Why you need to check out this new fantasy novel themed mythology

What led you to create the universe of MayaAs the world grows more complex complexity becomes more invisible So does power Data hegemony wealth inequity nonhuman sentience and climate remain unsolved problems We need stories that draw from the best avenues of knowledge at our disposal to shine a light on the invisible This book published by Authors Equity about the Maya universe is our attempt to build a home for those stories and for those who would tell themAnand Gandhi and Zain MemonA living mythology rigorous enough to draw from the frontiers of neuroscience evolutionary biology complexity science cliodynamics vast enough to be built with every creator who has blueprints for futures not yet builtYou borrow elements from science fiction and fantasy What about these genres excites youWersquove always wanted to create an epic that brings together our love for ancient myths and their philosophical depth highfantasy and its magic systems and hard scifi that pushes the known frontiers of scienceTarkashrsquos Palanquin Illustrations CourtesyZain Memon Anand GandhiFantasy allows you to create new cosmologies power structures sets of laws governed by their own internal logic and use that to reveal something true about the invented systems of our own world The best scifi investigates what happens if current trajectories continue or speculates where new trajectories might lead us It helps us simulate various futures to help us make better informed decisions todayMaya is an epic science fantasy universe At first it looks like fantasy with trees that remember the dreams of an entire planet but you will find hard scifi underneath The trees communicate and store data using a mycelium root network The evolutionary trajectory of each species has been fully mapped out in response to the planetrsquos geology In Maya biology is the magic systemWhat were the most challenging parts for you in building this worldOne of the fundamental challenges that shaped worldbuilding was that nothing could be decided in isolation Planet Neh was built from first principles Physics shaped Geology which shaped Evolution This produced species whose biologies shaped their cognition mdash their languages cultures and politics All this demanded a massive undertaking of over 200 scientists architects writers designers holding chains of causality together while also shaping a world that was alien and inventiveMaya Seed Takes RootThe second challenge was epistemic Surveillance control and cognitive capture cannot be reduced to a single villain When a system rewards harm someone arrives to do the harming We wanted Nehrsquos systems to be as alive and ruthless in the pursuit of their own logical incentivesThis universe will translate into a game graphic novel and a film What components will be preserved through the mediumsA few things are unlikely to change The planet is 69 billion years old The laws of Physics do not stray too far from those of Earth Evil is never glorified every civilisation is assumed to be sophisticated regardless of its level of technology or political orderBut we expect Maya to keep changing mdash across mediums creators and retellings A lot of mythologies are canonical which means that they are set in stone and hence donrsquot evolve with timeThe plurality of myth is one of its greatest strengths Mythology equips us with the ability to produce contradictions and even to embrace them We hope that Maya becomes a playground for creators to share their own aspirations insights and argumentsAVAILABLE Leading bookstores and estoresLOG ON TO simonandschustercom