For years, readers have been asking if I am going to start a new series.
I am. Sort of.
Spy School Secret Files is an offshoot of the Spy School series — but instead of telling made up stories about spies, I and sharing true stories.
Yes, this is my first non-fiction book. It came about as a result of my visit to CIA headquarters. While there, I head so many fascinating true stories of espionage that I asked if I could share them and the CIA eagerly agreed. There were so many stories that I realized there would have to be more than one book, so I decided to focus the first book on tales from World War II, which really was the beginning of the modern CIA. (Yes, that means there will be at least one more book in this series.)
To tie this to Spy School, I have Ben Ripley narrate the stories. So I hope you will enjoy reading as Ben shares the true stories behind World War II’s courageous spies, their inventive commanders, and the incredible things they did, like commando raids, code-breaking, double-crosses, disinformation, and inventing shark repellant and exploding pancake batter (really). There are amazing stories about famous spies like Julia Child, John Ford, and Sterling Hayden, plus countless others who risked their lives and took great risks to keep the world safe from evil.
Can’t wait to see this book along with Spy School Goes East. I may have read this wrong but would this be the next book after Spy School Goes East ? And also would they go back into time or were they already in that time? Sorry for so many questions I am very interested in this because- I actually don’t know. Anyway Congrats!!!
– Zyrah
Zyrah –
This book is non-fiction, so it is not in the SS series, exactly. It is part of a new series, but is narrated by Ben. So no time-travel.
Awww it comes 8 days after my birthday.
Dear Mr Gibbs,
I never thought that you would be making a spin-off series of Spy School so this is really impressive! A lot of people I know have been asking for something like this so thank you!
Do you ever stress about a book doing well?
Hey, Mr. Gibbs,
I’ve got 2 questions and as for my first one, I’m not sure how to word this but I was wondering how the book is structured. Like is the book just purely Ben sharing stories and facts about WWII in no particular way or would it for instance let’s say follow one of the real life character (as Ben narrates it) or maybe something like the story transitions in chronological order from one character to another like few of the other WWII books I’ve seen. I honestly don’t know how to word what am asking so those examples are just me trying to trying to get my point across, I do doubt it’s either of those.
My second question is sort of unrelated but I was wondering if you knew who John Kiriakou is. He’s a former CIA officer who got jailed for exposing the torture program and now he’s sharing more and more stuff about the CIA that sounds too much, like they should be kept secret. For some reason I thought about him instantly when you mentioned that you asked them if it was fine for you to share the things you learnt. I wonder if the CIA hates him lol.
Gabriel –
All authors want our books to do well. I’m not really stressed about that, but it’s more fun when a book does well than if it doesn’t.
yourandom
Ben tells the stories in an order that made the most sense to me from a storytelling perspective. There is a lot of information to convey and I tried to find the best way to do that.
I don’t know who John Kiriakou is but everything the CIA shared with me has been declassified, meaning that the public is welcome to know about it. They didn’t;t give me any classified information.
Are you going to make one on WW1
Mr Gibbs,
In SS Secret Service it’s shown that Mike has explosives homework that involves him defusing a bomb inside of his dorm. But later in SS Project X, Zoe says that students don’t get to defuse bombs until their 6th year. Mike was only in his first.
Noah
It just occurred to me Ape Escape comes out 4 days after the release of the movie Project Hail Mary(I’m not advertising it) which I have been waiting 3 months to see so that’s cool.
Charles Dougherty –
Since WWII was really the start of the CIA, I am not planing on a WWI spy book at this point.
Noah –
Well, sometimes when authors write books many years apart they can;t remember every single detail that they wrote and make a mistake.
Gabriel –
My kids and I are also very excited for PHM because we all loved the book.
I have a random question. After editing do the books get shorter or longer. Id expect shorter but I don’t know.
Gabriel –
Editing usually makes a book shorter, although sometimes I might have to add some things to improve the story.
Hi Mr. Gibbs, I was wondering if there was a book that you thought was one of the harder ones to make because of research or other things like thinking of ideas and finding the place where you want your books to be. And also when will you release the details about the other book that will be released in 2026?
Thanks Anish
I love Stuart Gibbs I’ve read all of your books!!!!
Mr. Gibbs-
I just found out about you 5 months ago and I have read the Spy School Series (I am 9 so I’m nota very big fan of the romantic parts in it but it is sooo good!), the FunJungle series, The Charlie Thorne series, and the series that is about Dashiell Gibson (an imaginary character but you make them feel like they are out there somewhere on Earth-or the moon. I know you probably think that I am one of the ordinary people that are gonna write to you but I have a reason why I am not- so in my class, my classmates call the people that are obsessed with Harry Potter “Potterheads” ( they aren’t the nicest people but I can deal with them) I think I am becoming a Gibb-head in some way or the other. It is totally fine if you think this message is useless , but it will fill me with joy if you took the time to read my very long and boring message.
Also Mr. Gibbs,
On average how long does it take to write a book? Also, when you write a book does the acknowledgements get included in the draft of the book? Just to curiuos.
– Amy
Anish –
Yes, the Charlie Thorne series is much harder to write because of research.
I do not know when the details of the other 2026 release will be available.
Hi Mr. Gibbs sorry I keep coming back I’m like a magnet, but is it OK if you can improve the site so we can talk with other friends and there could be like new games based on spy, school and stuff like that that would be like so ?
Amy –
It can take several months, or even years, or research and brainstorming, followed by about two years of writing, to create a book.
The acknowledgements can be written whenever I want to write them, although I usually do them last so that I can be sure to include everyone who helped with a book.
Amy –
Thanks for your kind thoughts!
Agenttaco –
Running a website is not my primary job. Neither is game development. My primary job is to write books. It actually costs a good amount of money to maintain this website as it is, and would cost several times more than that to do what you are requesting. So sorry, but I will not be able to do that.
Dear Stuart Gibbs,
Sorry for so many questions first but this book will only take place with Ben or with Erica and her crew too? Probably not because overall she is pretty strong but still I wonder that. Also me and my sister were talking about how many books you release a year and we wanted to know if you were Alexander Hamilton undercover because of your writing and its amazing and it deserves a place in a history books. But bye!
-Zyrah
Dear Mr. Gibbs
Besides the books listed on this site, are there more books that you plan to release this year that you have not disclosed yet?
I understand that making another Charlie Thorne will take a lot of time from your other projects but do you think you will ever be able to carve some time to be able to wrap up a wonderful series.
P.S. How do you manage to write so much in a year? You’re one of the most prolific writers I know as well as one of my favourite!
Zyrah –
The book is merely true stories narrated by Ben, so none of the other characters are in it.
MMXander
There may be one more book coming out this year.
I do not know that I will be able to write another Charlie.
I can write so much because I manage my time well.
Good evening Mr. Gibbs,
How do you manage your time wisely? I can’t really do that because I have school then homework and extra stuff because my siblings make it impossible to do anything at all. Knowing you a little bit , you are a busy father with your kids and you’re extremely good at writing and you also have extra stuff to do so how do you do it? Anyway how do you feel about daylight savings? Or I think that’s what it is called. Well, Hope you have a great day!
-Zyrah Paniagua
Zyrah –
There was a time when I wasn’t able to be a full time writer and I had many more demands on my time and I had to carve out the moments I could to write. Now that I am a full time writer and this is my job, I didn’t have to do that. My entire job is to write books. That allows me to write many more books than I used to.
I like having it stay light later, which I think most people are in agreement with. The problem is that, in the winter, we don’t have as many hours of daylight, and if it stays light late, it will also be dark in the morning, and no one likes that very much. So Daylight Savings Time is a compromise that no one likes much, but it might be better than all the alternatives.
So about the coded messages in each of the books is there a specific way to decode them or do they just exist like that for you to guess.
Gabriel –
I am not sure what you are referring to. I have created codes for some of my books, used existing codes in others, and have puzzles based on codes in Entrance Exam. But I do not have a coded message in every book.
Why is now that you are releasing the titles to all these books
Well they aren’t coded but I mean the redacted messages in the front and back of the spy school books and my bad for not being clearer.
Also how much does each book cost to print compared to the actual price of the book when bought.
Gabriel –
There is no way to fully know what each redacted message says. But the idea is that you can probably guess what they say, more or less.
Gabriel –
I really have no idea what the cost of printing a book is. Or shipping one. Or marketing one. That is done by my publisher.
Charles Dougherty –
Publishers like to release info about books about 6-9 months before they come out. And since I have four books coming out 6-9 months from now, that’s a lot of info being released at once.
Dear Mr.Gibbs,
First I just want to say happy national waffle day!!! Also what did you have for breakfast today? I had what my school always gives me…apples with banana bread. ( It is a lot worse than it sounds our school apples are mostly not even apples they have a bunch of yucky stuff sometimes. I can’t even eat bananas because i’m allergic which sucks a whole lot). Did you know COVID-19 started 7 years ago? It felt like 2019 was a few minutes ago. Anyway seen your new book that is coming out. I am even more shocked at how many books are coming out this year. 2026 is now a prime year . Also I have one question ( maybe 2 ) Where do you write your books on a website. Or is it Google Docs? Also how do you have such a great Grammar? Also do you have more books coming out this year and your just hiding them or is that it for the year or do you know that there is going to be new ones and keeping it a secret to post on a random day to make our day? Sorry if my logic hurts your brain ( my logic for math will surely hurt your brain ) anyway, have a good day and a great night!Also sorry for this long message:)
– Zyrah
Hey Mr.Gibbs ,
Zyrah again! I had a thought and wanted to ask you real quick. Who do you relate to in SS ?Or what character are you ? Who do you think I am? Anyway bye!
– Zyrah
( IDK if you already knew this but my name is pronounced ZI-rah )
zyrah –
I probably relate most to Ben in SS. I am guessing you are like Zoe.
From agent bob.
How much books do you estimate are going to be in the spy school series and
PS can you start writing some spy school books 2 times a year just a recommendation cause I’m a big fan. I don’t wanna have to wait a whole year.
Agent bob –
I do not know how many books will be in the SS series.
Sorry, but I cannot double the speed at which I work. I already have one novel and one graphic novel in the SS series coming out every year — and this year I have four other books coming out. It is simply not possible for me to work any harder.
So in the beginning of SS revolution you ended up with Mike talking about the masks in mission impossible. A few interesting facts about them, 1. They do exist, 2 they make you seem kind of bulky headed, and they aren’t cheap. P.S I think they aren’t cheap I didn’t check the pice.
Gabriel –
Yes, crummy masks exist. However, the masks from Mission Impossible — which slip on an off effortlessly, make you look exactly like the other person, and somehow manage to change your height and weight as well — do not exist.
That said, the CIA has people who excel at make up and camouflage. They just don’t have MI masks.
Thanks for the info although I might get called crazy but I have never sat down and watched the Mission Impossible movies.
You said that there is going to be at least one more book for this series , is it about world war ll or something else? Sorry if you do not know
Jona –
Book one is about WWII. The second book will be about other spy stories, but I will not be announcing the theme of it for at least another year.
It could be cool if you could make a book in another characters perspective, like Erica for example.