Let’s start this with a big thank you to all of you for being interested in my work. Just recently, you have helped me cross a couple of thresholds that are worth celebrating. A few weeks ago, episode 1 of History on Fire became the first to pass 1 million downloads for a single episode. That’s such a huge number that it’s hard to even wrap my head around it. So, I’m infinitely thankful to all of you for making it possible.

And while I’m in a celebratory mood, I might as well add my thanks to you since today my Substack passed the 10,000-subscribers mark. This, of course, refers to free subscribers (or I’d be bathing in gold by now), but it’s deeply appreciated nonetheless, particularly since it happened in a relatively short time.

In light of this, let me offer a breakdown for the new subscribers of the way I am using this space. Typically, I post something through substack every week—give or take a few days. Sometimes, what I’ll post will be in the form of a newsletter (much like I’m doing today) providing updates about History on Fire episodes, videos I’ve posted on the History on Fire YouTube channel, etc. Speaking of which, if you haven’t checked out my latest series about the Genpei War (1180-1185), I can’t even tell you how much I’ve enjoyed creating it. It’s one of the most badass samurai stories I have ever run into, and I’m quite excited sharing it.
Episode 106 and Episode 107

On other occasions, I’ll post fully original content, usually in the form of essays on a variety of topics (here’s one recent example). Newsletters and essays are 100% available to all free subscribers.

What’s instead available only to paid subscribers (here and on Patreon) are the History on Fire bonus episodes that I release on a monthly basis. Just a few days ago, for example, I published one about the historical reasons why conspiracy theories abound today, and trust in government and media is ridiculously low. As a general rule, I try to avoid mixing politics with my historical work, so even in this case, instead of taking sides, all I do is use history to show possible reasons for why things are how they are.

So, if you feel like sending $ 5 per month my way, you’d be helping keeping History on Fire in business AND you get a bunch of bonus content.

On a random unrelated note, I recently partnered with my friends who created a company selling medicinal mushrooms (Cordyceps, Turkey Tail, Lion’s Mane, Chaga and Reishi). The ones I take fairly regularly are Cordyceps and Turkey Tail. But if you are even remotely interested, I suggest you do your own research to see if any of these offerings could be beneficial to you. In case you go that route, get a discount on single packages by using the code historyonfire on the website.

Having said all that, the hour is late and a plate of pasta awaits me, so I’ll bow out and wish you a good night.