The Hidden Schools

@hiddenschools

I love the Craft Sequence, and you should too. Go read em. VOTE CRAFT WARS FOR BEST SERIES HUGO Support the site: Essays etc: www.thehiddenschools.com

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The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jul 8

To give you something in return, I have set up membership tiers for anyone who is able and willing to subscribe (shout out to frightfulpleasance for subscribing before I had anything on offer!) Therefore, I present the Hidden Schools Craftwork Department. I do love committing to the bit.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jun 14

Visiting my friend in her new place, and I spy my influence.

Six paperbacks standing up in a wooden shelf - they are the first six books of the Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone. Annoyingly, the first five have one design and the sixth is different. Also the first and sixth are different heights. Why.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jun 1

And everywhere there were skulls, the lighting in their bleak eyes staring out, as the beast opened many mouths to loose a thunderous infrasonic roar. Tara cackled in the cataclysm. She might even have shouted “Rise!” Kai couldn’t make it out, amid the tombs bursting open, ravens crying, et cetera.

A photograph of the Paris catacombs, looking at a stack of bones with a skull, red with the light, at the top, almost staring into the camera.

A photo of a stone cross in the Paris catacombs surrounded by bones, skulls in an arc above the cross

Screenshot of a WICKED PROBLEMS ebook. Text, highlighted in orange, reads:

The old-fashioned way turned out to involve a lot of bones. Kai heard the skeletons wake when Tara called them. They chattered like wind chimes as they danced from the catacombs: skulls and jaws and fingers and ribs recombining in a whirl of calcium and grave dust above Tara’s outflung arms. “So many centuries of death,” she shouted over her shoulder, at a break in the chanting. “You just don’t get bones like this back home.” Spines knit into a greater spine; ribs and arm bones made wings that gripped the air with shadow. Hands and finger bones assembled into feathers and scales, and ribs shaped themselves to claws. And everywhere there were skulls, the lighting in their bleak eyes staring out, as the beast opened many mouths to loose a thunderous infrasonic roar. Tara cackled in the cataclysm of its unbirth. She might even have shouted “Rise!” or words to that effect. Kai couldn’t make it out, amid the tombs bursting open, ravens crying, et cetera.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Apr 23

Seen at the back of a KJ Charles book. What an icon.

Screenshot of text reading "Any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models. The author will not license AI companies this right. The author has already had more than 25 novels scraped without payment by AI companies. The author would like AI companies to fuck off."

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Apr 12

Regular reminder that Craft Wars is now a quartet and we are awaiting the final book! (I desperately need a title, cover, and release date ASAP @maxgladstone.bsky.social @torbooks.bsky.social) (Also yes my WhatsApp background is the Dead Country cover)

Screenshot of a WhatsApp chat, with a white text bubble reading "I thought Dead Hand Rule was the last one but it just ended!!!!"

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Apr 11

Found the King in Red's merch. How many thaums per candle, do you think?

A selection of skull shaped candles, in grey, white and red.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Apr 6

Here is a statue of the coo, at Coo Corner. I must visit.

A statue of a cow, bedecked in garlands of daffodils. The view is front on, with the cow seemingly posing with its head to the side.

The same statue from a sideways angle, this time without the garlands. It stands in front of old fashioned wayfinding signs, reading "Lendrum 5, Aberdeen 35, London 577"

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Apr 6

A film was made of the coo!!!

Wikipedia screenshot reading "The cow in film. A film was made of the cow. This was shown at both The Gaiety and Coliseum cinemas in Aberdeen in February 1914. These were operated by William Dove Paterson "who took the film to Turriff for a special show in aid of the Parish Church renovation scheme, and to the Victoria Hall, Ellon, where great cheers and applause greeted the appearance on screen of several well-known farmers."

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Mar 15

I think this is the closest to Donnie's gown that I've come across IRL. A "burn it all down sort of pink" with "flares and ribbons and tulle." Though we need some crystals too, and a poofier skirt. Still, this seems the closest of the ones I've seen.

A dress from Rodarte's fall 2019 collection, a bold pink with with huge arm ruffles, a large bow at the chest, and various ruffles and frills down the skirt.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Mar 14

Jax, babe, the skazzerai are NOT going to choose you.

A tweet from Elon Musk reading "as I mentioned several years ago, it increasingly appears that humanity is a biological bootloader for digital superintelligence." The tweet is from April 2 2025.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Feb 23

The Shard is giving dark works of Craft tonight. "Sunset clad the mountain’s lower slopes in red and gold, and the peak bristled with lightning and aurora as Craftsmen continued their dark work within." Full Fathom Five

The Shard, a very tall building shaped like an extremely narrow pyramid, is lit up at the tip against a cloudy night's sky, the light glowing against the charcoal grey clouds.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Feb 7

I saw over 60 wild elephants yesterday, as well as 50 orphans in a halfway house orphanage. Day, week, year made.

Three elephants of different sizes, including a very young calf, walk in single file, with an idyllic reservoir, hills and cloudy sky behind them.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jan 26

Do you need a timeline cleanse? Here is Callie, pretending that she isn't an absolute menace for 95% of her waking hours. Look at that face.

A border collie looks up at the camera with a deceptively sweet expression. Her neck is being scratched by an outstretched hand.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jan 20

Feel like I should update the Conspiracy Wall™ soon. Donnie definitely needs to be added, but are there any other must-add characters? Where should they go?

A chaotic mess of blue and red yarn connecting different names like a detectives board in a TV show. The names are all characters from the Craft Sequence. The Conspiracy Wall is clearly in a living room, above a radiator and between a door and a colourful print of an elephant. It is objectively ridiculous that someone has this as a permanent feature in their house, but here we are.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jan 11

My lovely Mum got this personalised bookshelf sign for my Craft Sequence shelf 😍😍😍 She doesn't get the series but she is so supportive of my obsession and site. Love her attempt at describing my logo too.

A message reading "Hi there, I would like frame number 2. The text should be The Craft Sequence. The icon a circle in which there is an upward pointing equilateral triangle with a circle inside the triangle, touching the sides of the triangle. See the website www.thehiddenschools.com. I hope you can take a quick look, thanks."

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Jan 2

My 2026 resolution is to become EVEN MORE insufferable about the Craft Sequence. IG is my first chosen victim. Follow along as I turn generic canva templates into Craft Sequence nonsense and have way too much fun: www.instagram.com/hiddenschool...

A hand holds up the book Dead Hand Rule by Max Gladstone in front of a blurred background. A textbox designed to look like an Apple notes app has a quote from the book, "Stop being so fucking scared, Tara Abernathy. Is that what I need to say?"

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Dec 21

Finally got a paper copy of DEAD HAND RULE!

The book DEAD HAND RULE by Max Gladstone is held up in front of a blurred background of a cafe, with flowers hanging from the ceiling.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Nov 18

A week of sun, sangria and stories awaits

View out of an aeroplane window, with the wing taking up the lower part of the frame, and a sunset beneath clouds over water filling the rest.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Nov 13

This is my love language

Screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation. The white bubble on the left reads "Please pressure me to restart Three Parts Dead when I'm home." The green bubble on the right reads "Ahaha ok"

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Nov 12

And @maxgladstone.bsky.social's reaction:

Screenshot of Max Gladstone's instagram story, with a photo of an orange cocktail next to a copy of Dead Hand Rule, with a blue background. Text reads "Elias Eells made the Toxicity from Dead Hand Rule. Do you think god stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he has created here on earth."

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Nov 3

Ohhh the books look so good together! (Photo from dany.alvy on instagram. Alas paperback doesn't come out here until December)

Screenshot of Instagram. Post from @dany.alvy, featuring the 3 Craft Wars books (Dead Country, Wicked Problems, and Dead Hand Rule) by Max Gladstone standing up and slightly overlapping. The caption is cut off but starts "The time until the end-times is ticking away. If the world has any hope of surviving, it-"

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Nov 1

Iconic. I need more from Sister Muriel.

Screenshot of an ebook page. Text reads:

The ball-hammer struck ribbon and parchment with the sickening sound of nails pounded into flesh.

OOOAZX$%KKKK877332332MAKE-THE-SCREAM-STOP

Ash drifted from Abelard’s cigarette to the carpet. “Is that supposed to happen?”

She ignored him, or tried to. MURIEL, DO YOU COPY?

The carriage revolved and again the machine thrilled to life or something like it.

SEVEN-SUNS-RISE-OVER-DESSICATED-PLAIN-THE-PYRAMID-BURNS-THE-WATCHERS-WITHIN-TWIST-AND-SCREAM-THEY-KILL-GODS-THERE-DONT-THEY

“No,” she said. “Unless Muriel’s having a very bad day.”

***

Sister Muriel’s days were never bad as such; sometimes, though, they were interesting, and what a woman in charge of maintaining the boilers and power couplings that illuminated six million people’s nights called “interesting,” others might term catastrophic

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 28

Launch day newsletter from @maxgladstone.bsky.social and this is such a tease for the next (and final!) book... In the meantime, get reading DEAD HAND RULE! Then talk to me about it!

Screenshot of an email. Text reads: As for what comes next: I have a complete and detailed outline for the final book, and the outline rocks. I don’t always write with an outline, and even when I do there’s often a time when the outline needs to be re-worked¹, but I have a good feeling about this one, mostly thanks to the number of scenes I can’t wait to dig into. I’m about thirty thousand words into the draft, having had to put it on hold for a few other important projects over the last couple months. But now the road is clear.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 28

meme spotted (She meant this one, which I am not familiar with)

A classic painting, with rows of men watching as two robed men strut down an aisle that might as well be a catwalk.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 28

My friend is not quite liveblogging at me, but she has sent the notes she's making on her ebook of DEAD HAND RULE and given me permission to share. No context, spoilers (mostly names) will be redacted. First up: once you've been killed without your knowledge, you never know what might happen

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 28

HAPPY DEAD HAND RULE RELEASE DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE

Screenshot of the kindle app, with three book covers from the Craft Sequence showing: Dead Hand Rule, Four Roads Cross, and Wicked Problems, all by Max Gladstone.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 25

Screenshot of a quote from GOOD OMENS, reading: "The ducks in St. James' Park are so used to being fed bread by secret agents meeting clandestinely that they have developed their own Pavlovian reaction. Put a St. James' Park duck in a laboratory cage and show it a picture of two men—one usually wearing a coat with a fur collar, the other something somber with a scarf—and it'll look up expectantly. The Russian cultural Attachés black bread is particularly sought after by the more discerning duck, while the head of M19's soggy Hovis with Marmite is relished by the connoisseurs."

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 23

Jeeves and Wooster, but make it Craft Sequence.

Three screenshots of an episode of Jeeves and Wooster. Wooster says "Yes, well I'm going back into that sitting room now, Jeeves, and I'm going to fo some pretty intense thinking." Jeeves replies "very good sir, shall I wake you at six?" Wooster agrees "er yes"

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 21

We get the appearance of one of my all time favourite words, omnishambles, from a character rather less angry than Malcolm.

The Hidden Schools@hiddenschools· Oct 21

Chekhov's skull. (Unrelated, I am seeing both a Chekhov and a Shakespeare at Stratford next year. Not, however, Hamlet.)