Brandon Sanderson: The Wheel of Time is eligible for Best Series at this year’s Hugos

The Wheel of Time books wrapped up five years ago, with 2013’s A Memory of Light. That capped off a 23-year, 14-book journey that took two authors to complete, with Brandon Sanderson taking over for Robert Jordan after Jordan died with three books left to go. And now, Amazon is turning the whole series into a highly anticipated TV show. The Wheel of Time has always been popular, but this could take it to a whole new level.

Considering all that, this might be the perfect time for The Wheel of Time to get some honors, say with a Best Series prize at the Hugo Awards, the world’s foremost science fiction and fantasy awards ceremony. The 2020 Hugos, which honors fantasy and science fiction writing from 2019, will be handed out at the 78th Worldcon in Wellington, New Zealand this August.

But wait, you ask: how can The Wheel of Time be given the Best Series award now when it’s been over for years? Writing on his website, Sanderson has a master plan. You see, last year, he included a Wheel of Time novella about Perrin Aybara — one of the series’ main characters — in a charity anthology, something cut from A Memory of Light. Sanderson’s idea is that this story, which is eligible like anything else published in 2019, can bring the whole of the series along with it. “I’m tickled by this idea because the Hugo for Best Series was created in large part because of The Wheel of Time, which got nominated for Best Novel as a completed work,” he wrote.

"I’m a big fan of the idea of a Best Series award. I’ve talked in the past about how some of the things we epic sf/fantasy writers work on are bigger than the sum of their parts. While I think the individual books are great, what is most remarkable to me about The Wheel of Time is its scope, its influence on the genre, and its plotting and pacing across fourteen enormous volumes.So if there was ever a series that deserved the Best Series Hugo, it’s the one that made everyone create the award in the first place. Instead of focusing on other things I have that are eligible, I’d request that those who can nominate for the Hugos this year consider The Wheel of Time for Best Series. If it deserved a Best Novel nomination, it certainly deserves consideration for Best Series."

It’s true that the Best Series Award wasn’t created until 2017, and that epic series like this one add up to more than the sum of their parts. Worldcon attendees decide what gets on the ballot at the Hugos (which can result in some really odd controversies, by the way), so we’ll see if they listen to Sanderson’s plea.

In the meantime, I’m just hoping to get caught up on the series before the Amazon show drops. I’ve started on the journey, but I know I have a long road ahead of me. I’m sure it would go so much easier if I could say I was reading a Hugo-award winning series…

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