Genre Anthology of Isaac Asimov's works, first published in 1959 (printed by Doubleday). An alternate title is Nine Tomorrows: Tales of the Near Future.
Two works of comic poetry begin this collection, both playing with the difficulties of writing. The nine numbered Science Fiction stories each provide a different perspective on what the future might be like. Every story was chosen from the past three years of publishing. This collection was republished in the Omnibus titled The Complete Stories, Volume 1.
Works published in this collection:
- "I Just Make Them Up, See!" (1958)
- "Rejection Slips" (1959)
- "Profession" (1957)
- "The Feeling of Power" (1958)
- "The Dying Night" (1956)
- "I'm in Marsport Without Hilda" (1957)
- "The Gentle Vultures" (1957)
- "All the Troubles of the World" (1958)
- "Spell My Name with an S" (1958)
- "The Last Question" (1956)
- "The Ugly Little Boy" (1958)
Nine Tomorrows contains examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: The 1966 German translation, Unendlichkeit x 5, contains only five of the original nine stories and none of the poems.
- Advertising by Association: The Del Rey cover from 1985 includes a Tagline pointing out that Dr Asimov is also the author of the national bestseller Foundation's Edge.
- Alien Sky: The 1972 Creator Pan Books cover features two moons in the background, one of which is nearly hidden behind Isaac Asimov's name.
- Billed Above the Title: All of the covers, except for a UK Book Club cover, lists Isaac Asimov's name before the title. Pan Books, Del Rey, and Publicacoes Europa America have covers where his name is around twice as large as said title.
- Cover Drop: In the Del Rey cover from 1985, a monkey wearing a spacesuit with a clear faceplate is looking over their shoulder at the audience with the Earth in the sky like a giant moon. With a bit of Artistic License, this could be intended to be the opening of "The Gentle Vultures", where Captain Devi-en, an alien monkey, is wandering around the surface of the moon in his spacesuit.
- Dedication: This collection is dedicated to Betty Shaplan, for their helpfulness and kindness.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The original 1959 Double Day cover has a greyscale image of space with slight green tinting by the spine, while Isaac Asimov's name and the Doubleday icon are a solid bright green.
- Design Student's Orgasm: The original 1959 Double Day cover is a very busy greyscale image of space that was probably done because it screams Science Fiction, with spaceships, nebulae, and moving rays of light.
- Divided for Publication: The 1990 Portuguese translation was split into two volumes; Nove Amanhãs: contos do futuro próximo, 1℃ volume contains "I Just Make Them Up, See!", "Profession", "The Feeling of Power", "The Dying Night", and "I'm in Marsport Without Hilda", while the 2℃ volume contains the other five stories and "Rejection Slips".
- Faceless Eye:
- The 1969 Fawcett Crest cover has an enormous building which has a cyclopean eye watching as people walk inside.
- The 1978 French translation cover, by Presses Pocket, has an eye in space, crying into a sun, with a world similar to Earth used as the iris (no pupil).
- Full Moon Silhouette: The 1966 Pan Books cover has a black background and a cartoonish sun. Inside of the sun, a rocket is blasting off, with black and purple smoke billowing up to obscure the more realistic red and yellow of the sun behind it.
- Gigantic Moon: In the Del Rey cover from 1985, this is Inverted by showing an Earth from the surface of The Moon that's larger than the head of the person on the cover (and at least twice the arc-size it should be). This cover may have been inspired by "The Gentle Vultures" from within this collection.
- In Space, Everyone Can See Your Face: The Del Rey cover from 1985 has a monkey wearing a spacesuit with a clear faceplate looking over their shoulder at the audience. This cover may have been inspired by "The Gentle Vultures" from within this collection.
- Minimalistic Cover Art: The 1966 Pan Books cover restricts the art to the inside of a single cartoony sun.
- Science Cocktail: The 1960 Bantam Books cover uses beakers, erlenmeyer flasks, test tubes, and pipes to showcase how much SCIENCE is happening inside.
- Spell My Name With An S: The title of "All the Troubles of the World" is accidentally published as "All the Troubles in the World" in the table of contents. It is correctly named at the start of the story.
- Tagline:
- "Stories of weird and wonderful futures" — Bantam Books 1960
- "..876543210 9 tomorrows" — UK science fiction book club 1964
- "The best science fiction stories of Isaac Asimov" — Moewig 1966
- "Tales of the Near Future by the Master of Science Fiction" — Fawcett Crest 1969
- "Author of the national bestseller Foundation's Edge" — Del Rey 1985 (overlapping with Advertising by Association)
- Used Future: The 1972 Pan Books cover has a junkyard of rusted equipment, including an old spaceship.
