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Side Quests
After a thousand years underground, a colony of survivors digs its way to the surface. A swarm of mind-controlling aliens invades a small town. Upon moving to a new city, a woman suspects her roommate is a vampire.
Side Quests is an eclectic collection of short stories that range from sci-fi to horror to fantasy. Content Many of the stories feature LGBTQIA+ protagonists and concepts that some readers will find “woke.” Open-minded readers will have a fantastic time enjoying these strange tales and unusual worlds.
Side Quests is an eclectic collection of short stories that range from sci-fi to horror to fantasy. Content Many of the stories feature LGBTQIA+ protagonists and concepts that some readers will find “woke.” Open-minded readers will have a fantastic time enjoying these strange tales and unusual worlds.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 30, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 4, 2025
With tales spanning post-apocalyptic survival, alien invasions, vampiric roommates, and more, Xine Fury offers a kaleidoscope of sharp speculative fiction with a humorous, human twist.
A platypus and a hermit crab debate the futility of self-publishing. “Then it doesn’t matter,” says the crab. “Since nobody is going to read it anyway!”
It’s laugh-out-loud funny and laced with satire.
Fury’s writing shines brightest in the surreal and uncanny, where high-strangeness and psychological horror blur the line between reality and dream.
One standout piece involves a haunting vision of AI-generated images - ethically fraught, plausible, and disturbingly relevant. The inability of characters to distinguish between dreams, gaming, and waking life adds narrative tension.
The prose is vivid and poetic: “When she smiled, it was the smile of a woman who was about to invite you in for a cup of tea and some ribbon candy, and if Christmas were coming, she’d also ask for your sweater size.” Lines like these reveal Fury’s gift for emotional depth beneath the absurdity.
Side Quests may ruffle feathers with its unapologetic weirdness, but it’s a wildly rewarding ride for open-minded readers. Xine Fury is a confessed “mammal,” albeit with claws, fangs, and a wicked sense of humor.
Highly recommended for fans of speculative fiction who like their stories strange, smart, and subversive. Xine Fury’s Side Quests is a genre-defying collection of short stories that playfully dismantle literary conventions and deliver thought-provoking narratives on random topics such as execution.
A platypus and a hermit crab debate the futility of self-publishing. “Then it doesn’t matter,” says the crab. “Since nobody is going to read it anyway!”
It’s laugh-out-loud funny and laced with satire.
Fury’s writing shines brightest in the surreal and uncanny, where high-strangeness and psychological horror blur the line between reality and dream.
One standout piece involves a haunting vision of AI-generated images - ethically fraught, plausible, and disturbingly relevant. The inability of characters to distinguish between dreams, gaming, and waking life adds narrative tension.
The prose is vivid and poetic: “When she smiled, it was the smile of a woman who was about to invite you in for a cup of tea and some ribbon candy, and if Christmas were coming, she’d also ask for your sweater size.” Lines like these reveal Fury’s gift for emotional depth beneath the absurdity.
Side Quests may ruffle feathers with its unapologetic weirdness, but it’s a wildly rewarding ride for open-minded readers. Xine Fury is a confessed “mammal,” albeit with claws, fangs, and a wicked sense of humor.
Highly recommended for fans of speculative fiction who like their stories strange, smart, and subversive. Xine Fury’s Side Quests is a genre-defying collection of short stories that playfully dismantle literary conventions and deliver thought-provoking narratives on random topics such as execution.
May 18, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. It contains 9 short stories and a further 5 “story nuggets”.
The stories are very diverse in their settings and storylines, with classic sci-fi backdrops such as alien invasions, zombie apocalypse, foreign planets, and authoritarian states, as well as normal (on the surface) suburbia.
The characters are engaging and have great depth, which is impressive to achieve in short story format, in particular with the “story nuggets” which are just a few pages long.
The stories deal with complex themes around accountability, loss, acceptance, and the struggle to do the right thing, leaving the reader with plenty to contemplate after each.
My favourite story was “The NPC”, a fun thought experiment about the adventures characters might go on when we look away.
I also appreciated the “Authors notes” section at the end, where they give a little bit more context for the inspiration behind the stories.
The stories are very diverse in their settings and storylines, with classic sci-fi backdrops such as alien invasions, zombie apocalypse, foreign planets, and authoritarian states, as well as normal (on the surface) suburbia.
The characters are engaging and have great depth, which is impressive to achieve in short story format, in particular with the “story nuggets” which are just a few pages long.
The stories deal with complex themes around accountability, loss, acceptance, and the struggle to do the right thing, leaving the reader with plenty to contemplate after each.
My favourite story was “The NPC”, a fun thought experiment about the adventures characters might go on when we look away.
I also appreciated the “Authors notes” section at the end, where they give a little bit more context for the inspiration behind the stories.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews