Title: The Fortune-Teller
Author: Patricia A. McKillip
In: The Coyote Road (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Tricksters
Dates read: 12th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: Then I can afford to be honest.

She’s made her life under the sign of the trickster, but is she capable of change? Will a visit from an old flame remind her of who and what she truly could be?

This isn’t like a lot of the trickster stories I’ve been reading recently. Instead of featuring a supernatural being of balance, this is a mortal woman who follows the sign of the trickster. But, unlike the supernatural beings that I’m so used to, she’s actually capable of change. The question of whether or not she’s willing to become something more than herself, something better, is what fills this story.

Fortune-tellers are a great vessel for chaos and a realignment of the world. I like that this is a woman on the cusp of a decision. She can continue on her wily way by cheating and scamming people out of their money, or she can make the decision to become a better person. To gain her life and money in a way that she won’t feel ashamed of. And it is the mirror of her past lover that makes her really consider this…

<- Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s Review

How Raven Made His Bride Review ->

Image source: Amazon