Review of "A Beltane Dance" by Jamie Lackey

Jamie Lackey was kind enough to give me for review a copy of her first (and I hope not the last) collection of flash fiction, One Revolution (published in 2012), in which "A Beltane Dance" appears.  "An exiled Celtic man encounters a fairy who can give him his old life back--but does he want it?"  [For the benefit of those not in the know (I had to look it up), Beltane is a pagan spring holiday that celebrates fertility and renewal].   (Another of Ms. Lackey's tales, "To Maintain the Balance," appeared in Daily Science Fiction and was reviewed in Songs of Eretz on March 7, 2013).

"A Beltane Dance" has music, dancing, fire, and magic.  The imagery is beautiful, the story haunting, and the choice faced by the MC is a genuine dilemma with no right answer that pulls at the heartstrings.  As the first story in the collection, I hope it is a harbinger of what is to come.  Brava.