Episode Details

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where ancient legends are real, lost treasures are waiting to be found, and some tombs are better left undiscovered.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with author Natalia Hernandez to discuss The Lost Guardian, an Indiana Jones-meets-The Mummy adventure inspired by real Peruvian history, Incan mythology, ancient curses, deadly riddles, and the mystery surrounding the lost tomb of the last Incan emperor.

Santiago is a timid, history-obsessed archaeology student who grew up listening to his grandfather's stories about ancient Incan legends. But when his grandfather dies, Santiago discovers that those stories were never just myths. He's the last in a long line of guardians sworn to protect the location of the tomb of Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor, whose legendary resting place may contain an unimaginable fortune in stolen gold and treasure. Now, Santiago must follow a trail of ancient clues to find the tomb before dangerous enemies reach it and unleash a devastating curse upon the world.

Luckily, he's not alone. Enter Ali, a gun-wielding, martial-arts-trained adventurer who's much more comfortable with danger than Santiago. Together, they'll navigate ancient mysteries, uncover hidden history, and embark on a journey that challenges everything Santiago thought he knew about his family, his heritage, and himself.

🏺 What if Indiana Jones met The Mummy in a treasure hunt inspired by real Incan history?
💀 What happens when the last guardian of an ancient emperor's tomb discovers that the legends he's spent his life studying are real?
⚔️ And what if the badass action hero is a woman, while the man she's protecting is a history-loving cinnamon roll?

If you love Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Tomb Raider, Atlantis, archaeological adventures, ancient civilizations, lost treasures, deadly curses, historical mysteries, powerful heroines, cinnamon-roll heroes, and fantasy adventures inspired by real mythology, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Natalia's multicultural upbringing across Turkey, Romania, Poland, and Guatemala and how discovering her Latin American heritage shaped her storytelling.
✨ How a vivid dream, a viral TikTok with 1.7 million views, and thousands of curious readers launched Natalia's career as an author.
✨ Why Natalia chose independent publishing after encountering pressure to make her stories less queer and less Latin, and how that journey led to her traditional publishing debut.
✨ The Lost Guardian and its Indiana Jones-meets-Atlantis adventure inspired by the real history of Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor.
✨ The mystery of Atahualpa's lost tomb, the treasure stolen by Spanish conquistadors, and the ancient curse threatening to be unleashed.
✨ Santiago, a gentle, nerdy archaeology student who discovers he's the last guardian of a secret passed down through generations.
✨ Ali, the gun-wielding, martial-arts-trained heroine who flips traditional adventure-story gender roles and keeps Santiago alive.
✨ Ancient riddles, hidden maps, Incan mythology, and the real historical artifacts and locations that inspired the book's puzzle-box mystery.
✨ Natalia's research trip to Peru, including ancient aqueducts, stone forests, petroglyphs, and the history that helped bring the adventure to life.
✨ The importance of authentic cultural representation, advocating for accurate character artwork, and refusing to water down identity for publishing.
✨ What's coming next in the series, including a new adventure in the Peruvian Amazon featuring a fan-favorite professor Natalia affectionately calls "Indiana Juanis."

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🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan –