The term All Tomorrows has become a touchstone in modern speculative fiction and art, representing a profound exploration of humanity's potential futures through the lens of evolution, cosmic horror, and existential dread. At its core, All Tomorrows refers to the seminal work by C.M. Kosemen (writing as Nemo Ramjet), a fictional future history that charts the rise, fall, and bizarre transformation of humanity over billions of years. This concept has resonated deeply, spawning discussions, artistic interpretations, and related works that delve into similar themes of biological change and cosmic insignificance.
The Evolutionary Epic: All Tomorrows: The Myriad Species and Mixed Fortunes of Man
The foundational text, All Tomorrows: The Myriad Species and Mixed Fortunes of Man, is a masterpiece of speculative biology. It presents a narrative where humanity is genetically engineered by alien overlords, the Qu, into a bewildering array of post-human species. From the serpentine Sail People to the colonial Gravitals, the book is a haunting meditation on evolutionary horror. It forces readers to confront the fragility of the human form and the vast, uncaring scale of cosmic time. The book's power lies in its detailed illustrations and sober scientific tone, which make its terrifying visions of future humanity feel chillingly plausible.
Speculative Biology's Twin Pillars: All Yesterdays and All Tomorrows
Interestingly, Kosemen is also co-author of All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals. While All Tomorrows looks forward, All Yesterdays looks back, challenging rigid conventions in paleoart. Together, they form complementary works of speculative biology, one deconstructing our past and the other imagining a myriad of possible futures. This connection highlights the creative mindset that questions established norms, whether in reconstructing extinct life or projecting the fate of our own species.
The Thread of Cosmic Horror: From Lovecraft to Giger
The cosmic dread permeating All Tomorrows finds clear kinship with the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The feeling of humanity as an insignificant speck in a hostile universe is central to both. This connection is made visually explicit in adaptations like H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (Manga), which brings similar themes of existential horror to a graphic novel format. The lineage of biological and cosmic horror extends further to the iconic art of H.R. Giger. The nightmarish, biomechanical fusion of flesh and machine in Giger's work, celebrated in volumes like HR Giger. 45th Ed., shares a visceral DNA with the twisted post-human forms of All Tomorrows. Both explore the horror of the body transformed beyond recognition.
All Tomorrows in Other Genres: RPGs, Fiction, and Music
The influence of All Tomorrows extends beyond standalone books. It has inspired game supplements like All Flesh Must be Eaten: All Tomorrows Zombies for the horror RPG All Flesh Must Be Eaten. This supplement allows players to experience the existential terror of the All Tomorrows Zombies scenario firsthand, blending apocalyptic fiction with tabletop gaming.
In literary fiction, the thematic weight of time and legacy is explored in works like All the Tomorrows After, an emotional novel and family saga. Meanwhile, the phrase "All Tomorrow's Parties" anchors two distinct cultural works: William Gibson's cyberpunk finale, All Tomorrow's Parties (Bridge Trilogy Book 3), and the definitive All Tomorrow's Parties: The Velvet Underground Story, a music biography capturing the essence of 1960s counterculture and rock history.
The Enduring Legacy of All Tomorrows
From its origins as a web-published book review of a fictional history, All Tomorrows has grown into a cultural phenomenon. It sits at a fascinating crossroads of biological fiction, dystopian fiction, and art book culture. Its themes compel us to look beyond our narrow conception of humanity and consider the vast, strange, and often terrifying possibilities that lie in all our tomorrows. Whether through the direct narrative, the related paleontology book All Yesterdays, the cosmic horror of Lovecraftian manga, or the bleak beauty of Giger's art books, the ideas seeded by this work continue to evolve and fascinate, proving that the most compelling stories are often those that dare to reimagine what it means to be human.