diff --git a/docs/whatsnew.rst b/docs/whatsnew.rst
index 50b2a99c..7d6a1071 100644
--- a/docs/whatsnew.rst
+++ b/docs/whatsnew.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 What's New
 **********
 
+What's new in version 0.18.1 (2019-10-09)
+=========================================
+This is a minor bug-fix release containing a fix for raise_() 
+when passed an exception that's not an Exception (e.g. BaseException
+subclasses)
+
 What's new in version 0.18.0 (2019-10-09)
 =========================================
 This is a major bug-fix and feature release, including:
diff --git a/src/future/__init__.py b/src/future/__init__.py
index d44e16c8..24f10fa1 100644
--- a/src/future/__init__.py
+++ b/src/future/__init__.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@
 __copyright__ = 'Copyright 2013-2019 Python Charmers Pty Ltd'
 __ver_major__ = 0
 __ver_minor__ = 18
-__ver_patch__ = 0
+__ver_patch__ = 1
 __ver_sub__ = ''
 __version__ = "%d.%d.%d%s" % (__ver_major__, __ver_minor__,
                               __ver_patch__, __ver_sub__)
diff --git a/src/future/utils/__init__.py b/src/future/utils/__init__.py
index a6b10210..443dae65 100644
--- a/src/future/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/src/future/utils/__init__.py
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ def raise_(tp, value=None, tb=None):
             if value is not None:
                 raise TypeError("instance exception may not have a separate value")
             exc = tp
-        elif not issubclass(tp, Exception):
+        elif isinstance(tp, type) and not issubclass(tp, Exception):
             # If the first object is a class, it becomes the type of the
             # exception.
             raise TypeError("class must derive from Exception")