If you got a mysterious box that said, Do Not Open, would you open it? If your fingers revolted and wanted a different job, would you agree? If you came from a race of giants, or thought about becoming Death’s lover, or couldn’t get rid of a lover no matter how hard you tried, what would you do?

These stories contain unusual problems, like finding your world growing dark after eating a piece of cake—and maybe wanting more cake. It’s not hard to find yourself one step outside the normal, as these characters do. The trick is to make it work.