🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast — where fantasy blends craft and culture, heroines rise from discipline and conviction, and every story has a fire at its core.

In this episode, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with debut author Sarah Mughal Rana, whose upcoming fantasy novel Dawn of the Firebird is already one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Rooted in Sarah’s lifelong martial arts practice, her cultural heritage, and years of deep historical and philosophical study, this book delivers the kind of character-first, world-rich epic fantasy we can’t stop thinking about.

Sarah takes us behind the curtain of her writing journey — from drafting the earliest version of this book in high school, to joining Pitch Wars, to working with an agent who encouraged her to strip away the very cultural heart that made her story whole. She talks openly about walking away, finding an agent who championed the book as it truly is, and the long road from deal announcement to publication date.

We also dive into the intense physicality of her heroine, the discipline and spirituality embedded in the world, and the way Sarah’s love of anime, history, and myth wove themselves together to shape an epic that feels as intimate as it is cinematic.

🔥 What does it take to write a heroine forged in discipline rather than destiny?
🕊️ How does a story evolve when an author refuses to compromise what matters?
⚔️ And how do martial arts, culture, and philosophy become the backbone of an entire fantasy trilogy?

This is a powerful conversation about resilience, creativity, and honoring the story only you can tell.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT…

✨ How real martial arts training shaped Khamilla's movement, mindset, and emotional arc.
✨ The cultural influences behind the Firebird and why the book draws on ancient mythology without replicating Western fantasy traditions.
✨ The role of discipline, faith, and philosophy in building a world and a heroine.
✨ Sarah’s Pitch Wars experience and what she learned about standing firm in her creative identity.
✨ Navigating agents, bad advice, and finding the right advocate for your work.
✨ The long acquisition-to-publication timeline and how it changed her writing.
✨ Why anime became a structural and emotional influence for the trilogy.
✨ What Sarah is working on next, including a chess-inspired fantasy.

💫 CONNECT WITH US
📖 Follow Sarah Mughal Rana – IG: @sarahmughal769
🎙️ Bethany Amanda – IG: @BethanyinFantasyland
🎙️Sara Santillan – IG: @The_Magical_Quill
🎧 Follow The Mythic Mic Podcast – IG: @MythicMic
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