In the vast landscape of speculative fiction, few works have captured the imagination and existential dread of readers quite like All Tomorrows. This seminal work by C.M. Kosemen, originally published online, presents a billion-year future history of humanity, remade and reshaped by alien hands into a dizzying array of post-human species. It’s a story that blends hard science with profound horror, asking unsettling questions about identity, evolution, and the fragility of our form. The core book, All Tomorrows: The Myriad Species and Mixed Fortunes of Man, serves as the cornerstone of this unique genre of evolutionary horror.
The Speculative Biology Universe
The fascination with altered lifeforms doesn't only look forward. Kosemen, alongside others, also co-authored All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals. This paleoart book challenges conventional depictions of dinosaurs, applying the same creative and speculative lens backward in time. Together, these works form twin pillars of speculative biology, encouraging us to rethink life both past and future. For a deeper comparison, the blog post All Yesterdays vs. All Tomorrows: Speculative Biology's Twin Masterpieces offers excellent analysis.
Cosmic Horror and Artistic Kinship
The themes in All Tomorrows resonate strongly with the tradition of cosmic horror. The sense of humanity's insignificance against vast, uncaring forces is pure H.P. Lovecraft. This connection is made visually explicit in adaptations like H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (Manga). The cosmic dread evoked by alien gods finds a parallel in the Qu, the enigmatic architects of humanity's transformation in Kosemen's work. Exploring this thematic link further, the article All Tomorrows & Lovecraftian Horror: Exploring Cosmic Dread in Manga delves into the shared nightmares.
Another profound artistic parallel is with the biomechanical nightmares of H.R. Giger. The twisted, organic-mechanical fusion of many post-human species in All Tomorrows feels like a narrative extension of Giger's iconic art. The comprehensive HR Giger. 45th Ed. is a stunning art book that showcases the visual vocabulary of this shared horror. The guide All Tomorrows & HR Giger: A Guide to Sci-Fi's Evolutionary & Biomechanical Nightmares expertly connects these two dark visions.
From Page to Game: All Tomorrows in RPGs
The rich and horrifying bestiary of All Tomorrows naturally lends itself to tabletop role-playing games. All Flesh Must be Eaten: All Tomorrows Zombies is an official supplement for Eden Studios' popular horror RPG, "All Flesh Must Be Eaten." This book allows players to confront the terrifying post-human species from the novel in a game of survival horror. For a detailed look at this adaptation, check out the All Tomorrows Zombies: A Sci-Fi Horror RPG Supplement Review & Guide.
The Literary and Musical Echoes of "Tomorrow"
The phrase "All Tomorrows" echoes beyond speculative biology. In literary fiction, Nino Cipri's All the Tomorrows After is an emotional novel and family saga that explores queer relationships and personal history across time—a different, but equally poignant, look at futures and pasts. A review can be found in All the Tomorrows After: A Literary Journey Through Family, Time, and Emotion.
In cyberpunk literature, William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties is the finale of his Bridge Trilogy, a novel steeped in near-future technological saturation and urban decay. Meanwhile, in music history, All Tomorrow's Parties: The Velvet Underground Story is a definitive music biography chronicling one of the most influential bands in rock history and counterculture. These works, explored in blogs like All Tomorrow's Parties: William Gibson's Bridge Trilogy Finale Explained and All Tomorrows Parties: The Velvet Underground Story - A Definitive Biography, show the cultural breadth of this evocative phrase.
Ultimately, the power of All Tomorrows lies in its ability to spawn a universe of thought. It connects to apocalyptic fiction, biological fiction, and profound art, inviting us to ponder not just the future of humanity, but the very nature of change, suffering, and resilience. Whether through the lens of a graphic novel, a book review, an art book, or a tabletop game, the myriad species of tomorrow continue to challenge and haunt us today.