MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thank you for being here this year

Hello,

I was in two minds about writing a Christmas thank you from History, Etc.

Every email that lands in my inbox right now seems to be a seasonal greeting from my favourite sneaker brand, or a mailing list I signed up for by unchecking the box instead of checking it six years ago, or some junk mail cowboy who stole or bought my details on the dark web and is now dunking spam on me regardless.

Then I thought that this is a very curmudgeonly attitude and not at all in the spirit of the season. Also, more importantly, I actually do want to say Happy Christmas to every single person on this list, so why overthink it, right?

Anyway, here we are. I’ve even made you a Christmas card:

Pretty.

But look, you’re busy, so I’ll keep this fairly brief.

I started writing this Substack three years ago, first as a monthly newsletter, then a weekly mailout of essays, reviews, voice-posts, mind-dumps, quizzes, interviews, videos etc. It fulfils many purposes for me, but most important is that it is a way for me to communicate directly with history fans like you, away from the cultural pollution of social media, the corporate blah of press releases, and the formality of broadcast and print journalism.

I didn’t really expect it to work, but it has. We are now a club of more than 12,000 readers, with nearly 1,000 monthly subscribers, who are responsible for contributing questions to the Q&A posts, get full access to every post unlocked as soon as it is sent out, and (via the comments section and the emails I receive) help set the direction for the content of the mailout and the archive.

Subscribers also get the first alerts to live tours and ticketed events, so you can make sure you manage to book before things sell out.

Every year I’m learning more about what you want from this Substack, and I hope that in 2024, that will continue. My plan is to introduce a regular monthly interview/guest post slot, featuring historians whose work I think deserves your time. I’m also going to do a regular history quiz, and a once-a-month Q&A/mailbag slot, which will go out as a video post, as well as appearing on the First Draft feed delivered by podcast hosts. I’ll also keep up the ad hoc think-pieces and essays.

Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see.

All of the above = more content, and potentially more work for me, but I have no plans to put the price of subscription up until January 2025. So if you’re already subscriber and you’d like to keep supporting this newsletter, thank you. And if you’re not, but would like to be, I’d be very glad to have you on board.

Lastly, a quick heads-up about what else I will be doing next year, in case you’re interested.

• My second novel, Wolves of Winter, is published in the US in January. You can pre-order it via the links here.

• In the first half of the year I’ll be doing live/signing events in Spain, Germany and (possibly) Poland. Mostly these will be to promote Essex Dogs. Dates and ticket details will be posted out via this Substack as I have them.

• I’m doing a fundraiser event in Salt Lake City in May 16th. You can get tickets here.

• In the autumn my new nonfiction book, a biography of Henry V, will be released. Provisional dates are Sept 12th (UK) and October 1st (USA). Links, details, etc to follow.

• Seasons 4 and 5 of my podcast This Is History: A Dynasty To Die For will launch, starting in February (I think). Details will appear here first.

• I’ll be writing the third and last instalment of the Essex Dogs novels, and making a start on something else, which is Very Top Secret at the moment.

Is that everything? I think that’s everything for now. Although there MAY JUST BE a sneaky little surprise coming over the Christmas holidays. So watch your emails… just in case.

Okay, that’s all. I’m going to take a break now for what remains of the year, but I’ll be back in early January. Thank you SO much for your support. You make writing this thing a pleasure - and a privilege.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dan x