The stories in Alternative Medicine can be broadly defined as black comedy with a twist of surrealism. In the story 'Sprout' a woman starts sprouting feathers after purchasing a demonic duvet. The narrator of 'The Most Ordinary Man in the World' glimpses a life free from his sister's tyranny only to end back firmly under her thumb. In The Killing Jar a boy's spider spies on his adulterous father. In 'The New Heart' a man experiences somebody else's memories after receiving a heart transplant. The story 'Mandy' features a strangely obsessed protagonist.