Best Series Hugo:
Eligible Series from 2019

SJW Credential Reading SFF Books (c) Can Stock Photo / Lazarenka

By JJ: To assist Hugo nominators, listed below are the series believed to be eligible as of this writing for the 2020 Best Series Hugo next year *†.

Each series name is followed by the main author name(s) and the 2019-published work(s).

Feel free to add missing series and the name of the 2019-eligible work in the comments, and I will get them included in the main post.

I just ask that suggesters (1) first do a Find on author surname on this page, to check whether the series is already on the list, and (2) then make an effort to verify that a series does indeed have 3 volumes, that it has a 2019-published work, and that it has likely met the 240,000 word threshold; in the past I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to verify suggested series, only to discover that they had fewer than 3 volumes, or nothing published in the current year, or weren’t anything close to 240,000 words (e.g., children’s books). Self-published works may or may not be added to the list at my discretion.

Note that the 2017 Hugo Administrator ruled that nominations for a series and one of its subseries will not be combined. Therefore, when nominating a subseries work, think carefully under which series name it should be nominated. If the subseries does not yet meet the 3-volume, 240,000 word count threshold, then the main series name should be nominated. If the subseries does meet that threshold, then the subseries name should probably be nominated. This will ensure that another subseries in the same universe, or the main series itself, would still be eligible next year if this subseries is a finalist this year.

The 2018 and 2019 Hugo Administrators ruled that the 2017 Best Series Finalists, although the result of a one-time category, were subject to the same re-qualification requirements as the 2018 Best Series Finalists, and it is likely this will be the rule going forward; bear that in mind when making your nominations.

* ineligible series are preceded by an asterisk

  • Age of Dread by Stephen Aryan, Magebane
  • Alex Benedict by Jack McDevitt, Octavia Gone
  • Alex Craft by Kalayna Price, Grave Destiny
  • Alex Verus by Benedict Jacka, Fallen
  • Aliens by Mira Grant, Alien Echo
  • Alita: Battle Angel by Pat Cadigan, Alita: Battle Angel; by Nick Aires, Dr. Ido’s Journal
  • Alliance-Union by C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher, Alliance Rising
  • Alpennia by Heather Rose Jones, Floodtide
  • Amberlough Dossier by Lara Elena Donnelly, Amnesty
  • Analog by Eliot Peper, Breach
  • Andrea Cort / Draiken by Adam-Troy Castro, The Savannah Problem
  • Anno Dracula by Kim Newman, Anno Dracula 1999:Daikaiju
  • Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman, The Toll
  • Ascendant by K Arsenault Rivera, The Warrior Moon
  • Assiti Shards / Ring of Fire by Eric Flint, 1637: The Polish Maelstrom
  • Athena Club by Theodora Goss, The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl
  • Axiom by Tim Pratt, The Forbidden Stars
  • Bedlam Bard / SERRAted Edge by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill, The Waters and the Wild
  • Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward, The Saviour, Prisoner of Night (novella), Where Winter Finds You (novella)
  • Black Dagger Legacy by J.R. Ward, Blood Truth
  • Black Tide Rising by John Ringo and Mike Massa, River of Night
  • Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence, Holy Sister
  • Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft, The Hod King
  • Books of Pell by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, No Country for Old Gnomes and The Princess Beard
  • Borne by Jeff VanderMeer, Dead Astronauts (may not have sufficient word count)
  • Bryant & May by Christopher Fowler, The Lonely Hour and England’s Finest: Short Stories (collection)
  • Cainsville by Kelley Armstrong, Cruel Fate
  • Carpathian by Christine Feehan, Dark Illusion
  • Cassandra Palmer by Karen Chance, Brave the Tempest
  • Charley Davidson by Darynda Jones, Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
  • Charlie Parker by John Connolly, A Book of Bones
  • Chicagoland Vampires / Heirs of Chicagoland by Chloe Neill, Wicked Hour (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara, Cast in Oblivion
  • Chronicles of St. Mary’s by Jodi Taylor, Hope for the Best
  • Chronicles of St. Mary’s / Time Police by Jodi Taylor, Doing Time (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Chronicles of the One by Nora Roberts, The Rise of Magicks
  • Dark Hunters: Deadman’s Cross by Sherrilyn Kenyon, At Death’s Door
  • Dark Talents by Kay Kenyon, Nest of the Monarch
  • Demon Wars / The Coven by R.A. Salvatore, Reckoning of Fallen Gods (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson, Pass of Fire
  • Devil’s West by Laura Anne Gilman, Gabriel’s Road (novella)
  • Diving Universe by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Renegat
  • Doctor Who by Tom Baker and James Goss, Scratchman
  • Dominion of the Fallen by Aliette de Bodard, The House of Sundering Flames
  • Donovan by W. Michael Gear, Pariah
  • Dracula by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker, Dracul
  • Dragon Corsairs by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes, Kingmaker
  • Dru Jasper by Laurence MacNaughton, Forever and a Doomsday
  • Elemental Logic by Laurie J. Marks, Air Logic
  • Elemental Masters by Mercedes Lackey, The Case of the Spellbound Child
  • Empires of Dust by Anna Smith Spark, The House of Sacrifice
  • Enchanter General by Dave Duncan, Merlin Redux
  • Endarian Prophecy by Richard Phillips, The Shattered Trident
  • Epic Failure by Joe Zieja, System Failure
  • Eric Carter by Stephen Blackmoore, Fire Season
  • Essalieyan / Annagar / Breodani Universe / House War by Michelle West, Firstborn and War
  • Eternal Sky / Lotus Kingdoms by Elizabeth Bear, The Red-Stained Wings
  • Eternity War by Jamie Sawyer, Dominion
  • Expanse by James S.A. Corey, Tiamat’s Wrath and Auberon (novella)
  • Far Stars by Jay Allan, The Emperor’s Fist
  • Fifth Ward by Dale Lucas, Good Company
  • Final War by David Moody, Chokehold
  • Firefly by James Lovegrove, The Magnificent Nine, by Tim Lebbon, Generations
  • First Law by Joe Abercrombie, A Little Hatred
  • Ghostwalker by Christine Feehan, Toxic Game
  • God Fragments by Tom Lloyd, Knight of Stars
  • Godblind by Anna Stephens, Bloodchild
  • Gods of Blood and Powder by Brian McClellan, Blood of Empire
  • Gods of the Caravan Road by K. V. Johansen, The Last Road
  • Godstalker Chronicles by P. C. Hodgell, By Demons Possessed
  • Grand Tour by Ben Bova, Earth
  • Great Library by Rachel Caine, Sword and Pen
  • Greta Helsing by Vivian Shaw, Grave Importance
  • Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars
  • Guild Hunter by Nalini Singh, Archangel’s War
  • Hail Bristol / Farian War by K. B. Wagers, Down Among the Dead (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Halflife Chronicles / Chris Csejthe by Wm. Mark Simmons, A Witch in Time
  • Heroes in Hell by Andrew P. Weston, Hell Gate
  • Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews, Sapphire Flames
  • His Dark Materials / The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman, The Secret Commonwealth (must be nominated under the main series)
  • ICE Sequence by F. Paul Wilson, The Void Protocol
  • Imager Portfolio by L.E. Modesitt, Endgames
  • Immortal Dealers by Sarah Fine, The Warrior
  • In Death by J.D. Robb, Connections in Death and Vendetta in Death
  • In Love and War by Cora Buhlert, Mementos and Memories and Honourable Enemies
  • InCryptid by Seanan McGuire, That Ain’t Witchcraft
  • Inda / Rise of the Alliance by Sherwood Smith, A Sword Named Truth (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews, Sweep of the Blade
  • Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, The Secret Chapter
  • Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon’s Mother
  • James Asher by Barbara Hambly, Prisoner of Midnight
  • Jane Hawk by Dean Koontz, The Night Window
  • Jane Yellowrock by Faith Hunter, Shattered Bonds
  • Jurisdiction by Susan R. Matthews, Crimes Against Humanity
  • Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews, Small Magics (collection)
  • Keon Rouse by Sam Peters, From Divergent Suns
  • Khorasan Archives by Ausma Zehanat Khan, The Blue Eye
  • King’s Blades by Dave Duncan, The Ethical Swordsman
  • Known Space / Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, Man-Kzin Wars XV
  • Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, Articulated Restraint (short story)
  • Legends of the Älfar by Markus Heitz, Raging Storm
  • Legends of the First Empire by Michael J. Sullivan, Age of Legend
  • Leopard by Christine Feehan, Leopard’s Wrath
  • Liaden by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Accepting the Lance, Fortune’s Favors (novella), Shout of Honor (novella), Constellation (collection)
  • Lightbringer by Brent Weeks, The Burning White
  • Lords of the Underworld by Gena Showalter, 1001 Dark Nights (novella)
  • Lorien Legacies / Lorien Legacies Reborn by Pittacus Lore, Return to Zero
  • Lost Fleet / The Genesis Fleet by Jack Campbell, Triumphant
  • Luna by Ian McDonald, Luna: Moon Rising
  • *Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee, Hexarchate Stories (collection) (ineligible due to being a finalist in 2019 and having insufficient new word count and/or volumes to requalify)
  • Maradaine Constabulary by Marshall Ryan Maresca, A Parliament of Bodies
  • Masters & Mages by Miles Cameron, Dark Forge and Bright Steel
  • *Memoirs of Lady Trent / Audrey Camherst by Marie Brennan, Turning Darkness Into Light (ineligible due to being a finalist in 2018 and having insufficient new word count and/or volumes to requalify)
  • Memory, Sorrow & Thorn / The Last King of Osten Ard by Tad Williams, Empire of Grass
  • Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs, Storm Cursed
  • Miriam Black by Chuck Wendig, Vultures
  • Modern Faerie Tales / Folk of the Air by Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing and The Wicked King
  • Monster Hunter by Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt, Monster Hunter Guardian
  • Mythos War / Man in Black by Levi Black, Death Goddess Dance
  • Nanotech Succession / Inverted Frontier by Linda Nagata, Edges and Silver (must be nominated under the main series)
  • *Los Nefilim by T. Frohock, Where Oblivion Lives (ineligible; author has confirmed that the 1 novel and 3 novellas have insufficient wordcount)
  • Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, Darkdawn
  • Newbury & Hobbes Investigations by George Mann, The Revenant Express
  • Numina by Charlie N. Holmberg, Siege and Sacrifice
  • *October Daye by Seanan McGuire, The Unkindest Tide (ineligible due to being a finalist in 2019 and having insufficient new word count and/or volumes to requalify)
  • Others by Anne Bishop, Wild Country
  • Palace of Dreams by J. Kathleen Cheney, In Dreaming Bound (may not meet word count)
  • Parasol Protectorate / Custard Protocol by Gail Carriger, Reticence
  • Path to Ascendancy by Ian C. Esslemont, Kellanved’s Reach
  • Planetfall by Emma Newman, Atlas Alone
  • Polity / Rise of the Jain by Neal Asher, The Warship (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Psy-Changeling: Trinity by Nalini Singh, Wolf Rain
  • Psycop by Jordan Castillo Price, Murder House
  • Queens of Renthia by Sarah Beth Durst, The Deepest Blue
  • Raven’s Mark by Ed McDonald, Crowfall
  • RCN by David Drake, To Clear Away the Shadows
  • Recluce by L. E. Modesitt, Jr., The Mage War
  • Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Dark Age
  • Relics / Angela Gough by Tim Lebbon, The Edge
  • Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Baoshu, The Redemption of Time
  • Road to Nowhere by Meg Elison, The Book of Flora
  • Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott, Lost Acre
  • Rupert Wong by Cassandra Khaw, The Last Supper Before Ragnarok
  • Sacred Throne by Myke Cole, The Killing Light
  • Safehold by David Weber, Through Fiery Trials
  • Shadow Riders by Christine Feehan, Shadow Warrior
  • Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold, Knife Children (novella)
  • Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Restore Me and Defy Me
  • Shattered Kingdoms by Evie Manieri, Strife’s Bane
  • Shannara / Fall of Shannara by Terry Brooks, The Stiehl Assassin
  • Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu by Lois H. Gresh, The Adventure of the Innsmouth Mutations
  • Song of Shattered Sands by Bradley P. Beaulieu, Beneath the Twisted Trees and A Wasteland of My God’s Own Making (novella)
  • Soulwood by Faith Hunter, Circle of the Moon
  • Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell, Crownbreaker
  • Star Trek: Discovery by Una McCormack, The Way to the Stars; by John Jackson Miller, The Enterprise War; by Dave Galanter, Dead Endless
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation by Dayton Ward, Available Light; by David Mack, Collateral Damage
  • Star Trek: The Original Series by Greg Cox, The Antares Maelstrom; by Christopher L. Bennett, The Captain’s Oath
  • Star Wars by E.K. Johnston, Queen’s Shadow; by Claudia Gray, Master and Apprentice, by Cavan Scott, Dooku: Jedi Lost
  • Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed, Alphabet Squadron (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge by Delilah S. Dawson, Black Spire; by Zoraida Córdova, A Crash of Fate (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars, by Rebecca Roanhorse, The Rise of Skywalker: Resistance Reborn (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Star Wars: Rise of Thrawn by Timothy Zahn, Treason
  • Sunsurge Quartet by David Hair, Hearts of Ice
  • Sword of Truth / Richard and Kahlan / Children of D’Hara by Terry Goodkind, The Scribbly Man (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Swords and Fire by Melissa Caruso, The Unbound Empire
  • Tale of the Five by Diane Duane, The Landlady
  • Tales of the 22nd Century / Caine Riordan by Charles E. Gannon, Marque of Caine
  • Tao / Io by Wesley Chu, The Fall of Io (must be nominated under the main series)
  • *Tensorate by JY Yang, The Ascent to Godhood (ineligible due to insufficient word count)
  • Testament by Eric Van Lustbader, The Sum of All Shadows
  • Tides of War by James A. Moore, Gates of the Dead
  • Titan’s Forest by Thoraiya Dyer, Tides of the Titans
  • Uglies / Impostors by Scott Westerfeld, Shatter City (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey, Seasons: All-New Tales of Valdemar (anthology)
  • Valdemar / Family Spies by Mercedes Lackey, Eye Spy (must be nominated under the main series)
  • Vega Jane by David Baldacci, The Stars Below
  • Voices by G.X. Todd, Survivors
  • Waking Land by Callie Bates, The Soul of Power
  • Wanted and Wired by Vivien Jackson, More Than Stardust
  • Warhammer 40K / The Horus Heresy by Nick Kyme and Laurie Goulding, Heralds of the Siege; by Guy Haley, Titandeath; by James Swallow, The Buried Dagger
  • Warhammer 40K / The Horus Heresy Primarchs by Guy Haley, Corax: Lord of Shadows
  • Warlock Holmes by G.S. Denning, The Sign of Nine
  • *Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire, In An Absent Dream (novella) (ineligible due to insufficient word count)
  • West of West by Angus Watson, Where Gods Fear to Go
  • Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, A Fire Within the Ways (novella)
  • Wildlands by Laura Bickle, Phoenix Falling
  • Winnowing Flame by Jen Williams, The Poison Song
  • Winternight by Katherine Arden, The Winter of the Witch
  • *Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell, The Lights Go Out in Lychford (ineligible due to insufficient word count)
  • Witchlands by Susan Dennard, Bloodwitch
  • Witchy War by D.J. Butler, Witchy Kingdom
  • World of Prime by M. C. Planck, Black Harvest
  • *World of the Five Gods / Penric by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Orphans of Raspay (novella) (permanently ineligible as a previous winner)
  • Worldquake by Scarlett Thomas, Gallowglass
  • Wormwood by Tade Thompson, The Rosewater Insurrection and The Rosewater Redemption
  • Xanth by Piers Anthony, Fire Sail

* no warranties are made about series eligibility (or lack thereof) based on word count

† no warranties are made about the presumed quality (or lack thereof) of listed series

98 thoughts on “Best Series Hugo:
Eligible Series from 2019

  1. Glad to see [author] getting some love.

    I thought I was being very clear about this list, but apparently not, so I’m going to make it crystal:

    This list is not about love for any author, series, or work. It’s intended to be an agnostic list for reference purposes when people fill out their Hugo Award nominating ballots (with the delightful side-effect of making people aware of a new entry in a series they enjoy).

    There are series on this list which I love, some which I like — and some which I believe are absolute crap, the name of which should never appear on the same page with the term “Hugo Award”.

    I’m happy for people to mention that they love a series in the comments, but nothing about this list is a recommendation for any series, author, or work.

  2. Contrarius:

    “I’m in love with this series. Waiting very impatiently for the next installment, which we won’t get in the US for months and months yet — and will have to wait even longer for in audio. Heavy sigh!”

    Spellslinger was a bit too YA for me (I only read the first book), but his Great Coats-series was right up my alley. I remember ranking him second after Andy Weir for the Campbell Award.

  3. Thinking of translations here. Will a series be eligible both the year a new work in it is published in original non-English and again when it is published in English?

  4. Cora Buhlert: Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant/Rivers of London series also has a novel coming up in November in addition to the novella

    Both of those works are actually required to make word count for re-eligibility, so thanks for catching that.

  5. Will a series be eligible both the year a new work in it is published in original non-English and again when it is published in English?
    — Hampus Eckerman

    Hampus, I submitted the following proposal to the WSFS Business Meeting in Dublin to add a sub-clause 3.4.2.1:

    Short Title: That Ticket Has Been Punched
    Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution by revising Section 3.4.2 to add the
    following subsection:
    3.4.2: Works originally published outside the United States of America and first published in the United States of America in the previous
    calendar year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards.
    3.4.2.1: For finalists in the Series category which have previously appeared on the ballot for Best Series, any installments published in a year prior to that previous appearance, regardless of country of publication, shall be considered to be part of the Series’ previous eligibility, and will not count toward the re-eligibility requirements for the current year.

    Commentary:
    This clause is intended to avoid “double-dipping” of a Series installment, with regard to U.S. vs. non-U.S. publication. The Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee suggests this change to make it clear that if a given work, regardless of country of publication, is part of a Series qualification as a Finalist in any given year, it cannot be counted again toward re-eligibility after subsequent publication in the United States.

     
    The Business Meeting members voted 39-29 to add “in English” to the proposal where the ✱ appears, and the amended proposal itself passed by a majority show of hands. It will be up for ratification next year at CoNZealand.

    I don’t really think that it’s fair for the same book in 2 languages to be used to qualify a series in the Best Series category for two different years, but I’m not really bothered by the amendment, since a group of fans would probably be wise to wait until the book is published in English anyway in order to increase the likelihood of it being nominated by others as well, and a finalist for which the most recent entry is not in English would likely be at a severe disadvantage on the final ballot.

  6. I thought I was being very clear about this list, but apparently not, so I’m going to make it crystal:

    That was always my understanding. Still, someone had to pick up on an author, recognize that they had an eligible series, and take the time to include them. With such a wide range of authors in the genre, it’s pretty easy to overlook an author and/or a series.

    Making it to the uber-long list is still a sign of respect and appreciation.

    Regards,
    Dann
    TRC eht edisni deppart ma I !pleH

  7. @Jo – I think your amendment was a good idea. But it seems to me that it still leaves a gray area. Where do you stand on the issue of works published in the same year as the award, but prior to close of nomination or close of voting? Because it seems to me that works that can be read by someone in order to evaluate the series for voting purposes shouldn’t then be allowed to count towards additional word count for requalification.

    Qualifying works for the Hugos are usually restricted to the prior year, so I like your amendment for consistency’s sake. Perhaps what is needed is to make clear that works published after the end of the prior year should not be included for evaluation in the current year’s award, and should not be included in the voters’ packet?

    And it also seems to me that the requalification word count is too low, as we seem to have finalists becoming eligible every other year.

    This is me, just musing aloud. I’m not sure where I’ll end up in my thinking, so other thoughts on this are welcome.

  8. @Lorien Gray, to be fair, the works that I’ve particularly noticed being nominated every other year are all written by Seanan McGuire, who is a veritable firehouse of productivity. Most award-worthy* authors aren’t nearly so prolific.

    *As distinguished from Extruded SFnal Content — we all can cite examples, I’m sure…

  9. Yes, Toby Daye is the only series that’s returned so far, two years apart, due to McGuire’s output. McGuire also got a second series eligible in the middle year (Incryptid), and Bujold has had two different series as finalists (and winners).
    I suspect that makes it feel like there are more returnees than there actually are.
    If series like The Expanse or Rivers of London can return 3 years after their first appearance, I’d say that’s the rules working more or less as intended.

  10. @Cassy B. – True, Seanan McGuire is the fastest writer I’ve encountered! And her stuff is good, which is doubly impressive. But even putting her prodigious speed aside, we have two 2017 finalists who have put out enough content to requalify for this next year: The Expanse and Rivers of London. A novel a year would be well within the capabilities of an award-worthy writer, and two novels over three years, even more so.

    @Mark – I think every three years may be too soon for me. I think I’d be happier with every four years.

    On the one hand, it makes it easier to do my Hugo reading, as I only have to keep up with the new additions. But, on the other hand, I’d like to have a bit more variety on the ballot. (Lacking a third point, I’ll leave my gripping hand empty.)

  11. Mark on September 13, 2019 at 7:48 am said:
    “…and Bujold has had two different series as finalists (and winners).”

    And the Sharing Knife series is eligible this year.

  12. @Lorien Gray: Where do you stand on the issue of works published in the same year as the award, but prior to close of nomination or close of voting?

    I generally think you just have to trust the voters, especially since trying to legislate this risks unfairly penalizing series that have a new volume come out right at the end of the voting period. Obviously anything that came out after the eligibility period shouldn’t be in the packet but you can’t stop people from reading on their own. (And ARCs exist so even straight publication date isn’t a complete guarantee.)

    The other problem is if a series concludes between the end of the eligibility period and the end of the voting period. This gives the voter the option to either judge the series based on technically ineligible material or judge it without considering the end, knowing that the series will likely never recur on the ballot. Neither is optimal (I would really hope the authors would decline nomination in this case) but I would personally lean towards the first option. Endings are important!

    If we want to see fewer returnees I’d actually prefer to bump the installment count up, rather than the word count. Requiring three installments would be nicely symmetric.

    Martin

  13. @me, “firehouse of productivity”? Really? Well, that’s a hell of a typo. I meant “firehose”.

  14. @Lorien Gray: Where do you stand on the issue of works published in the same year as the award, but prior to close of nomination or close of voting?

    Works must be published in 2019 to be eligible. Nominations don’t open until 2020. That’s true for every year. No work published during the nomination or voting period is eligible for, or could make a series be eligible for, the Hugo Awards we are voting on that year.

    I also don’t think such works should appear in the voting packet. But there are instances where the Hugo Admin team may not be able to control that.

  15. Dann665: someone had to pick up on an author, recognize that they had an eligible series, and take the time to include them. With such a wide range of authors in the genre, it’s pretty easy to overlook an author and/or a series.
    Making it to the uber-long list is still a sign of respect and appreciation.

    No. Dann, stop confabulating. Listen to what I am actually saying.

    I am the “someone” who made this list. Over the last 8 months, I’ve been combing book databases and “New Releases in SFF” posts and pulling out the eligible series.

    Making it onto my list has everything to do with having sufficient wordcount and number of volumes to be eligible, and absolutely nothing to do with respect or appreciation.

    There are series on this list which I do not respect, and series on this list for which I have no appreciation. Appearing on this list is an indication of nothing, other than eligibility under the current Best Series rules and my own sense of fairness.

  16. ULTRAGOTHA: Three.

    I see you’ve corrected your comment from the version I received in my notifications. You had me wondering whether you have a Magic 8-ball telling you next year’s finalists and winners. 😉

  17. Where do you stand on the issue of works published in the same year as the award, but prior to close of nomination or close of voting? Because it seems to me that works that can be read by someone in order to evaluate the series for voting purposes shouldn’t then be allowed to count towards additional word count for requalification.
    — Lorien Gray

    There’s not really any way to stop Hugo voters from doing this (although I make a conscious choice to base my ranking on only the series works through the prior year), but I don’t see how we can disallow works which come out during the nomination and voting period in the award year from counting toward re-eligibility.

    Qualifying works for the Hugos are usually restricted to the prior year, so I like your amendment for consistency’s sake. Perhaps what is needed is to make clear that works published after the end of the prior year should not be included for evaluation in the current year’s award, and should not be included in the voters’ packet?
    — Lorien Gray

    I think it would be a great idea for Hugo Administrators to include such a statement in the Hugo voter packet. What actually gets included, though, is up to each year’s Hugo Administrator. As far as I’m aware, there have never been any “future” works included in the Hugo Voter Packet, apart from some Professional Artist works which have been wrongly included in past packets.

  18. To watch: Houghton Mifflin has announced the third of Molly Tanzer’s standalone books in a common universe (cf the Bujold “5 Gods”-verse outside of Penric) — just like ours, except certain damn fools try to bargain with demons. (The demons want to affect our world, which they can’t do without physical form.) Of these three, I’ve finished the first and am most of the way through the second — didn’t realize I’d missed it on the new book shelf.
    Creatures of Will and Temper (late Victorian)
    Creatures of Want and Ruin (Gatsby country)
    Creatures of Charm and Hunger (WWII England)
    It is possible that the group title is “The Diabolist’s Library”, but HM 404’s that key after offering it so I’m not sure it’s specific to these books or some more-general darkish-fantasy category. My rough guess is that the first two are easily 100K words, so the three together should bulk enough. Won’t be eligible this year as the 3rd book is out in Apr 2020 per the HM site.

    I think these are worth considering for nomination for the 2021 awards; I thought her earlier work Vermilion was a bit of a mess (too many incidents thrown together and falling out fortunately) but was quite impressed by these. YMMV, as these have female characters driving the action but without the gender/sexuality spread of Vermilion

  19. Jo Van Eckeren said

    I think it would be a great idea for Hugo Administrators to include such a statement in the Hugo voter packet.

    That’s a great idea. I would have found that very helpful. I remember being pointed to works published within the award year for at least one series back in 2017 and an Administrator’s statement included within the packet would have clarified things for me.

  20. There was confusion around Rivers of London/Peter Grant because The Hanging Tree (the book which made it eligible as a 2017 finalist) was published in 2016 in the UK but came out in the US in 2017. So it was absolutely part of the series as nominated, but some thought that it should count toward re-eligibility.

  21. @JJ

    Sorry for the delay.

    Sometimes gratitude will take a form that does not conform to your expectations. It’s still gratitude.

    Regards,
    Dann
    The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. – Isaac Asimov

  22. A better place to look for and express appreciation is the recommendation thread. This thread is installment and word-count eligibility. Just like the other resources JJ has put together previously for editors and artists – they’re to help in determining eligibility. Determining worthiness is left up to nominators.

  23. The extremely prolific Christine Feehan has a couple of series which are eligible:

    Carpathian series, 33 books, Dark Illusion came out in 2019
    Leopard series, 12 books, Leopard’s Wrath came out in 2019
    Ghostwalker series, 15 books, Toxic Game came out in 2019
    Shadow Riders series, 4 books, Shadow Warrior came out in 2019

    J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series is eligible, because the novel The Saviour and the novellas Prisoner of Night and Where Winter Finds You all came out in 2019.
    The spin off(sub-series Black Dagger Legacy is also eligible separately, because book 4 Blood Truth came out in 2019.

    Nalini Singh has two eligible series:
    Archangel’s War, book 12 in the Guild Hunter series, came out in 2019.
    Wolf Rain, book 3 in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series, a subseries to the Psy Changeling series with 15 books, came out in 2019. Both main and subseries are eligible.

    The Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter is eligible, because the novella 1001 Dark Nights came out in 2019.

    The Dark Hunters series by Sherrilyn Kenyon is eligible via At Death’s Door, part of the Deadman’s Cross subseries. Both main and subseries are eligible. Kenyon’s League series is not eligible, because the latest volume, which was supposed to come out in December, has been delayed, probably due to Kenyon’s legal and health issues.

  24. The release date for False Value has been bumped to early 2020, which will affect the eligibility of Rivers of London.

  25. @Mark (kitteh): Thanks for the heads up. Amazon, Kobo, & Audible still have it as November, but I see Penguin Random House lists Feb. 25.

  26. Cora, thank you for all of those updates, they’ve been added at last!

    Mark-kitteh, thanks for that update.

  27. Three more from the last few weeks of new releases:

    Bedlam Bard / SERRAted Edge by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill, The Waters and the Wild
    Ascendant by K Arsenault Rivera, The Warrior Moon
    Epic Failure by Joe Zieja, System Failure

  28. Thank you so much for adding the Los Nefilim series with Where Oblivion Lives, but I might be able to save you some work, because I don’t believe the series meets the word count or eligibility requirements for a Best Series Hugo nomination at this time. Currently, 3 novellas and 1 novel stands at roughly 188,700 words.

    The series might be eligible in 2021 or 2022, but for now, you might just want to put an asterisk beside it.

    Again, my thanks!

  29. Six from October:

    Charlie Parker by John Connolly, A Book of Bones
    The Books of Pell by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, No Country for Old Gnomes and The Princess Beard
    Gods of the Caravan Road by K. V. Johansen, The Last Road
    The Khorasan Archives by Ausma Zehanat Khan, The Blue Eye
    Dru Jasper by Laurence MacNaughton, Forever and a Doomsday
    Lightbringer by Brent Weeks, The Burning White

  30. A couple more qualified.

    Uglies / Impostors by Scott Westerfeld, Shatter City (must be nominated under the main series)
    Xanth by Piers Anthony, Fire Sail

  31. My space opera series crossed the 240000 word threshold with the publication of the latest volume yesterday.

    In Love and War by Cora Buhlert, Mementos and Memories, Honourable Enemies

  32. Nanotech Succession / Inverted Frontier by Linda Nagata has also had Silver published this week in addition to Edges.

    Nagata has said

    Silver completes the immediate story that began with book #1, Edges. So please dive in now! Don’t wait! Because INVERTED FRONTIER is not a trilogy. It’s an open-ended series, whose future existence is up to the collective YOU

    So it will still need to be nominated as part of Nanotech Succession for this year at least.

  33. Just to add to what I said above about Nanotech Succession / Inverted Frontier, on reading Silver it turns out that it also incorporates the world of her novel Memory (and therefore her recent Asimov’s story Theories of Flight), so I guess that what’s eligible is a combo of Nanotech Succession / Inverted Frontier / Memory.

  34. FYI, The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman (The Invisible Library Series) was released in the UK in November 2019, but will be released in the US in 2020. As far as I know, there was no other installment of the series published in 2019. That may affect peoples’ nomination decisions.

  35. Okay, gang, a couple dozen more series have been added.

    Please be sure to go through the list again when filling out your Hugo nominating ballot, to ensure that you’ve got the 5 eligible series you love the best. 🙂

  36. @JJ: Re. Larry Niven’s “Man-Kzin Wars” series, ISTM the larger “Known Space” series that’s a sub-series of is also eligible, as with others where you list the larger series and the sub-series. Yes/no/maybe?

    Why yes, I’m looking over my proto-ballot and finding this post very useful. 😉 Thanks!

  37. @Kendall
    Keep in mind the re-eligibility requirements should your nominee become a finalist and the permanent ineligibility should it go on to win. I would stick to subseries when they have enough on their own. Unless I’m missing something…can anyone give a reason to nominate the overall series if the subseries is eligible by itself?

  38. Kendall, thanks, I’ve fixed that.

    Laura, I agree that generally it’s best to nominate the subseries if it’s eligible on its own. However, I can see a case for encouraging fans to nominate the larger series, because if it makes the ballot, more voters are likely to say, “yeah, I’ve read some books in that, and it was really good”.

  39. @JJ: Thanks, much appreciated!

    @Laura & @JJ: Good points. In my case, I’m considering nominating the “Known Space” series, though I haven’t read the “Man-Kzin Wars” anthologies. (Well, IIRC I read parts of one or two of the first ones many years ago.) I’m probably not the only fan of the universe and series in general, but who doesn’t specifically read those anthologies.

    Now I’m wondering if I should not nominate it just because I haven’t read the specific work that (re?)qualifies it for this year, despite having read and enjoyed a lot of previous “Known Space” books.

    I’m sure everyone has a different take on this; I need to figure out my take on it, but I’m, uh, cautiously/nervously curious how folks feel about this. Apologies if this becomes too much of a tangent for this thread.

  40. Kendall, the Known Space universe is massive.

    My take on it is if you’ve read a significant number of works in the series and think it’s deserving, then you should nominate it. And you should feel comfortable making posts here and anywhere else encouraging other Worldcon members to nominate it.

    I’d really like to see Hugo nominators make an effort to recognize series this year which haven’t made the ballot before, instead of nominating the same series again and again.

  41. Ah, thanks, I was missing something! I will have to go back through the list with this in mind. I was once a big series reader, but have gone completely the opposite in recent years …reading a lot of short fiction.

  42. @JJ: Thanks a lot for your take on it; that’s very helpful and I feel better about it. There are parts I haven’t read, but there’s a lot I have and I am probably going to nominate it.

    BTW what with all the short fiction and basically-stand-alone novels, I’d forgotten just how huge the series had gotten over time.

  43. Don’t know who knows it but Barry Longyear had new sf books/novels in 2019…only listed on amazon.com…the War Whisperer .. Book One..Geronimo is also followed by more novels in that series.. all 2019. And at least one more novel is listed there…. Would sometimes be please read and review them?????

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