Fairy Tale Spotlight: From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet [Short Story Review]

"From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet" is a short science fiction story (sort of) written by Harlan Ellison. It was published in 1976.

There is no single narrative happening here. Harlan uses each letter of the alphabet to tell 26 mini-stories all based on various scifi concepts. An example would be the letter A which was for Atlantis. H was for Hamadryad. J was for Jabberwock. L was for Loup-Garou. O was for Ouroboros. Q was for Quetzalcoatl. And Y was for Yggdrasil. The ones I mentioned were the few that I was familiar with. He also had a bunch that I was not as familiar with.

Each one of these was accompanied by a mini-story that was unrelated to all the other ones. These stories could range from just a couple of sentences to a few pages. Their themes ranged from very dark to comedic and silly. You never quite knew what you were getting until you got there. It was like opening up 26 presents.

I actually really liked this one, but I do want to criticize the Hamadryad story for its anti-Christian rhetoric, something that Harlan just cannot help himself from doing most of the time. And what made this so egregious was that he had an opportunity to tell a very interesting story of the Hamadryad which had already been well-accomplished in 1934 with the book "Mary Poppins." Lost opportunity.

As far as the title... I don't know. I don't understand the "chocolate" thing. It's a reference that goes over my head.

I do recommend this one. It's very interesting and full of ideas. I just wish Harlan would have stopped being so angry towards Christians.

This blog was written on August 29, 2024.

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