"The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury

"The Illustrated Man" is a collection of short stories masquerading as a novel.  Ray Bradbury is a master of short fiction, and "The Illustrated Man" plays to this strength.

There is a loose framework to the book.  The unnamed narrator meets an unusual man, the illustrated man, whose body is covered in tattoos.  These, however, are not ordinary tattoos.  These intricately detailed and vibrant tattoos change, come to life, and show the future.  Parts of his body might show you your own future, or you may see a story of the distant future.  As the illustrated man sleeps, the narrator watches his tattoos and the book is a collection of the sixteen stories that are shown during the night.

These short stories have little to connect them other than the future setting, and the sense of menace that permeates the book.  Whether it is diseased men banished to another planet, a city wreaking revenge on people, or children plotting the death of their parents, there is a deep and disturbing sense of dread throughout most of the book.  It is a representation of the future, and shows snippets of possibilities.  (Most stories seek some type of future plausibility and loosely fall in the genre of science fiction, although "The Playground" is a noticeable exception that relies on fantasy and a less logically explainable event.) 

These snippets of the future are clearly part of Bradbury's vision, and are closely related to his futuristic books like "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451".  In fact, "The Other Foot" seems to carry on from a plot line introduced in "The Martian Chronicles."  These are related stories that all fit into Bradbury's unique vision of the future. 

Although it is fantastic to read, Bradbury's depiction of the future is also deeply troubling.  Although there are moments of redemption, it is a generally pessimistic view showing the atrocities (big and small) that people are capable of.