These tales explore strange and alien modes of existence led by a diverse universe of beings: a compulsive gambler who wins a fortune and loses his world; a clone of Hitler who plots the retaking of the Falklands; the man who is jailed for his profession of remolding entire planets; a woman who was a Sphinx but who must now solve the riddle of life; a shoemaker whose elvish workers demand a monstrous wage; a murderer who must come to terms with a simulacrum of his victim--and many more. In this age of xenophobia and fear of The Other, these stories are wickedly funny. All are enormously satisfying for readers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.