diff --git a/cmd/gmnhg/main.go b/cmd/gmnhg/main.go
index 8fdf8c8..bfb609c 100644
--- a/cmd/gmnhg/main.go
+++ b/cmd/gmnhg/main.go
@@ -63,8 +63,18 @@
 // over the same post props as specified in 1, and .Content, which is
 // rendered from top-level _index.gmi.md.
 //
-// This program provides some extra template functions, documented in
-// templates.go. Template functions from sprig are also available
+// This program provides some extra template functions on top of sort:
+//
+// * sort, which sorts slices of int, float64, strings, and anything
+// implementing sort.Interface (which includes slices of posts),
+// returning a new, sorted slice.
+//
+// * sortRev, which works like sort, but sorts in reverse order.
+//
+// * sortPosts, which is an alias to sortRev preserved for backwards
+// compatilibity.
+//
+// Template functions from sprig are also available
 // (https://github.com/Masterminds/sprig); see the sprig documentation
 // for more details.
 //
@@ -94,6 +104,7 @@ import (
 	"text/template"
 
 	gemini "github.com/tdemin/gmnhg"
+	"github.com/tdemin/gmnhg/internal/gmnhg"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -117,12 +128,6 @@ var (
 
 var hugoConfigFiles = []string{"config.toml", "config.yaml", "config.json"}
 
-type post struct {
-	Post     []byte
-	Metadata gemini.HugoMetadata
-	Link     string
-}
-
 func copyFile(dst, src string) error {
 	input, err := os.Open(src)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -253,8 +258,8 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	// render posts to Gemtext and collect top level posts data
-	posts := make(map[string]*post)
-	topLevelPosts := make(map[string][]*post)
+	posts := make(map[string]gmnhg.Post)
+	topLevelPosts := make(map[string]gmnhg.Posts)
 	if err := filepath.Walk(contentBase, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -274,17 +279,17 @@ func main() {
 			return err
 		}
 		key := strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(path, ".md"), contentBase) + ".gmi"
-		p := post{
+		p := gmnhg.Post{
 			Post:     gemText,
 			Link:     key,
 			Metadata: metadata,
 		}
-		posts[key] = &p
+		posts[key] = p
 		if matches := pagePathRegex.FindStringSubmatch(path); matches != nil {
 			dirs := strings.Split(matches[1], "/")
 			// only include leaf resources pages in leaf index
 			if info.Name() != "index.md" && hasSubPath(leafIndexPaths, path) {
-				topLevelPosts[matches[1]] = append(topLevelPosts[matches[1]], &p)
+				topLevelPosts[matches[1]] = append(topLevelPosts[matches[1]], p)
 			} else {
 				// include normal pages in all subdirectory indices
 				for i, dir := range dirs {
@@ -293,7 +298,7 @@ func main() {
 					}
 				}
 				for _, dir := range dirs {
-					topLevelPosts[dir] = append(topLevelPosts[dir], &p)
+					topLevelPosts[dir] = append(topLevelPosts[dir], p)
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/cmd/gmnhg/templates.go b/cmd/gmnhg/templates.go
index 3dab24f..c8256a0 100644
--- a/cmd/gmnhg/templates.go
+++ b/cmd/gmnhg/templates.go
@@ -16,28 +16,12 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"sort"
 	"text/template"
 
 	"github.com/Masterminds/sprig/v3"
+	"github.com/tdemin/gmnhg/internal/gmnhg"
 )
 
-type postsSort []*post
-
-func (p postsSort) Len() int {
-	return len(p)
-}
-
-func (p postsSort) Less(i, j int) bool {
-	return p[i].Metadata.PostDate.After(p[j].Metadata.PostDate)
-}
-
-func (p postsSort) Swap(i, j int) {
-	t := p[i]
-	p[i] = p[j]
-	p[j] = t
-}
-
 func mustParseTmpl(name, value string) *template.Template {
 	return template.Must(template.New(name).Funcs(defineFuncMap()).Parse(value))
 }
@@ -45,15 +29,9 @@ func mustParseTmpl(name, value string) *template.Template {
 func defineFuncMap() template.FuncMap {
 	fm := sprig.TxtFuncMap()
 	// sorts posts by date, newest posts go first
-	fm["sortPosts"] = func(posts []*post) []*post {
-		// sortPosts is most likely to be used in a pipeline, and the
-		// user has every right to expect it doesn't modify their
-		// existing posts slice
-		ps := make(postsSort, len(posts))
-		copy(ps, posts)
-		sort.Sort(ps)
-		return ps
-	}
+	fm["sortPosts"] = gmnhg.SortRev
+	fm["sort"] = gmnhg.Sort
+	fm["sortRev"] = gmnhg.SortRev
 	return fm
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/gmnhg/post.go b/internal/gmnhg/post.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31db91a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/gmnhg/post.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package gmnhg
+
+import gemini "github.com/tdemin/gmnhg"
+
+type Post struct {
+	Post     []byte
+	Metadata gemini.HugoMetadata
+	Link     string
+}
+
+// Posts implements sort.Interface.
+type Posts []Post
+
+func (p Posts) Len() int {
+	return len(p)
+}
+
+func (p Posts) Less(i, j int) bool {
+	return p[i].Metadata.PostDate.Before(p[j].Metadata.PostDate)
+}
+
+func (p Posts) Swap(i, j int) {
+	t := p[i]
+	p[i] = p[j]
+	p[j] = t
+}
diff --git a/internal/gmnhg/templates.go b/internal/gmnhg/templates.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7743e54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/gmnhg/templates.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package gmnhg
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"sort"
+)
+
+func sortWhatever(sortable interface{}, reverse bool) interface{} {
+	// convert slices to their sort.Interface counterparts
+	switch s := sortable.(type) {
+	case []int:
+		sortable = sort.IntSlice(s)
+	case []float64:
+		sortable = sort.Float64Slice(s)
+	case []string:
+		sortable = sort.StringSlice(s)
+	}
+	v := reflect.ValueOf(sortable)
+	cpy := reflect.MakeSlice(v.Type(), v.Len(), v.Cap())
+	reflect.Copy(cpy, v)
+	cpyAsInterface := v.Interface()
+	if !reverse {
+		sort.Sort(cpyAsInterface.(sort.Interface))
+	} else {
+		sort.Sort(sort.Reverse(cpyAsInterface.(sort.Interface)))
+	}
+	return cpyAsInterface
+}
+
+func Sort(sortable interface{}) interface{} {
+	return sortWhatever(sortable, false)
+}
+
+func SortRev(sortable interface{}) interface{} {
+	return sortWhatever(sortable, true)
+}