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Max Gladstone

MAX GLADSTONE went to Yale, where he wrote a short story that became a finalist in the Writers of the Future competition. He is the author of Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise.He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Max has taught in southern Anhui, wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat, and been thrown from a horse in Mongolia.

Awards: Hugo (2020), BSFA (2020), Nebula (2019) see all

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror

New and upcoming books

October 2025

Dead Hand Rule
(Craft Wars, book 3)

Series

Craft Sequence
   1. Three Parts Dead (2012)
   2. Two Serpents Rise (2013)
   3. Full Fathom Five (2014)
   4. Last First Snow (2015)
   5. Four Roads Cross (2016)
   6. The Ruin of Angels (2017)

Craft Wars
   1. Dead Country (2023)
   2. Wicked Problems (2024)
   3. Dead Hand Rule (2025)

Novels

Empress of Forever (2019)
Last Exit (2022)

Novellas and Short Stories

This Is How You Lose the Time War (2019) (with Amal El-Mohtar)

Series contributed to

Tor.Com Original
   The Angelus Guns (2014)
   A Kiss With Teeth (2014)
   The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom (2017)
   Crispin's Model (2017)
   Fitting In (2018)

Witch Who Came in From the Cold
The Witch Who Came in from the Cold (2017) (with others)

Bookburners
   1. Bookburners Season One (2017) (with others)
   2. Bookburners: The Complete Season 2 (2017) (with others)
   3. Bookburners: The Complete Season 3 (2018) (with others)
   4. Bookburners: The Complete Season 4 (2018) (with others)
   5. Bookburners: The Complete Season 5 (2023) (with others)
   Bookburners (2017)

Books containing stories by Max Gladstone

Sleeper Straddle (2024)
(Wild Cards, book 32)
edited by
George R R Martin

The Year's Best Fantasy: Volume 2 (2023)
(Year's Best Fantasy , book 2)
edited by
Paula Guran

From a Certain Point of View: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (2023)
(Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, book 3)

More books

Awards

	2020 Locus Award for Best Novella : This Is How You Lose the Time War
	2020 Hugo Award for Best Novella : This Is How You Lose the Time War
	2020 BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction : This Is How You Lose the Time War
	2019 Nebula Award for Best Novella : This Is How You Lose the Time War

Award nominations

	2024 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (nominee) : Dead Country
	2020 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (nominee) : This Is How You Lose the Time War
	2020 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novella (nominee) : This Is How You Lose the Time War
	2020 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (nominee) : Empress of Forever
	2019 Ray Bradbury Prize (nominee) : This Is How You Lose the Time War
	2018 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (nominee) : The Ruin of Angels
	2018 Locus Award for Best Anthology (nominee) : Bookburners
	2014 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (nominee) : Three Parts Dead
	2014 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (nominee) : Three Parts Dead
	2013 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (nominee) : Three Parts Dead

Max Gladstone recommends

Blood of the Old Kings (2024)
(Bleeding Empire, book 1)
Sung-il Kim
"Thrilling, inventive, and fierce-a tale of chained magic and giant mechs, of malevolent empire and those who stand against it. Not to be missed."

How to Become the Dark Lord (and Die Trying) (2024)
(Dark Lord Davi, book 1)
Django Wexler
"All-afterburners Isekai adventure - twisty, pacey, and full of reverent irreverence for fantasy. I can't get enough."

Someone You Can Build a Nest In (2024)
John Wiswell
"Wriggly, heartfelt, and carnivorous."

The Tainted Cup (2024)
(Shadow of the Leviathan, book 1)
Robert Jackson Bennett
"I loved this. A twisty detective story, a weird fantasy, a thrilling adventure - The Tainted Cup is a masterstroke. I want Bennett to write a dozen of these, and send them to me yesterday."

The Navigating Fox (2023)
Christopher Rowe
"Whimsical, rakish, and touching--and also there are talking raccoons!"

The Saint of Bright Doors (2023)
Vajra Chandrasekera
"Riveting, surreal, clever and wise and all-too real--a breathtaking achievement."

Counterweight (2023)
Djuna
"Paranoid, wondrous, and breakneck--Counterweight is an elevator rising from the muck to the stars."

Flight & Anchor (2023)
Nicole Kornher-Stace
"Cyborg Boxcar Children vs. the nanomachines, only make it a character study in possibility, heartache, sacrifice, and friendship. Wonderful."

Arch-Conspirator (2023)
Veronica Roth
"Heartbreaking, intimate, inevitable. The worldbuilding tightens around the neck in a way that perfectly matches the noose-tension of the dramatic tragedy."

Even Though I Knew the End (2022)
C L Polk
"Bracing as a slug of bourbon, with a twist of pain on the drop--or is that hope? Polk's back with a cold-eyed winner."

The Shadow Glass (2022)
Josh Winning
"Wonderful. A bold and heartfelt adventure from another world, another time - and our own."

The Violence (2022)
Delilah S Dawson
"Visceral, thrilling . . . A novel paced like a fistfight, aching like a just-gone tooth--but there's hope in the harrowing."

The Beholden (2022)
Cassandra Rose Clarke
"A wonderful, creepy quest through a magical, ever-changing wilderness, with the world at stake and love in the balance. More please!"

Light From Uncommon Stars (2021)
Ryka Aoki
"A singing, full-hearted, fearless-and fearlessly goofy-vision that dances across the border between real and surreal, heartrending and sweet, with the nonstop energy of Douglas Adams, and a deep, merciless compassion."

Hold Fast Through the Fire (2021)
(NeoG, book 2)
K B Wagers
"If A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet had more kickboxing matches and death-defying space rescues, this would be the book. Go Neo-G!."

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters (2021)
Aimee Ogden
"A taut, heartfelt intergalactic fairy tale, with cosmic and personal vision."

Once Again (2020)
Catherine Wallace Hope
"Gripping, gut-churning, and heartfelt—full of lost and last chances."

In The Black (2020)
Patrick S Tomlinson
"Taut, funny, and human, Gate Crashers takes us from zero to FTL in seconds flat."

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant (2020)
(Masquerade , book 3)
Seth Dickinson
"Dickinson has written a poet's Dune, a brutal tale of empire, rebellion, fealty, and high finance that moves like a rocket and burns twice as hot. The Traitor Baru Cormorant is a mic drop for epic fantasy."

The Space Between Worlds (2020)
Micaiah Johnson
"Johnson's debut is a rare bird in any reality: a novel that is twisting, suspenseful, and profound."

The Sin in the Steel (2020)
(Fall of the Gods , book 1)
Ryan Van Loan
"Ryan Van Loan delivers a swashbuckling romp, demons, pirates, dead gods, (30-50?) feral hogs, a war-weary Watson and a guttersnipe Holmes. I can't wait to see what's next."

Miranda in Milan (2019)
Katharine Duckett
"Unsettling, romantic, and intricate, Duckett's debut builds a house of horrors within the walls of Shakespeare's rich, strange work."

Creatures of Want & Ruin (2018)
(Creatures , book 2)
Molly Tanzer
"Once again Molly Tanzer demonstrates a bootlegger's knack for transforming glorious pulpy material into human spirit. Creatures of Want and Ruin is a riveting two-fisted weird pulp adventure with demons, smuggling, sex, archery, cults, and crime that doesn't shrink from carving its predecessors open to poke around in their guts. Great fun!"

City of Broken Magic (2018)
(Chronicles of Amicae, book 1)
Mirah Bolender
"Terrifying shadow monsters haunt a vividly rendered working-class present with the sins of generations past. A thrilling ride, with promise of deeper mysteries to come."

The Nine (2017)
(Thieves of Fate, book 1)
Tracy Townsend
"The Nine is a tense, fast-moving and twisty caper, with divided loyalties, creepy monsters, and grand mysteries. More please!"

Jade City (2017)
(Green Bone Saga, book 1)
Fonda Lee
"Fast cars, brilliant characters, and gangster kung-fu! Swift, intricate, and vicious as a talon knife, Fonda Lee's Jade City will pull you into a world of deft intrigue, hard choices, and bloody loyalty. Lee's written the postcolonial Godfather hiding under the surface of the Avatar: the Last Airbender universe -- and it's a fantastic read."

Seven Surrenders (2017)
(Terra Ignota, book 2)
Ada Palmer
"Seven Surrenders veers expertly between love, murder, mayhem, parenthood, theology, and high politics. I haven't had this much fun with a book in a long time."

Infomocracy (2016)
(Centenal Cycle, book 1)
Malka Older
"A fast-paced, post-cyberpunk political thriller... If you always wanted to put The West Wing in a particle accelerator with Snow Crash to see what would happen, read this book."

The Emperor's Blades (2013)
(Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, book 1)
Brian Staveley
"Come for the intrigue, assassination, death priests, black-ops bird riders, and giant poisonous hive-lizards. Stay for Staveley's characters, his language, and his way-cool fantasy Zen."

Sea Change (2013)
S M Wheeler
"A harrowing fairy tale of loss, sacrifice, and growth."

More recommendations

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