You come home to find yourself on TV. A decommissioned Concorde jet takes a job at a ­T-Mobile store. A princess is propositioned by a cosplayer. A young art historian discovers a gift for zoning out. A New York stockbroker becomes addicted to the pursuit of “good vibes only.” A despondent coffee enthusiast, struggling to navigate the web portal for medically assisted death, decides it might be easier to live.

These are some of the circumstances of Imagining One, I Took the Other—Thomas Laprade’s collection of uncanny modern-day fables, fairy tales, and fan fictions. Accompanied by the artist’s drawings, the book charts the limits of imagination in a world where every choice is overwhelmed by the tantalizing promise, or imperative, of ­endless growth and possibility.