Worst: your books are stolen

Best: You are able to trace down the felon and retain your manuscripts for the books. The joy of having them back gives you the idea to write another series inspired by the theft, called "Lack of Words". It becomes another instant success!

Worst: After that, you do have a Lack of Words, and are unable to write anymore, and left destitute. (familiar?)

Best: Your cousin, who's a world class physicist, has invented a device that can teleport someone to another planet (or universe, he's not sure which), and since you have so much experience dealing with strange circumstances he asks you to be the first human to test it (he's already tested it on robots and animals).

Worst: You end up on a planet (or universe, you're not sure which) that is inhabited by vicious aliens that try to eat you. Should have seen that one coming.

Best: Your cousin, who is very thorough, figured out not only how to transport some to another planet/universe, but also how to transport them back. You are very grateful for this as he teleports you back to earth before the aliens can eat you.

Worst: Your cousin's calculations accidentally go awry and he teleports you into a swamp infested with hungry alligators.

Best: You happen to have a toxin to keep the alligators back: You spray it in their faces and they turn black and shrivel up. o.O

Worst: The Alligators are gone, but you find yourself sinking into the swamp, and your cousin can't get to you fast enough.

Best: The swamp is really shallow and you are able to wade out of it on your own.

Worst: When you get to land you are overtaken by pirates who were hiding in the leafy grove. The drag you to their ship and summon the captain to give you his orders.

Best: The captain is your cousin who came to rescue you!(He got a side job. You can't expect him to pay the bills by just being a world class physicist, can you?)

Worst: He really wasn't coming to rescue you, but to find you and dispose of you because you know of the flaw in his teleportation system. He can not have word get out that even a tiny error occurred, or he will be the laughing stock of the physics community. So, he orders you to be shot and thrown overboard far out at sea.
(I feel like we've come full circle...)

Best: You fall into the water *right* before they shoot, and they think you're dead and sail away. A nice dolphin comes along and lets you ride back to your home on it's back.

Worst: The dolphin posted his rescue of you on Facebook and your cousin finds out you survived, so he sends a venomous razor-toothed strawberry milk cow he teleported from a universe/planet.