↑ Map of the Atalantia Canyons, the setting of the 2200 Blues narrative and book trilogy to come. The Atalantia Canyons are a dried-up expanse of what used to be the Atlantic Ocean.
2200 Blues © 2026 by G.R. Nanda. All rights reserved.
In a future earth plagued by technological escapism and excess, a young man named Nickel is torn from a false digital Eden and thrust into a post-nuclear wasteland. Surviving becomes a journey into unexpected cultures, strange magic and dangerous visions.
Thus enter the tale of 2200 Blues…
2200 Blues is an epic science fiction trilogy of novels in the works. It was originally written as a single epic length novel in the first draft, which was serialized online at the same time that it was being written, one chapter at a time. Every single chapter is the first draft that has only been edited for grammar and clarity. They reflect the exploration of a first draft and my own writing process as a discovery writer who prefers to write first drafts without an outline, allowing me to discover the story as I write it. I had a specific destination for the ending, but I discovered what the journey to it looks like, as I wrote it. Many names and plot elements were retroactively introduced into the story as if they had been there the whole time, even though they were thought of much later in the writing process.
2200 Blues began in the fall of 2019 when I was 15 years old (going on 16), as a short long-form science fiction serial. However, as the story progressed, it became evident that it was actually a growing novel. After taking a two-year break from 2200 Blues, starting in the fall of 2021, I resumed writing and serializing the first draft in 2024. At the end of that year, I finished the first draft, at the age of 21. By spring of 2025, I had finished serializing my entire manuscript online.
When I later decided to split my manuscript into 3 books, I organized the original chapters into groups for Books 1, 2 and 3. These groupings of original chapters have become the source material for entire rewrites of the story into 3 self-contained, yet connected, novels. Below, you can find detailed listings of the original chapters, grouped by which Book they belong to as source material and labeled with the year(s) in which they were written. Included are also the total number of original chapters per Book, as well as a synopsis of the events that transpire in them. After that, you can find an image of the 2200 Blues map with tracings of the paths taken by the main character(s) in each of the 3 books, as well as a brief description of their respective journeys and the locations they come across along the way.
Here, you can find links to:
- A polished excerpt to Chapter 1 (the best place to start)
- Two non-canon short stories from the 2200 Blues universe (The Slime and Barter your Future)
- Two prophecies from the world of 2200 Blues.
- My fictional language Thraíha used in 2200 Blues (including an in-world artifact displaying Thraíha writing),
- My personal reflection on my writing journey, written to announce the completion of my first draft of 2200 Blues and to commemorate those who helped me on the journey.
- A link to the original version of this post, used during serialization.
Any feedback in the comments sections to any of my posts, whether they be chapters, short stories or world-building entries, is greatly appreciated. Criticism helps me grow as a writer!
Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind that the following plot synopses are summaries of the plots in the original chapters, but that does not mean that they are the actual or final plots of Books 1, 2 and 3 which are still being rewritten out of this original material.
Book 1: Chapters 1-23 plus Chapter 47 – 24 Chapters – (2019, 2020, 2021)
Chapter Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 47 (written in 2024) I have omitted chapters 26-46 from this listing as they are all part of an extended creation myth (see creation myth section below).
Initiation. A 16-year-old boy named Nickel crashes his hovercraft into the Atalantia Canyons. Without enough fuel to escape this wasteland, Nickel is forced to venture forth into it. After living in isolated digital escapism for what felt like an eternity inside of his hovercraft, survival forces him to step foot on the earth once again. He meets Steve and Farrul, two survivors who have staked out their own territory on a small piece of land. Nickel learns from them that these canyons are dried up parts of what used to be the Atlantic Ocean (see Ch. 6 for world-building context).
After a wary introduction, the three of them team up to try to escape the Canyons together, by beginning a long journey to the city Hedonim, an Augmented Reality infused city that was once a thriving resort city before a nuclear fallout. This city becomes their best way back to modern civilization. On the way, they encounter an unknown primitive culture descended from crash-land survivors just like Nickel, Steve and Farrul. This culture is called the Thraíha and unbeknownst to the rest of the world, they’ve been an active society for generations. As Nickel and Farrul become initiated as new members of the Thraíha Tribe (see Ch. 21 and 22), they become implicated in their prophecy (see Ch. 19 and Prophecy/Anti-Prophecy).
Book 2: Chapters 48-61 – 14 chapters – (2024)
Chapter Links: 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61
After living with the Thraíha for a couple of months, Nickel has become accustomed to their culture, finding more security in their midst. Nickel, Steve and Farrul’s arrival has triggered talk of a special Thraíha prophecy, of a pilgrimage to the city of Hedonim, returning the Luddite anti-technology Thraíha to the technological future they rejected for generations. And a dreaded band of barbarians known as the Death Riders (I’m changing this name for the rewrite) have been rumoured to be on the move, threatening Thraíha sovereignty.
If all of that wasn’t enough, the leftover glaciers from the Aquatic Age of the Atlantic Ocean have begun melting, promising to flood the entire Thraíha settlement. As the Thraíha are forced to migrate, they become embroiled in conflict over their migration and the future of their culture. Religious debate and theological conflict run amuck, adding confusion to the tribe and paralyzing them from decisiveness and action. Amidst all of this, Nickel is forced to pick a side, or figure out a path he is willing to take alone, to Hedonim, before tragedy or invasion strikes, making it all too late.
Book 3: Chapters 62-73 & an Epilogue – 13 Chapters – (2024)
Chapter Links: 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, Epilogue
On the move after a narrow escape from the Death Riders, Nickel is finally on the move, no longer under Thraíha protection or that of Steve or Farrul. After being rescued by the mysterious Rishi figure, Nickel finds himself traveling alone on foot, discovering what the remnants of the world have become in the wasteland of Atalantia.
As he journeys into Merrix Depot, a seedy mercantile station of underground operations, he encounters troubling signs of the very religious tyranny embraced by the Death Riders, on the rise as a fateful global election looms in the near future. As Nickel gets ever closer and closer to the city of Hedonim, previously unknown forces make themselves known, convulsing on the Eastern reaches of Atalantia for the future of Hedonim and the human species. As Nickel travels alone, he must reckon with these forces. Meanwhile the Thraíha have split apart, and Steve and Farrul travel amongst them, everyone doomed to a fateful showdown before Hedonim, the City at the End of the World.
Thraíha Creation Myth Novella: Chapters 23 – 47 & an Interlude – 26 chapters (2020, 2021, 2024)
Chapter Links: 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, Interlude, 46 (written 2024), 47 (written 2024)
These are all of the chapters comprising the Thraíha creation myth centering their god, Father Hawk. The first chapter, Chapter 24, begins in the main story, during Nickel and Farrul’s Thraíha initiation rite, in which Father Hawk’s story is narrated by a Thraíha elder. After that, the scenes exist within the creation myth. It is only at Chapter 47 that the story returns to the main narrative, back at the Thraíha settlement where Nickel and Farrul’s initiation rite is concluded.
As a hunting culture, the Thraíha have come to revere the hawk because it is a main staple of their diet. The hawk has taken on a holy stature to the Thraíha who view the animal as guiding their hunts as well as their lives. The Thraíha are descended from survivors of hovercraft crashes in the Atalantia Canyons. These people were few at first, struggling to survive in a hostile wasteland with limited technology. They had lived their whole lives following digital interfaces, until they were led by those technologies into a land devoid of any functioning modern tech. Finding survivor after survivor, they grew in numbers, eventually creating a new culture called the Thraíha. In order to accept their world, they rejected their past and projected future as it lay in the Past World of science and technology. A Luddite culture grew, and with it a new cosmology of the universe and of human history, in alignment with the Word of Father Hawk.
Below is a version of the Atalantia Map with color-coded arrows showing Nickel’s journey across this setting throughout the original source material for Books 1, 2 and 3 of the 2200 Blues trilogy.
Book 1 (blue arrow) begins at “Nickel’s Hovercraft Crash Site” towards the bottom left of the map. Book 1 ends at the “Thraíha Settlement” towards the top left half of the map.
Book 2 (yellow arrow) material largely takes place in the Thraíha settlement, until Nickel finds his way to Merrix Depot.
Book 3 (red arrow) begins with Nickel arriving in Merrix Depot where much of the story takes place, before Nickel travels outside of the map, ending with him making his way to Hedonim through The Windings, a mysterious mountain range at the edge of the Atalantia Canyons.
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