A Fan's Alphabet

A is for Ascians, who spin through the air
B is for Bilbo, feet covered in hair
C is great Cthulhu, whose time will soon come
D is for Dent, who escaped on Ford's Thumb
E is for Escher, defying perspective
F is for frakkin' and other invective
G is for Grimm and for Grendel and giants
H is the Horsetamer's Daughter's defiance
I is for Illyan, who never forgets
J is for Jubal and Jedi and jets
K is for Kryptonite, green, red, or blue
L is for lead, which it cannot get through
M is for Morpheus, master of slumbers
N is neutronium, nixies, and Numb3rs.
O's the Librarian's language of ooks
P is for Potter and millions of books
Q on the Enterprise sows consternation
R is for Rossum, the robots' foundation
S is Silverlock, Golias' friend
T is for Terminus Est: It's the end!
U is for Underhills -- three, and all thrillin'
V is for Voldemort, Vader, and villain
W's [Widget] and [Wadget], a pair
X is for X-Files: The truth is out there!
Y is great Ymir, from whom we were made
"Z was the Zither he left to the maid."
 
 
 

Some notes:

• Ascians: In Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, the invaders from the north. The name is from ancient Greek and means literally 'people without shadows', i.e., dwellers in the tropics.
• Horsetamer's Daughter: a song by Mercedes Lackey (words) and Leslie Fish (music), amounting to a Darkover novel that AFAIK exists only here
• Illyan: Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels
• Jubal: Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land
• Morpheus: specifically, Gaiman's
• neutronium and nixies: physics and Germanic legend
• Silverlock: John Myers Myers's hero in the eponymous novel
• Terminus Est: Severian's sword in The Book of the New Sun
• Underhills: In Tolkien's The Hobbit, LeGuin's "The Rule of Names", and Vinge's A Deepness In the Sky. (Thank you, Ben Newman!)
• W: Theodore Sturgeon's story "The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff"
• Ymir: Norse legend
• Z: This is the last line of Edward Gorey's "The Chinese Obelisks", which -- perhaps together with "A Silverlock Alphabet", on the back cover of my very old pb -- was part of the inspiration.