Reading the story 30-plus years ago, it seemed much longer.

Sure, it is a short story but a memorable one. Unlike many short stories that raise an eyebrow of surprise or a moment of shock, the plot of Harlan Ellison’s “Hitler Painted Roses” remained as memorable as the title.

Basically, the doors of Hell open. Infamous characters escape. Though seated by the portal, Adolf Hitler is so entranced by painting roses on the walls of Hell that he does not bother to escape.

All of the notorious killers and maniacs and dictators are free for only a short time. Then, they are all pulled back into their places inside of Hell. But one shade remains on the outside. The crisp soul of a young woman condemned and slain by a mob for killing the prosperous family that employed her.

But she is only guilty of the act of a secret love and a secret within the house. 

Cut to the chase: She didn’t kill the family. Her lover did. But everyone believed she did so her soul was cast into Hell while the soul of the man who killed the family resides in Heaven. She seeks out her lover and Heaven begins to falter in the audacity of her presence.

“Hitler Painted Roses” reads like an epic.

It is roughly less than 15 pages long.

That’s the power of Harlan Ellison.

“Hitler Painted Roses” and more than a dozen other short stories are collected in this republished collection titled “Strange Wine.” The book is part of publishing house Edgeworks Abbey’s “Harlan Ellison Collection” released a few years ago. 

“Strange Wine” was originally published as a book of short stories in the late 1970s. It was a great read then. Years later and years older, it’s a great read now.

Ellison was a master of titles. Stories include the intentionally lengthy “The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat,” “From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet,” “Lonely Women are the Vessels of Time,” “The Diagnosis of Dr. D’Arqueangel.”

Stories involve a man having to repeatedly kill a lover who treats him differently every time he sees her (“Killing Bernstein”); the spirit of a mother haunting her adult son, scolding him about his choice in women, his diet, his bathroom habits, his work, etc., (the comical “Mom”); a writer plagued by a creative block assisted by gremlins willing to share their stories as his (“Working with the Little People”); dead Nazis suddenly appearing on the streets of New York and the man cursed to see them (“The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”), etc.

Like the original edition of “Strange Wine,” each story opens with an introduction by Ellison. Here, he explains everything from the nature of the story theme to the situation in writing the story.

And like his stories, there is no political correctness in Ellison’s intros. He’s admittedly cantankerous, curmudgeonly and speaks his mind. Sometimes, the intros are as interesting as the stories. 

For example, he wrote “Hitler Painted Roses” while a guest on a radio show using words in the manuscript suggested by listeners. One caller even suggested the title which Ellison later learned is a line from a poem.

Ellison wrote thousands of stories, as well as TV scripts for “Star Trek,” “The Twilight Zone,” etc.

He died last year so finding titles in “The Harlan Ellison Collection” is a worthwhile endeavor for fans and a gift to new readers.