept.
* "The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel" 3/5 - Again some misogynistic vibes, but some comeuppance. Cool idea. Apparently Ellison and Frank Herbert and Ray Bradbury came up with the idea, and all vowed to write the story, but Ellison got there first. I'd love to see what the other two came up with.
A few ratings and my two cents:
* "Croatoan" 4/5 - Creepy and weird. Cool ending.
* "Working With the Little People" 4/5 Highly enjoyable.
* "Killing Bernstein" 1.5 / 5 - Stupid and mysogynistic.
* "Mom" 3/5 - Entertaining, but didn't do a lot for me.
* "In Fear of K" 4/5 - Weird and cool.
* "Hitler Painted Roses" 5/5 - Odd and cool, with some fabulous ideas about morality, blame and the court of public opinion
* "The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat" 1/5 - Didn't hold my attention at all.
* "From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet" 5/5 - Crazy full of weird, strange and engaging ideas!
* "The New York Review of Bird" 4/5 - Entertaining jaunt through pseudonym fantasy.
* "Strange Wine" 3/5 A bit more needed to happen with this concept.
* "The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel" 3/5 - Again some misogynistic vibes, but some comeuppance. Cool idea. Apparently Ellison and Frank Herbert and Ray Bradbury came up with the idea, and all vowed to write the story, but Ellison got there first. I'd love to see what the other two came up with.
April 11, 2018
Uma coletânea divertida, na qual a ironia permeia conceitos terríveis e maravilhosos. Poderia a morte ser evitada a conta gotas, graças a aplicações homeopáticas? Caso Hitler esteja no Inferno, será necessariamente um infeliz e sofredor? E o que aconteceu ao Sombra, famoso vingador das ondas de rádio, depois da aposentadoria? São questões que, apesar de aparentemente tolas, rendem histórias que prendem como se seus olhos fossem bifes pendurados nos ganchos de um açougue.
December 12, 2018
A half star each to the two stories in here that I did enjoy - The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and Strange Wine. As for the remaining stories, I skimmed through them. It was the author's introduction to the story 'Croatoan' that ruined the book for me. Narcissistic Twat!
Read
April 29, 2024Mixed feelings on this one. Most of these stories are nowhere near Ellison at his best which made it a slightly underwhelming read. However, by any other metric, it was a good collection with “The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat” and the title story “Strange Wine” being the highlights.
July 7, 2025
I read a few stories but I’m DNFing this one for now.
May 22, 2015
What can I say about Harlan Ellison that I haven't already said in other reviews of other books? This extraordinary author writes with a burning luminosity that most authors only dream of. His writing has an energy and compelling tone that pulls the reader in and sweeps her along with the force of the story. He writes everything from straight science fiction to dark humor to bone-chilling horror. He is hard-hitting and pulls no punches. He parades ideas before the reader, disguising them as fables and stories that seem at first glance to be mere throw-away lines, but they are packed with everything that Ellison expects the reader to know and feel...and ultimately do something about. Whether it is making a change in yourself or getting angry enough about what's going on in the world today (whether that's the today of 1978 when it was written or the today of now) to try and make a broader change in the way things are.
As I've said before, Harlan Ellison is not for everyone. He's not for the squeamish. Or the prudish. You want your fiction all neat and tidy and full of rainbows and sunshine and happily-ever-afters. Ellison is not your man. That's not to say he can't write a happy ending. He can. He does in this collection. But it's not your everyday, fairy tale happy ending where everyone lives happily ever after....and getting there may be a bit more painful than you'd like. His horror isn't based on the non-human, but on the worst behaviors and twisted desires of very human people. He shows us ourselves at our weakest and ugliest and then tells us that we are better than that. That he believes that we could be better than that (who would think it of one of the crankiest, old so-and-sos in science fiction) if we'd only want it badly enough.
Each of the stories in this collection is a winner--making for another ★★★★★ outing from an excellent author. If you want a few highlights, then "In Fear of K," "Hitler Painted Roses," "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and the titular "Strange Wine" are not to be missed.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
As I've said before, Harlan Ellison is not for everyone. He's not for the squeamish. Or the prudish. You want your fiction all neat and tidy and full of rainbows and sunshine and happily-ever-afters. Ellison is not your man. That's not to say he can't write a happy ending. He can. He does in this collection. But it's not your everyday, fairy tale happy ending where everyone lives happily ever after....and getting there may be a bit more painful than you'd like. His horror isn't based on the non-human, but on the worst behaviors and twisted desires of very human people. He shows us ourselves at our weakest and ugliest and then tells us that we are better than that. That he believes that we could be better than that (who would think it of one of the crankiest, old so-and-sos in science fiction) if we'd only want it badly enough.
Each of the stories in this collection is a winner--making for another ★★★★★ outing from an excellent author. If you want a few highlights, then "In Fear of K," "Hitler Painted Roses," "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and the titular "Strange Wine" are not to be missed.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
December 28, 2018
Croatoan 3/5
Some interesting concepts regarding the unloved and discarded can't float the weak plot.
Working With the Little People 4/5
Like many writers of speculative fiction, Ellison wrote a few stories exploring possible supernatural aspect of storytelling. He accomplishes a good amount from a flimsy premise here.
Killing Bernstein 4/5
Late 70's veneer of a rather 50's concept. Though here, the base, egotistical motivations of far too many men are chillingly depicted.
Mom 3/5
Somewhat fun, but exhausting, Freudian analysis that wears thin quickly.
In Fear of K 5/5
Astute and economical expose of the torture caused to those who remain in relationships devoid of joy.
Hitler Painted Roses 5/5
Brilliant and beautifully sad diatribe against the unjust nature of the universe. How did he pack so much wisdom in a few short pages?
The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat 2/5
Too goofy and diffuse to have any punch. Nothing means anything here.
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet 2/5
Uninteresting experiment. Like a less entertaining "Devil's Dictionary."
Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time 4/5
Fine little switcheroo of gender expectations.
Emissary from Hamelin 3/5
A short attempt to scare people into treating others and their environment with respect.
The New York Review of Bird 2/5
Silly insidey book world slash metafiction stuff. Overindulgent.
Seeing 3/5
A bummer of a life is possibly given purpose for a woman who has gone through seemingly constant abuse. The second half is interesting and makes up for the lack of cohesion in the first.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams 4/5
Interesting and tiny story about the pervasiveness of evil.
Strange Wine 5/5
Great twist on the the possible answers to life's great questions. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss.
The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel 4/5
A nice warning for those with unnatural and voracious appetites.
Some interesting concepts regarding the unloved and discarded can't float the weak plot.
Working With the Little People 4/5
Like many writers of speculative fiction, Ellison wrote a few stories exploring possible supernatural aspect of storytelling. He accomplishes a good amount from a flimsy premise here.
Killing Bernstein 4/5
Late 70's veneer of a rather 50's concept. Though here, the base, egotistical motivations of far too many men are chillingly depicted.
Mom 3/5
Somewhat fun, but exhausting, Freudian analysis that wears thin quickly.
In Fear of K 5/5
Astute and economical expose of the torture caused to those who remain in relationships devoid of joy.
Hitler Painted Roses 5/5
Brilliant and beautifully sad diatribe against the unjust nature of the universe. How did he pack so much wisdom in a few short pages?
The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat 2/5
Too goofy and diffuse to have any punch. Nothing means anything here.
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet 2/5
Uninteresting experiment. Like a less entertaining "Devil's Dictionary."
Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time 4/5
Fine little switcheroo of gender expectations.
Emissary from Hamelin 3/5
A short attempt to scare people into treating others and their environment with respect.
The New York Review of Bird 2/5
Silly insidey book world slash metafiction stuff. Overindulgent.
Seeing 3/5
A bummer of a life is possibly given purpose for a woman who has gone through seemingly constant abuse. The second half is interesting and makes up for the lack of cohesion in the first.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams 4/5
Interesting and tiny story about the pervasiveness of evil.
Strange Wine 5/5
Great twist on the the possible answers to life's great questions. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss.
The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel 4/5
A nice warning for those with unnatural and voracious appetites.
December 14, 2016
I have heard many authors singing the praises of Harlan Ellison over the years, and finally managed to track down a copy of Strange Wine - a collection of disturbing stories, some futuristic and others more supernatural in tone.
The collection opens with an excellent and scathing polemic which, whilst I don't know whether the percentage of book readers has risen, dropped or stayed the same, feels as relevant today as it did when Ellison expressed his views in 1978.
Singularly memorable tales from the collection include the visceral Croatoan, which has lost none of its shock value in the intervening decades, the equally grotesque yet desperately sad Sight, which seems all too possible with what has emerged about the organ trade in recent times, and the sinister Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which seems all the more horrible for not spelling out what will happen next.
Years ago I read a single excerpt from The Chocolate Alphabet, which creeped me out so thoroughly that I've wanted to read the rest of it ever since. Now I have, some of the other alphabetical entries are very good and some a trifle throwaway - but it's a little unreasonable to expect everything to be of equally high standards.
Thoroughly recommend this collection to anyone whose mind will dwell on lingering images and extrapolate new tales and possibilities from them.
The collection opens with an excellent and scathing polemic which, whilst I don't know whether the percentage of book readers has risen, dropped or stayed the same, feels as relevant today as it did when Ellison expressed his views in 1978.
Singularly memorable tales from the collection include the visceral Croatoan, which has lost none of its shock value in the intervening decades, the equally grotesque yet desperately sad Sight, which seems all too possible with what has emerged about the organ trade in recent times, and the sinister Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which seems all the more horrible for not spelling out what will happen next.
Years ago I read a single excerpt from The Chocolate Alphabet, which creeped me out so thoroughly that I've wanted to read the rest of it ever since. Now I have, some of the other alphabetical entries are very good and some a trifle throwaway - but it's a little unreasonable to expect everything to be of equally high standards.
Thoroughly recommend this collection to anyone whose mind will dwell on lingering images and extrapolate new tales and possibilities from them.
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