2024 Reader Views Literary Award gold medal winner in Short Stories and regional winner for the Southern Region / 2025 BookFest Book Award silver medal winner in Short Stories / 2025 Literary Titan Gold Award winner SIDE QUEST: STORIES is the award-winning short story collection by Jalyn Renae Fiske that collects 14 speculative short stories and 1 poem that explore characters who yearn for a different life or a second chance amid magical curses, missing persons, dragon attacks, mad scientists, alien planets, human sacrifices, the undead, and silent gods. Fiske's wide range in writing style and subject matter makes for stories that are captivating and immersive for all types of readers. There's horror, there's adventure, there's whimsy, and there's tragedy. SIDE QUEST: STORIES is for anyone who wishes to step into the fantastical shoes of another and experience different perceptions, struggles, and dreams. Are you ready to begin? Contents: " Entwined " - Be careful where you step in the woods " Heart Box " - What does it mean when the flower that blooms is dead and wilted? " Soul Candy " - All it takes to forget your mediocre life is a single piece of candy " Gather the Lightning " - A mad scientist, a golem, and a little bit of lightning " A Grave of Wind and Leaves " - What would you do to find your missing daughter? " Zipper Boy and the Girl Made of Light " - The only thing keeping him alive are the zippers on his skin " This Our River, These Our Gods " - How many people must drown before it matters? " Emry, the One Who Remembered " - Love, sacrifice, and someone else's body parts " Verity's Faery Teas " - Delicious, but do you know where it comes from? " Scarlet and Shadow " - Where treason, magic, and true love collide " The Quiet and the Creeping " - In between life and death is a labyrinth " The Search for Jedda Rose " - When bodies keep washing up on shore, who is to blame? " Sweetbreads at Midnight " - A horrific retelling of the Greek myth of Lamia " Dragon Disposal " - When a dragon falls dead in the city, someone has to clean it up " Dark the Sky, Radiant the Road " - The gods are silent, and the dead begin to rise ++++++ “Gorgeously written, wondrous and harrowing, Jalyn Renae Fiske’s SIDE QUEST: STORIES is filled with characters isolated from their true selves. Whether a creature who kills and drinks the blood of martyrs or a child grappling with the crimes of her father, the protagonists of these stories long to break free of the trap of their lives and distorted beliefs and identities. Dark, raw and radiant, Fiske’s genre-bending stories call to mind the work of Aimee Bender and Karen Russell and dive deep into the processing of grief and the paths to redemption. At the heart of each of these stories is a recognition that we share a unifying oneness no matter how foreign we may appear in our various guises.” - JoAnne Tompkins, bestselling author of What Comes After “A strong new addition to the world of fantastical fiction, Fiske’s SIDE QUEST: STORIES is deeply steeped in magic and heart. A lyrical, enchanting voice that’s equal parts humorous and haunting, Fiske reminds us what it is to be truly human, and how to be true to our own quests. I look forward to pressing this book into the hands of fellow readers—it’s that good.” - G.G. Silverman, finalist for the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, St. Lawrence Book Award, and SFWP Literary Award “Deliciously creepy.” - The Sockdolager "Gorgeously written, wondrous and harrowing, Jalyn Renae Fiske's SIDE QUEST: STORIES is filled with characters isolated from their true selves. Whether a creature who kills and drinks the blood of martyrs or a child grappling with the crimes of her father, the protagonists of these stories long to break free of the trap of their lives and distorted beliefs and identities. Dark, raw and radiant, Fiske's genre-bending stories call to mind the work of Aimee Bender and Karen Russell and dive deep into the processing of grief and the paths to redemption. At the heart of each of these stories is a recognition that we share a unifying oneness no matter how foreign we may appear in our various guises." - JoAnne Tompkins, bestselling author of What Comes After "A strong new addition to the world of fantastical fiction, Fiske's Side Quest: Stories is deeply steeped in magic and heart. A lyrical, enchanting voice that's equal parts humorous and haunting, Fiske reminds us what it is to be truly human, and how to be true to our own quests. I look forward to pressing this book into the hands of fellow readers-it's that good." - G.G. Silverman, finalist for the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, St. Lawrence Book Award, and SFWP Literary Award "Deliciously creepy." - The Sockdolager Jalyn Renae Fiske is an educator, archivist, and librarian. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in 2017. That same year, she began her tenure as Fiction Editor for James Gunn's Ad Astra magazi