After consideration of more than fifty book series entered, totalling over 150 works in total, the judges of the 2018 Sara Douglass Book Series Award are delighted to announce the finalists for this period. With series numbering two to eight individual books entered and publication dates spanning thirty years for some included works, the entries, which covered series ending (in original publication) between January 2015 and December 2017, were as diverse as speculative fiction can be.

The Sara Douglass Book Series award is designed to recognise that there are book series that are greater as a whole than the sum of their parts – that is, the judges were looking for series that tell a story across the series, rather than just using the same characters/setting across loosely connected books. The judges believe that shortlisted works will be best enjoyed read in succession, with an arc that begins in the first book and is completed in the last. Excellence of writing was of the highest consideration, along with sound speculative elements, quality worldbuilding, fascinating characters and engaging storytelling.

Winners of the 2018 Sara Douglass Book Series Award, Aurealis Awards, and the Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony taking place in Melbourne at the Jasper Hotel on Saturday May 4, 2019. Details of the event and a link to the online ticketing options will be available soon.

Blackthorn & Grim [Dreamer’s Pool (2014), Tower of Thorns (2015), Den of Wolves (2016)], Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Captive Prince [Captive Prince (2014), Prince’s Gambit (2014), Kings Rising (2016)], C S Pacat (Penguin Random House)

Electric Empire [The Diabolical Miss Hyde (2015), The Devious Dr Jekyll (2015), The Dastardly Miss Lizzie (2017)], Viola Carr (HarperCollins Publishers)

The Fire Sermon [The Fire Sermon (2015), The Map of Bones (2016), The Forever Ship (2017)], Francesca Haig (HarperCollins Publishers)

Zeroes [Zeroes (2015), Swarm (2016), Nexus (2017)], Deborah Biancotti, Margo Lanagan & Scott Westerfeld (Allen & Unwin)

For further information about the Awards please contact aurealisawards@gmail.com.