Coming to God's Spies In 2023

New features and enhancements for a brand new year

I want to start this note by thanking each of you. God’s Spies has seen excellent growth over the past year, and I’ll always be grateful for that.

My goal with this site has been simple: To tell the truth as it appears to me. But since the world we’ve been looking at includes political machination, party and voter manipulation, promises and betrayals, and the big one, climate consequences, it’s been a challenging task for more reasons than one.

My goal is shared by many other writers, but given today’s divisions and the hidden hands that make them, the writer’s challenge is not to pull punches while still retaining an audience.

I hope God’s Spies has met these challenges. The second is certainly true: the audience has indeed grown. As for not pulling punches, feel free to decide for yourself if we’ve met that goal as well.

New Features for 2023

God’s Spies has a high number of paid subscribers; higher by percentage than most sites this size. I find this fact remarkable, given that all of the content has so far been free of charge.

I wrote earlier that I wanted to do something for paid subscribers without reducing what free subscribers get. Here’s how I’d like to do that:

Weekly Posts

Weekly posts for all subscribers will continue as before, barring the occasional break.

The David Graeber Series

The David Graeber Series, “The Dawn of Everything,” will pick up in earnest. The first in this series is here. The series can be accessed from a pull down menu at the top of the main page:

Quick Hits

Additional short pieces and reflections will appear under the rubric “Quick Hits”, also accessible from a pull down menu on the main page. Some of these will be available for all subscribers, and some for paid subscribers only. Some Quick Hits may be expanded in regular posts, which would be free to all subscribers.

The Twitter Files

Regular readers already know about the ongoing series, “The Twitter Files.” This is a named section (see the image above just to the right of Quick Hits) that collects links all the Twitter files in one place, with just a brief added comment about the contents of each file.

The intention is to be a “one-stop shopping” alternative to hunting each of them down individually. Pinned at the top will be a “superpost” updated with just links. The superpost will grow as the set of files grows.

Chat

I’d like to explore Substack’s new Chat function. But that may wait for a while, since I don’t yet know what’s involved.

Fiction (Maybe)

I’m still thinking about posting fiction. My “near-future political thriller” — working title: The Circle — is in the last round of edits, and I’m writing short stories within its world. I expect to publish most of this material traditionally, but will also make as much of it as I can available here.

How this will work is to be determined. If you have suggestions, please send them to me. I know that many Substack writers have decided to use their sites to publish their work. I’m still exploring what that might entail and what models are successful.

If you’re curious, discussion of this topic and examples can be found here:

• Simon K. Jones: Launching a novel on Substack

• G.M. Baker: I Am Serializing a Novel on Substack

• Elle Griffin: I’m publishing my novel as a serial on Substack (would love some feedback)

• Chris Berg & Paul James Smith The Night Police Novels

• Fictionistas: Fiction Substacks to Follow

Let me know in the comments or send me email if you have further suggestions. I’m always glad to hear from you.

And finally, best wishes to all of you for a healthy and happy New Year!

Thomas