When I first came up with the idea for The Halfbreeds of Atlantis, I was on a bit of a spiritual journey in 2019. What started as me scribbling down thoughts by the pool turned into something bigger when my husband jumped in, exploring the characters, the story, and the expansive universe with me. At first, I was writing just for him, for fun. But as I built this world, and thanks to his support, I realized this universe was something I was creating for everyone.

Now, I'm inviting you into my wild imagination, one I've had since I was seven.

This universe, The Third World Universe, is rooted in the well-known Hopi myth of the Four Worlds. The Hopi, an Indigenous people from what is now the southwestern United States, believe that humanity has lived through three previous worlds, each one destroyed by greed, corruption, and imbalance. The First World was lost to fire, the Second World to ice, and the Third World, a time of great advancement, was wiped away by a global flood, brought on by humanity's corruption and arrogance. Now, in the Fourth World, we stand at a precipice, our final chance to prove we can live in harmony with nature and one another. There is some room for analogy here with the four yugas of the Vedas, but for the sake of keeping this a short note, I will forgo the comparative analysis.

I imagine Atlantis belonged to the Third World, a civilization more advanced than our own, one that reached heights we can only dream of, only to fall like those before it. The stories I write, though deeply fictional, reflect these themes. What if we are not the first great civilization to walk this earth? What if Atlantis was not just a myth? If such a society did exist, why did it fall?

I've always loved sci-fi because it dares to ask the big, scary questions. Who are we? What is consciousness? What does it mean to be human? As Aldous Huxley, one of my favorite authors, you know, the one who wrote Brave New World and Crome Yellow. He once wrote, "There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." I hope my writing can take you to that sweet, illusory space, where reality bends, creating a charged potential for introspection, emotional roller coasters, and catharsis. You know, all that yummy stuff that makes life enjoyable.

In The Halfbreeds of Atlantis, I explore a world where history is cyclical, where science and myth are deeply intertwined, and where beings engineered for servitude may yet carve out their own fates.

And as Isaac Asimov, the visionary mind behind The Foundation Series, once said, "Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it's the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself." I've always felt that way about sci-fi. It's an opportunity to invite others to think about larger ideas without the dryness of sitting in a university-level philosophy course. I hope my work inspires you to think deeply.

The heroes in this book were all crafted with love and are purely fictional, but two of my favorites are Ibris and Esa. Ibris, a bull halfbreed engineered to serve, now finds himself in the unlikely position of defending others like him. He was never meant to lead or be a protector, but fate, or something far crueler, has forced him into that role. Esa, on the other hand, is a supernatural being with immense power but without the wisdom that only deep self-work and time can grant. There is something almost childlike about him, not in innocence, but in the raw, untamed force of his emotions. His rage burns just as fiercely as his abilities. He wields his strength without fully grasping his privilege and responsibility.

Together, their yin and yang created a potent energy and space for my creative writing.

So I leave you with a few questions. The kind you can chew on while you read. What does it mean to find your own path in a world that has already decided who you are? Is identity something we inherit, or something we create for ourselves? Why are purpose and identity so crucial to human life?

I hope you enjoy the journey into ancient Atlantis of The Third World Universe.

--Sunny Ghauri