The phrase "All Tomorrows" has become a resonant touchstone in speculative fiction, primarily thanks to C.M. Kosemen's groundbreaking work, All Tomorrows: The Myriad Species and Mixed Fortunes of Man. This book is more than a story; it's a chilling chronicle of humanity's far-future evolution, twisted by alien intervention into forms both bizarre and tragic. Its unique blend of speculative biology and cosmic horror has captivated readers, inspiring a deeper look into works that share its dark, imaginative spirit.
The Core of Cosmic Dread: All Tomorrows and Its Kin
At its heart, All Tomorrows explores themes of loss, transformation, and humanity's fragile place in a vast, uncaring universe. This evolutionary horror finds a fascinating companion in All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, also by Kosemen (writing as Nemo Ramjet) and others. While All Tomorrows projects forward, All Yesterdays reimagines the past, challenging rigid paleoart conventions. Together, they form speculative biology's twin pillars, urging us to question our assumptions about life in deep time, whether past or future. For fans of one, the other is an essential read, expanding the same creative philosophy into a different era.
Artistic and Literary Parallels: From Giger to Gibson
The biomechanical nightmares and bodily transformations in All Tomorrows visually echo the iconic work of H.R. Giger. The compendium HR Giger. 45th Ed. showcases the artist's haunting fusion of organic and mechanical forms, a direct aesthetic precursor to the Star People and the Qu. Exploring Giger's art provides a visual lexicon for the terrors Kosemen describes. Similarly, the sense of existential dread connects to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (Manga) translates classic cosmic dread into a powerful graphic novel format, offering another accessible entry point into themes of insignificance and ancient, alien malevolence that permeate Kosemen's epic.
Moving from pure horror to cyberpunk speculation, William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties (the finale of his Bridge Trilogy) uses the phrase to ponder a post-cyberpunk future of ubiquitous media and societal collapse. Though tonally different, it shares with All Tomorrows a deep concern for humanity's next phase. On a more intimate scale, All the Tomorrows After represents a shift into literary fiction and family saga, exploring personal futures and emotional legacies, proving the thematic versatility of the "tomorrow" concept.
Gaming the Apocalypse: All Tomorrows Zombies
The influence of All Tomorrows extends into interactive realms with the RPG supplement All Flesh Must Be Eaten: All Tomorrows Zombies for Eden Studios' horror game. This book brilliantly merges the speculative evolution of All Tomorrows with the zombie apocalypse genre. It provides game masters with tools to create scenarios where humanity's future descendants—the bizarre post-human species from Kosemen's book—become the source of the outbreak. It's a perfect example of how a rich biological fiction premise can fuel new narratives in horror RPG storytelling, offering a fresh twist on the undead.
Cultural Echoes: Music and Legacy
The title itself, All Tomorrows, is a cultural artifact, famously used by The Velvet Underground in their song "All Tomorrow's Parties." The definitive biography All Tomorrow's Parties: The Velvet Underground Story delves into the band's groundbreaking, often dark artistry that paralleled the underground and avant-garde spirit from which much modern horror and speculative fiction draws. This connection creates a fascinating feedback loop: a song title inspires a book title, which in turn inspires a wave of creative works across media, from apocalyptic fiction to art books.
In conclusion, the world of All Tomorrows is far larger than a single book. It is a conceptual hub linking evolutionary speculation, cosmic horror, biomechanical art, cyberpunk narratives, role-playing games, and music history. From the paleontological reimaginings in All Yesterdays to the zombie-infested futures of the All Flesh Must Be Eaten supplement, and from the silent horror of Giger to the noisy revolution of The Velvet Underground, these works collectively explore the anxiety and wonder of what comes next. For anyone chilled and fascinated by Kosemen's vision, this entire ecosystem of related media offers endless avenues for further exploration and dread.