Cosmos (serial novel)
[1] Cosmos has been described variously as "the world's most fabulous serial,"[2] "one of the unique stunts of early science fiction,"[3] and "a failure, miserable and near-complete.
"[4] The opening chapter of Cosmos introduces the two primary protagonists of the novel: Dos-Tev, deposed Emperor of the planet Lemnis of the Alpha Centauri system, and his science advisor, Mea-Quin.
In order to foil Ay-Artz's plans and regain his throne, Dos-Tev sets out for the Solar System and establishes a base in the crater Copernicus on Earth's moon.
Each planet receives a message of warning from Dos-Tev and a request to send an emissary to an interplanetary conference to be held at Copernicus, and following a variety of adventures, each dispatches a ship accordingly.
Chapters 7 through 9 tell the tales of Neptune (peopled by sentient gas-filled balloons), Venus (inhabited by migrated Earthlings), and Earth as they receive Dos-Tev's warning, select their emissaries and send ships to represent their planets at the conference.
They successfully host the representatives of the planets and enlist them to return to their homes and build fleets of spaceships to defend the Solar System against Ay-Artz.
Specifically: Although Fantasy Magazine never produced a sequel to Cosmos or another collaborative work on the same scale, they did reprise the concept for a pair of round-robin short stories as a special feature for their third-anniversary, which appeared in the September, 1935 issue.
Fantasy: Science-fiction: The creation of Cosmos has been featured in histories of science fiction and fandom, primarily as an interesting event rather than an important contribution to the literature.
The full line-up of writers in Cosmos was awesome… They were all top names in the pulps, but to be able to bring together both Merritt and Smith in one serial was a bonanza for all fans.
The space opera, perpetually criticized, once its basic elements were recognized, would nevertheless rocket on through the decades, spawning hit television series, new religions, and a steady flow of Jedi to doors on Halloween.
