Today is the last day of Summer. Fall officially begins at 5:05 p.m. PDT.
So to wrap up the season, I’d like to offer some profound thanks to the Substackers whose writing, videos, and warm engagement most mattered to me during this tremendously painful time in my life over the last few months.
Back on July 7, I published the following list showcasing the Substacks I had most enjoyed from January through June:
For that list, I primarily focused first on actual Substack publications and the content they published. Whose newsletters did I read the most?
For this list, I’ve looked more broadly, but really started first at ground zero with my own list of likes:
Who were the people who put out the most work that I liked over the last two and a half months? Who showed up most frequently? I’ve weighed that metric heavily in assembling the recommendations here.
This list is based on Substackers’ activity in July, August, and so far in September.
This means that writers who I do like a lot won’t appear on here — or not appear as high — simply because for the last few months they did not put out content which grabbed me to the degree which others did.
It also means that I paid particular attention to writers who may be active more on Substack Notes, the platform’s thriving social media platform which has come to offer an Obama-era Twitter vibe to complement Substack’s newsletter platform which continues to provide the Bush-Cheney-era war blogosphere retro experience.
Substack is the liferaft for shell-shocked Xers and millennials who still remember the pre-algorithmic, pre-iPhone internet. This is the best we’re going to get, folks. Baby boomers who behave themselves are welcome, and Gen-Zers too if they will stop being anonymous, talking all the same, and calling us “bro” all the time. Oh God, it’s so annoying how they do that…
I’ve also factored into this list direct engagement. Many of the people on here have impressed me more in their perspectives through online discussions or even through Zoom or FaceTime chats.
Now, it’s worth emphasizing: inclusion on this list does not suggest an endorsement of any writer’s ideological or cultural views. The list contains people very much to my left and very much to my right, with many others advocating cultural positions which I do not share. People need to be open minded. Subscribe to people with views not entirely in sync with yours and learn from them. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with someone a lot, if we listen then we can still learn from each other. (And likewise, the inverse here: none of the people mentioned here should at all be smeared with my own brand of controversial weirdness.)
Consider this list a snapshot of people who who have delivered a particularly strong season. Will they appear on the next list for fall in three months?
I hope they will all see their inclusion here as an encouragement to keep up their game and to push it to the next level. And I hope everone likes the metal and stone tier names which Copilot suggested.
I’ll restrain extensive commentary justifying placement and instead offer just a few brief notes for each section.
The Season’s Top 3: Gold, Silver, and Bronze Champions
Gold: Sam Jamieson
Sam is a poet, philosopher, memoirist, and family man living in Wisconsin who inspires me consistently with his instinctive poetic gifts and heartful reflections on American life in 2026. He’s carving his way in a distinctly American literary tradition taking in the depth of the natural world and reflecting on the incongruities of the American experience today.
He’s got a big heart and inquisitive spirit. I’m very excited to see him continue to progress in his creative projects.
Sam’s my favorite poet who I’ve found on Substack. He needs others to give him some sunshine and encouragement as he keeps developing his craft.
Silver: Ed Latimore
Ed has accumulated serious wisdom in his 41 years with his broad range of life experiences and challenges overcome. He inspired this essay which I wrote last month describing his perspective:
Just as Sam is my favorite poet that I’ve found on Substack, Ed is now my favorite writer in the self-help/motivational genre. In a mode of writing so often filled with phonies and cliches, Ed brings freshness, authenticity, toughness, and originality.
He’s also funny as hell:
Bronze: Well Good Blog
The most exciting food writer on Substack is Well Good Blog. He perpetually shares vibrant photos and humorous observations from his Northern UK, working class life and culture.
He’s also started venturing into filmmaking too and is off to a great start:
Well Good Blog captures the essence of his community and his experience and shares it with us and I’m so grateful he does.
He’s a model for how other Substackers should cover culture and food in their communities.
Platinum Tier
Beth Shelburne is the crusading journalist who most inspires me on Substack right now. She’s a fighter for justice in Alabama’s brutal state prisons. Matt Ruby is the best comedian working today. Melissa Brodsky is a Zionist activist Substacker who offers deep education and analysis. She has recently become an important supporter who has started sharing and promoting my work here. Her encouragement has meant so much at a time when I’ve felt so dejected and conflicted. Paul Staples has created his own unique style of social media satire which has established him as a distinct voice on Substack Notes. He’s wonderful.
Beth Sowden is my favorite fiction writer that I’ve found on Substack. She also offers compelling cultural reflections and a memorable portrait of life in Minnesota. Farida Khalaf is an extraordinary thinker. I thought at first she was merely a creative writer on technology and AI, but having gotten to know her more and begun exploring her work further, she has a whole lot of fascinating things to say on many topics which come from her fascinating cultural background across cultures. Finally, Isadora Raven is a fellow mystic and book lover. We have bonded over those subjects and her encouragement has meant so much. She has a lot of thoughtful things to say. Give her a follow too.
Titanium Tier
Like Beth Shelburne, Tana Ganeva is also a kick-ass journalist steeped in criminal justice reporting. She has a lot of thoughtful perspectives across issues. Brian Schneider is one of the most consistently clever and creative writers on Substack Notes, delivering one short form nugget after another. L.E. Mullin is my favorite artist on Substack. His “Flight of the Condor” comic series is if Watchmen and Twin Peaks had a baby. Gary Marcus is the most important writer today on AI. Read everything he publishes as soon as he publishes it. Joel J. Miller is the Book King of Substack who inspires everyone to read more and celebrate books more. He’s one of the most skilled writers on the platform both in the grace of his prose and richness of his thinking.
The quality of Natalia Antonova’s Substack essays are just like her people’s military defending their homeland from Russian imperialism: explosive, inspiring, innovative, and fearless. Chris Yogerst is the best writer you’ll find on Substack for understanding film and Hollywood. Douglas Rushkoff remains the living writer who has most influenced me. Matt Labash is one of Generation X’s all-time funniest writers. His creative viciousness knows no bounds, thank God. And David S. Wills is an extraordinary historian focused on the Beats and Hunter. S Thompson. He keeps their flames alive. Take in his insights so you can keep them top of mind for inspiration too.
Obsidian Tier
Here we have two important thinkers in AI discourse today with insights always worth taking in: Émile P. Torres and David Z. Morris. Boaz Hepner has been a strong friend when I’ve needed one and offers a unique approach to podcast discussion shows that everyone needs to see. Nicholas Kicher is filled with engaging technological experiments and creative insights from his home in Australia. Chad Rye experiments with co-writing fiction with AI and offers thoughtful cultural reflections.
Katherine Brodsky is a skilled journalist and creative essayist. Nick Neve has also explored a motivational approach and lately has started delivering a thoughtful series of inspiring videos. Richard Drew comes from the world of TV production and so consisently offer entertaining writing and dicussion-starters. He’s got a big heart too. R.J.B. is a French writer with an interest in philosophy and he provides a very accessible exploration of the subject while keeping his feet on the ground. So much philosophy discourse can go all over the place, but watch R.J.B., he comes at it with a reasoned and heartful approach.
Yashar Ali is one of the best journalists we have today and one of the leading watchdogs doing the important work of exposing Scientology. He’s one to keep an eye on since he is a breaking news reporter, regularly dropping news of important big stories.
Marble Tier
David Epstein’s Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World affirmed my whole life and now I recommend it to everyone. Nathalie Martinek provides helpful insights on narcissism and other cultural thopics. Autumn Widdoes is one of the more sensitive thinkers I’ve found on Substack and I appreciate her for it. Elliot Grove is a filmmaker filled with creative insights. Gerald Posner is one of the world’s leading investigative journalists. He regularly offers challenging insights across topics. Hen Mazzig is the leading Zionist advocate in media today. He leads the pack and it’s been great to see him upping his writing game this season.
Catherine Goldberg provides the best weed Substack I’ve yet found. I remain largely adjacent to The Bulwark ideologically and sympathetic to their range of coverage. Doug Campbell is an ancient philosophy professor at Alma College in Michigan and he offers wonderful essays with a focus on Plato, my favorite of the Greek philosophers. Evan Hurst has popped up more recently on my reading list because of his excellent critiques of Evangelicalism, a subject near to my heart, of course, and which he experienced in traumatizing depth far worse than I did.
Slate Tier
Elizabeth Nolan Brown embodies the contrarian libertarian spirit of Reason magazine where she serves as a senior editor and I’m looking forward to doing a deeper dive on her work into children and technology. Kyle Ryan is a poet also working in a Substack Notes short form, the witty, clever style, similar in literary approach as Sam Jamieson and Brian Schneider. Many writers are figuring out how to make Substack Notes a kind of poetic art form, mixing humor, wit, wordplay, with thoughtful cultural reflections and satire. They’re regularly dropping quick bits of a few sentences each and some like Kyle, Sam, and Brian are really succeeding with it.
Dara Resnik is a TV showrunner and TV producer — “I Love Dick” with Kevin Bacon is my favorite from her list of productions, she deserves respect for that — and offers a variety of thoughtful perspectives. Olga Lautman does such important work tracking Russian espionage. Donny Broussard is another filmmaker on Substack with a perspective worth considering. His emphasis is on the independent film world and micro-budgeted moviemaking.
Susie Bright is a Legend with a Capital L. Her being on Substack is like if the Loch Ness Monster decided all of a sudden to start livestreaming on Notes.
Kerry On may label herself as merely “a regular Midwest gal” but would someone “regular” appear sandwiched between legendary Susie Bright and award-winning British journalist James Bloodworth, the world’s leading expert on the manosphere? Kerry’s most recent piece on infertility is amazing. Colleen Doran is an incredible artist and her insights into the media world are first-rate.
And finally, I followed Yorch Torch Games, a video game news Substack, largely out of curiosity to see what discussions and controversies were happening in the gaming space, a hobby I’d “retired” from many years ago to focus on writing instead. Yorch’s insights and perspective have engaged me much more than I suspected. Give him a subscribe to hear about some of the controversies within the video game world today.
Honorable Mentions 51-125 (In unranked order — all offer compelling perspectives and deserve a subscribe)
Please read widely. Subscribe to a lot of people. Give writers a chance. Consider different points of view.
Conclusion
I’m going to make this a seasonal ritual of reviewing who generated the most regular likes and spotlighting people doing extraordinary work.
Who should I consider for the fall list?
Who has most imprssed you the last few months?
What topics have I not explored enough and who are the best writers to start with to understand them?
Please share your favorites and you’re welcome to drop a link to your own Substack too. Show me the post you’re most proud of and want everyone to see.
Thank you Substack writer community for giving me the motivation to keep going as a writer during a time when I’ve felt so defeated. I’m going to keep trying.
Great list David, and honoured to a ‘chosen’ one
Some newbies on here i need to check out
A name that jumbled out because I read and reread everything she writes is Farida Khalif in Mexico City. Where and how do all her great ideas come to her!
Interesting list David. I have been on Substack for over three years and only heard of a couple of these folks. Joel Miller and I have been in each other's circle for a long time which is how I saw this post. It just goes to show how many people and variety is out there. I look forward to checking out some of these publications.