Spring story review: "The Elixir of Youth"

I've been bingeing on some short stories so I'm posting a few of my Springy Short Story reviews (stories that keep springing to mind) to remember the details of the ones I know will pleasantly haunt me. I'll also post a review of a few great collections I've read recently (in the running for my personal Book of the Year).

"The Elixir of Youth" by Brain Stableford

Why it springs to mind: A contes cruel, a story which fascinates as everything gets worse and worse and worse.
Where read: Lightspeed Magazine, Feb. 2017
Summary: A story about making wine and breaking family ties with terrible results.
Memorable: How the wine is aged. Rats!
Quote:

“Now that...is a truly excellent wine.”

Personal connection: Prolific author Brian Stableford has been publishing stories since 1965, but this was my first encounter with his works and contes cruels. As much as I am a proponent of optimistic and utopian science fiction I also like gothic stories and I love the worst case scenario.
About the author: He's published more than 70 novels and so many short stories.
Pairs well with: Stableford's story "The Pipes of Pan"; Stableford's Sheena And Other Gothic Tales: A Collection Of Short Stories

Comments

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Springy story review: "State Change" by Ken Liu

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Shel Graves' Sensorium

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