The Gold Standard with Weston Gold

The Gold Standard with Weston Gold is a daily commentary exploring truth, faith, history, and power in a post-modern age. Livestreams, essays, and cultural analysis across YouTube, Spotify, Substack, and Rumble.

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My latest Dragons book now available:

Amazon.com

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Songs of Norwyn. Book 1 Coming Soon! https://a.co/d/0fjHG9HC

Amazon.com

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This a map of Norwyn a new mythic kingdom I just created. The first book of the Songs of Norwyn is available now: https://a.co/d/0iWH44xr

Amazon.com

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There seems to be a growing hunger for stories again.

Not just noise.

Not just distraction.

But stories with mystery… beauty… memory… courage… sacrifice… light.

Stories that remind us that the world means something.

That’s really what inspired me to begin writing the Lantern Valley books.

This week, something unexpected happened:

✨ The Old Ruins became the #1 New Release in Children’s Christian Books on Amazon

✨ It also reached the Top 5 in Children’s United States Folk Tales and Top 10 in American Folk Tales & Myths

As an independent author writing books inspired by the tradition of Lewis and Tolkien, I honestly didn’t know if there was still much space for this kind of storytelling.

But maybe there is.

Maybe parents and kids are still longing for stories that awaken the moral imagination instead of flattening it.

Stories where truth is discovered instead of lectured.

Stories where light means something.

What’s been especially meaningful is hearing that the books are beginning to find their way into classrooms, local stores, and family read-aloud time.

That means more to me than rankings ever could.

“Even the brightest light will fade… when it is forgotten.”

— The Old Ruins

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There’s something strange about the old stories…

They didn’t shout.

They didn’t explain everything.

They just showed you something true and trusted you to carry it.

I tried to write something like that.

The Quiet King isn’t a loud story.

There are no grand speeches about power.

No triumphant moment where everything suddenly makes sense.

Instead, it asks a quieter question:

What if being king had nothing to do with being seen… and everything to do with what you carry?

In this version of the legend, the sword doesn’t just prove worth.

It reveals weight.

And the crown?

It’s not something you wear for others.

It’s something you either live… or you don’t.

I wrote this as a children’s story.

But like the old tales, I don’t think it’s just for children.

Because somewhere along the way, we forgot:

Not all strength looks strong.

Not all kings look like kings.

And sometimes the truest things in the world are the ones no one notices.

Anyway… this is the kind of story I want to tell now.

The Quiet King - Kindle edition by Gold, Weston. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features lik

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so i did something kind of ridiculous

i wrote a children’s book about a cat

not a heroic cat not a magical cat just a very confident cat who insists he is NOT doing the thing he is clearly doing

i put it out into the world today…

and somehow it’s already sitting at #3 on amazon hot new releases in children’s cat books??

i genuinely did not expect that

I Am Not Following You: A Very Unconvincing Cat Story - Kindle edition by Gold, Weston. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device,

anyway, if you’ve ever wanted to support something small and weird and kind of heartfelt… this is one of those moments 🐾

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The Lantern Keepers

My children's book, The Lantern Keepers is not available in paperback and Kindle. Here's an animated version of the story: https://youtu.be/O3Wq9m6-sVM?si=zJi8tVw_LV5vmt07

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Some stories don’t begin with a hero.

They begin with something being forgotten.

In Lantern Valley, the lights didn’t go out all at once.

They dimmed… slowly.

Lantern by lantern.

Year by year.

Until no one could quite remember how they were meant to stay lit in the first place.

And that’s the part that always stayed with me.

Not the darkness.

But the forgetting.

Because I don’t think that’s just a story.

I think that happens to people too.

We forget what matters.

We forget why things mattered.

And eventually… we forget that we’ve forgotten at all.

The Lantern Keepers came from that idea.

From the question:

What would it take for a world to remember again?

—

If you’ve ever felt like something important has been lost…

you’d probably understand this story.

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There’s a reason fairytales still feel real… even as adults.

They were never just stories—they were meant to shape us, to prepare us for something deeper.

That’s the idea behind Lantern Valley—a story about meaning, memory, and the light we’re meant to carry forward.

📖 Lantern Valley is now available on Kindle. https://a.co/d/0aaEmHv5

Amazon.com: The Lantern Keepers: A Lantern Valley Story eBook : Gold, Weston: Kindle Store

#Fairytales #Meaning #StoriesMatter #Myth #LanternValley #WestonGold

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There’s something strange about the kinds of stories we tell now.

They’re louder. Faster. Brighter.

But they don’t stay with you.

They don’t feel like the stories people used to carry… the ones that meant something. The ones that felt like they were trying to remind you of something you already knew but had forgotten.

That’s where Lantern Valley came from.

Amazon.com: The Lantern Keepers: A Lantern Valley Story eBook : Gold, Weston: Kindle Store

Not just an idea for a book—but a feeling.

A quiet place beneath a mountain, where lanterns are lit every night. Not just to keep the darkness away, but to hold onto something older. Something that could be lost if no one remembers.

Because in that valley, the people understand something we’ve started to forget:

If the light goes out, it’s not just darkness that comes.

It’s forgetting.

Forgetting who you are.

Forgetting what matters.

Forgetting the stories that once held everything together.

Lantern Valley is a world built around that idea.

Ancient stones that remember what people don’t.

Paths that were once walked, now overgrown.

A quiet sense that something important is fading… and someone has to notice.

That’s what The Lantern Keepers is about.

Not just keeping a lantern lit…

…but realizing that one day, it becomes your responsibility.

And maybe that’s why stories matter.

Not because they entertain us.

But because they remind us of what we’re supposed to carry.

⸻

Amazon.com: The Lantern Keepers: A Lantern Valley Story eBook : Gold, Weston: Kindle Store

The Lantern Keepers is now available on Kindle (paperback coming soon).

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Why Every Civilization Creates Monsters

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Minneapolis Is Not a Protest. It Is a Signal Fire.

Empires do not collapse all at once.

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Planet of the Apes as a Fall-of-Rome Mirror

Most people remember Planet of the Apes for its ending—and completely miss the danger it’s pointing at.

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Oak Hill was never just a story.

It came out of a quiet realization: that something essential was slipping away long before anyone thought to name it.

Not just faith. Not just community. Not just memory.

But the slow, unnoticed formation of people by places, stories, and habits that no longer seem to matter in a culture obsessed with speed and outcome.

I wrote a piece explaining why Oak Hill exists, what it’s really about beneath the surface, and why stories like this matter right now.

If you’re interested in memory, meaning, faith, or how people are shaped before they ever realize it’s happening, you might find this worth your time.

📖 Read here: 👉https://thegoldstandardshow.substack.com/p/oak-hill-was-never-just-a-story

🎧 And if you want the story itself, the full Oak Hill series lives on Spotify:

Some stories aren’t meant to be consumed quickly. They’re meant to work on you slowly.

— Weston Gold

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🌈 Make the Rainbow Great Again

For most of human history, the rainbow wasn’t a slogan. It wasn’t a banner. It wasn’t a statement.

It was a promise.

A sign in the sky that said: never again. A reminder that mercy exists. That restraint matters. That love came first.

Somewhere along the way, the meaning shifted—not all at once, but slowly. Symbols rarely disappear. They’re reframed. Detached from their origins. Asked to carry weight they were never meant to bear.

That question—what happens when we forget what our symbols once meant—is what led me to write Make the Rainbow Great Again: Reclaiming God’s Original Symbol of Love.

This book isn’t about outrage. It’s about memory. About tracing a symbol back to its source and asking whether it still has something to teach us.

The paperback is available now. The Kindle edition will be available soon for $4.99.

Make The Rainbow Great Again: Reclaiming God's Original Symbol of Love [Gold, Weston] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. M

You don’t have to agree with everything in it. But I hope it makes you pause. Look up. And remember that some things were sacred long before they were controversial.

— Weston

symbolism #faith #cultural memory #writing #books #christianity #theology #faith and culture #nonfiction #author life

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Oak Hill — Episode 7: The Little Brute Family

Some power demands attention. Some insecurity hides behind control. And some leadership is revealed by what it refuses to tolerate.

Episode 7 of Oak Hill explores a quiet confrontation and an unforgettable sermon—one that uses a simple children’s story to expose a deeper truth about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said the Kingdom doesn’t arrive with force or spectacle. It grows quietly. Like yeast in dough. Like a mustard seed in the soil. Like goodness entering a home and changing everything from the inside out.

In this chapter, humor is questioned. Inappropriate behavior is named. And transformation is shown not as something enforced by rules—but something awakened by beauty and grace.

This episode is about: • insecurity masquerading as authority • negative attention mistaken for power • and leadership that confronts harm calmly, clearly, and immediately

🎧 Listen to Episode 7 on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/15X33ojIxoY0hTCKlXCDaT?si=7Gq3Zh4zSwunj8Q2xN8fhw

Some stories aren’t meant to be consumed. They’re meant to be carried.

Welcome back to Oak Hill.