2026 Series Nominations

[Kalin]

Following a mod discussion and a poll among members, we're going ahead with increasing our series reading starting in January. To that end, I'm calling for nominations of series to read in this thread. We do this a little early in case group members need more time to track down copies of the selected books.

Previously, we've limited our series nominations to trilogies, but that's not the case this time around. Any unread series with books that have won or been nominated in the Hugo or Nebula Best Novel categories is eligible. We have a full list of the eligible series at this spreadsheet, on the first sheet ("Series"): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
(this spreasheet includes only books/series that haven't already been read by the group).

Whichever series wins our selection process we'll start reading in January and schedule as long as we need for it; then we'll either nominate and vote again, or we'll tackle the runner up from the initial vote.

Nominating rules:
1. Multiple books in a series have to have been shortlisted to be eligible. (See the first tab of the spreadsheet linked above for a list of such books)

2. Books that are #1 in a series , and are the only one from that series shortlisted shortlisted, should be nominated as a standalone, and if group members want they can continue that series as a buddy read or a completionist challenge. (See the second tab of the spreadsheet linked above for a list of such books)

3. Books that are deep entries into a series that otherwise wasn't shortlisted aren't eligible to nominate at this time (e.g. Dresden Files, Newford) as a series; they can be nominated as a standalone if they work that way (e.g. Discworld). (See the third tab of the spreadsheet linked above for a list of such books)

[Stephen]

I nominate the Helliconia series by Brian W. Aldiss. Three novels, the first of which is Helliconia Spring.

[Allan]

I’ll second that one, that was also my thought.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

I'll third it, I also planned to read it

[Kalin]

I'm going for a big one out of the gate with Alex Benedict by Jack McDevitt. This includes a lot of nominations and one winner:

A Talent for War
Polaris (nom)
Seeker (winner)
The Devil's Eye
Echo (nom)
Firebird (nom)
Coming Home (nom)
(according to the rules the mods discussed, we would stop here at the last nominated book, but I would finish the rest as a completionist challenge:)
Octavia Gone
Village in the Sky

[Allan]

I like both Jack McDevitt series, having read the first three books in each. The Academy books have stuck with me more, but that's not a knock on Alex Benedict, and both have multiple nominations. I'd probably skip the first, but might re-read the next two.

[Stephen]

I read Echo, as well as Odyssey from the author’s other series, back in 2012. I didn’t rate them or record any impressions. I dimly recall that they struck me as decent readable conventional sf. I have an as yet unread copy of Chindi from the other series, which Allan praised in here at some point.

[Allan]

Chindi was my last book of 2024. It was good, but I thought the 2nd of the series, Deepsix, was better, even though it was not nominated. Neither series is particularly groundbreaking, and there are tech holes, but they are excellent fun space adventure.

[Stephen]

I’d be happy to give the series a try. I don’t put much reliance on the vague memories I mentioned.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I still want to read The Silent Strength of Stones

Wikipedia sez "Her first novel, The Thread That Binds the Bones, won the Bram Stoker Award for first novel. Other novels include The Silent Strength of Stones (a sequel to Thread), A Fistful of Sky, and A Stir of Bones. Her best known works are set in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California, and involve people (often entire families) with magical talents. The stories have invited comparison to Zenna Henderson and Ray Bradbury's stories on similar themes."

Just three little books!

[Kalin]

So we've got nominations for:

Helliconia by Brian Aldiss
Alex Benedict by Jack McDevitt
Chapel Hollow by Nina Kirki Hoffman

Any other nominations to add for series?

[Allan]

I like the three nominated, so I've held back.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Allan wrote: "I like the three nominated, so I've held back."

The same

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I was wanting to ask for the Laundry Files, https://www.goodreads.com/series/5076... a series by Charles Stross, but not a single one of them has ever been nominated!!! I want to read them next year anyway. Anyone with me???

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "I was wanting to ask for the Laundry Files, https://www.goodreads.com/series/5076... a series by Charles Stross, but not a single one of them has ever been nominated!!! I want to read t..."

I planned to read them for ages. IIRC the series itself was nominated, but not individual books. I once got a volume of it and started reading - I liked it but soon found out that it was like 5th volume, so quit