In the vast universe of speculative fiction, few works have captured the imagination and provoked profound contemplation quite like All Tomorrows. This unique book, created by artist and author C.M. Kosemen (writing under the name Nemo Ramjet), is not a traditional novel but a "future history" or a speculative paleontology of humanity's distant descendants. It presents a breathtaking, and often unsettling, vision of evolution stretched across millions of years, challenging our very definitions of humanity, identity, and progress.
At its core, All Tomorrows is a narrative about transformation. It begins with a humanity that has achieved a golden age of space colonization, only to be conquered and genetically engineered by a mysterious alien race known as the Qu. This event shatters human unity and sets the stage for the book's central premise: the forced and divergent evolution of the human species on isolated worlds over immense geological timescales. The result is a gallery of bizarre, beautiful, and tragic post-human species, each a reflection of their environment and their ancestors' suffering.
Deconstructing Humanity: The Core Themes of All Tomorrows
The enduring power of All Tomorrows lies in its thematic depth. It moves beyond simple adventure to ask fundamental philosophical questions.
The Fluidity of Form and Identity
The book's most immediate impact comes from its visual and conceptual exploration of post-humanity. From the serpentine Saurosapients and the burrowing Tunnelers to the colonial Gravitals and the star-faring Asteromorphs, Kosemen illustrates how the human template can be stretched beyond recognition. This serves as a powerful metaphor for the impermanence of form and the idea that "humanity" might be more about a shared lineage of consciousness than a specific bodily shape. It forces readers to consider: at what point does a descendant cease to be "human"? Is it when they lose their bipedal form, their culture, or their memory of Earth?
Cosmic Horror and Existential Dread
While not a horror story in the conventional sense, All Tomorrows is steeped in cosmic horror. The vast, indifferent scale of time—millions upon millions of years—renders individual lives and even entire civilizations fleeting. The Qu are not mustache-twirling villains but an almost natural force of change, as uncaring and transformative as a glacier or an asteroid impact. This evokes a Lovecraftian sense of humanity's smallness in a universe where gods are replaced by evolutionary pressures and genetic engineers. The horror isn't in monsters jumping out, but in the slow, inevitable erasure of everything familiar.
Resilience and the Persistence of Consciousness
Despite its often bleak outlook, a thread of hope and resilience runs through the narrative. Even in the most degraded forms, like the helpless, livestock-like Symbiotes or the passive Pterosapiens, a spark of sentience remains. The story ultimately chronicles a long, painful journey back to agency and even transcendence. Species like the Asteromorphs, who evolve in the void of space and eventually master the universe, suggest that consciousness, in some form, can endure and adapt to any circumstance. It's a testament to the tenacity of life and mind.
Why All Tomorrows Stands Out in Modern Sci-Fi
In a genre often dominated by space operas and near-future thrillers, All Tomorrows carves a unique niche. Its approach is more akin to a scientific documentary or a history textbook from the far future, complete with fictional "fossil" illustrations and scholarly commentary. This pseudo-academic framing lends the outlandish concepts a chilling plausibility.
Furthermore, it belongs firmly to the subgenre of speculative evolution, popularized by works like *The Future Is Wild* and *Expedition* by Wayne Barlowe. However, Kosemen applies this lens specifically to humanity, making the speculation intensely personal and relatable in its strangeness. It's a work that has found massive resonance online, particularly through video essays and fan discussions, because it provides such a rich, visual, and thought-provoking sandbox for the imagination.
Common Misconceptions and How to Approach the Book
New readers often come to All Tomorrows with certain expectations that can lead to confusion.
- It's Not a Traditional Narrative: Don't expect a plot with character arcs and dialogue. The "characters" are entire species, and the story is told on a macro-evolutionary scale. The pleasure is in the grand conceptual sweep, not interpersonal drama.
- The Tone is Academic, Not Emotional: The text is deliberately dry and descriptive, mimicking a textbook. This contrasts powerfully with the horrific and wondrous events it describes, creating a unique, unsettling tone.
- It's a Complete Work: Originally a web project, the physical and digital book is a self-contained work. While fans crave more, the story as presented is a finished, powerful statement.
The Legacy and Cultural Impact of All Tomorrows
Since its publication, the influence of All Tomorrows has seeped into wider geek culture. It has inspired countless artists, writers, and game developers. Its themes can be seen echoed in video games dealing with transhumanism and far-future evolution, and its visual style has become iconic. The book serves as a brilliant gateway into thinking about deep time, evolutionary biology, and the long-term fate of intelligence in the cosmos.
For anyone interested in science fiction that challenges boundaries, All Tomorrows is an essential, if demanding, read. It is less a story to be consumed for pleasure and more an experience to be grappled with—a haunting, beautiful, and profoundly strange mirror held up to humanity's possible futures. It reminds us that our current form is but a momentary snapshot in an endless reel of evolutionary change, and that all our tomorrows hold shapes we can scarcely begin to imagine.
