Influential American science fiction writer Philip K. Dick was fascinated by the idea of nuclear warfare and the dire aftermath of such an event. This scenario preoccupied Dick throughout much of his career and served as the backdrop to many of his stories and novels. In the short story Second Variety, the human population has been decimated by nuclear war, and small tribes of survivors are forced to battle a species of lethal robot soldiers.

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When their home is destroyed by the vicious, tribal Hecari, Audrun and her husband Davyn, along with their four children, must join a karavan that will pass the demon-infested deepwood of Alisanos, but luck is on their side when they discover that their fellow passengers are gifted with various forms of magic.

"The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury--a collection of tales that breathe and move, animated by sharp, intaken breath and flexing muscle. Here are eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin--visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful:...