Other stories run in a different direction altogether. Mr. Baxter is a creepy stalker story that leaves the reader hanging. Guarding Andrew Gates, the title story, manages to depict fandom gone awry and wifely resignation in a few short pages to a fair degree of accuracy. Free Lunch is a brief blue collar horror story.
Last and best is A Lack of Combustion, a story of a detective that seems to draw odd cases, à la X-Files. Other cases are eluded to but not described; in this one he investigates reports of spontaneous human combustion. Zubek has found his element here. Many of the other stories seem unfinished, though not without promise. A Lack of Combustion is different, in this piece Zubec demonstrates an ability to place the reader's imagination in a setting and engage them with his characters, two essential achievements in any salable piece of fiction.
Zubek is currently working on a novel about this detective character, and I think that's where we'll see the full measure of his talent come into fruition.
I received a copy of this book for the purpose of review.
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