Review: Standby by Kim Fielding

Title: Standby

Author: Kim Fielding

Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing

Pages/Word Count: 30 Pages

At a Glance: Kim Fielding has a flair for throwing the unexpected into her stories.

Reviewed By: Kim

Blurb: Who’d have thought being stranded at the airport could possibly have some long term benefits?

Certainly not Tom.

But then, he hadn’t bargained on meeting Rafael…

Review: I didn’t know this at the time I started reading, but Standby is part of the Stranded anthology, produced by Wayward Ink Publishing.

Due to a delay on his previous flight, Tom missed his connecting flight by 10 minutes! Stranded in Minneapolis, and dealing with a rude ticket agent, he finds he’s in “standby” hell, waiting for the next available seat on an airplane that will take him home to Iowa. With very little money for a motel, Tom finds himself wandering the airport. Weary, he sits down and dozes…until he notices someone sitting down next to him. For various reasons, Rafael comes to the airport to watch the planes fly, and as the two strike up a conversation, it doesn’t take long to realize they’re attracted to each other.

I rather enjoyed Standby. Kim Fielding has a flair for throwing the unexpected into her stories and since the blurb doesn’t give much information about what you’re going to read, I will say she didn’t pull any punches with this short story. I would love to read more about Tom and Raphael. It seems to me their story isn’t quite finished. Yet! Thirty pages is just a warm-up to a pretty interesting introduction of characters.

So, Ms. Fielding, is there a longer version of Standby in the making?