Non-zero probabilities

On Tor website, I noticed that this short story was nominated for the Hugo Awards 2010 Best Short Story. (And also for the 2009 Nebula Awards but it did not win.) And of course its title, “Non-zero probabilities”, caught my eyes! Written by J.K. Jesimin in Clarkesworld Magazine, it is about bad luck or what people perceive as bad luck, and as such is of interest for statisticians. and also about the multiple realities and fantasies of New York City… I first read the short story thinking there was an awkward change of pace between the first and the second part, from clear occurrences of bad luck to more relaxed feelings about good luck returning and then, after a second reading, I came to realise this was simply a sequence of perceptions from the character, not necessarily the real thing. In the end, I thus liked it very much!