The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
published 1951 - read 2004

Absolutely great.  Some eighteen brilliant little short stories in what I consider the best vein of science fiction - the one that uses futuristic concepts to explore concerns and anxieties that are both present-day and timeless.  Bradbury also seems to be, at heart, a horror writer, which gives a lot of these stories a great macabre edge.  He's at his best here when he deals with outer space or the planet Mars, both of which he casts as ancient, unknowable voids into which humans project their own failings and fears.  The earthbound tales are all excellent too (I especially like the surprising number of them that deal with parents being murdered by their own children), but they don't quite linger in the mind like the pitiful, quiet story of astronauts blown out of their ship and slowly drifting apart to their respective deaths.  Then there are the spooky spiritual tales, like the one where a Jesus figure is encountered on another world (stealing the thunder of astronauts who arrive just in time to miss him), or the one where astronaut evangelists come up short against an alien race holier than they had previously considered possible.  All in all, very much recommended, despite the unnecessary cornball framing device of a tattooed man in whose illustrations one sees the various stories acted out. 

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