Anthony Halligan
What Keeps Us Locked In Cycles of Civilization Rise and Collapse?
What Keeps Us From Coming Together as a Collective to Solve Our Greatest Problems?
Many people would say it's because of politics, ideology, religion, or other social dynamics. But those are just symptoms of a deeper issue: the problem is neurological.
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At the root of the issue is a 300-million-year-old brain circuit, designed for survival in a much harsher world, that hasn’t evolved with the rest of humanity. This ancient program runs through the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for detecting threats. It keeps us locked in self-reinforcing feedback loops, where fear and familiarity are preferred over progress and change. And it’s this loop that causes us to sabotage not just ourselves, but our entire society. This is why every civilization implodes on itself.
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In the Rise installment of the Drakaina Blood Saga, we explore how this unconscious program plays out through story, showing how civilization stays trapped in cycles of fear, extraction, exploitation, and othering.
By understanding the trap, we begin to find our way out.
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About the Drakaina Blood Saga Series:
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In Rise, the first four-book installment of the Drakaina Blood Saga, this neurological truth unfolds through fantasy.
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We follow a young woman who awakens alone, frightened, and stripped of her memories. She doesn’t know who she is, or why the world feels like it’s unraveling. What she does feel is a growing sense of dread, and the pull of something ancient inside her that refuses to be named.
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As she navigates a world veiled in fear, scarcity, and power hoarding, she must confront the pain of remembering, both personal and collective. The darkness surrounding her is not just external; it mirrors what happens to a society trapped in survival mode, repeating the same mistakes because the brain will choose the familiar, even when it leads to destruction.
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But if she can break the loop—
if she can face what the amygdala would rather keep buried—
she may become something the world has never seen before:
a sovereign mind with the power to rewrite not just her story, but the fate of everything.
Rise: Book I - The Best of Us Is the Last of Us
Rise: Book II: Tenuous Alliances
I am not currently able to sell paperbacks directly to readers. According to our local USPS office as of May 2025, shipping rates have increased due to DOGE requirements, so it now costs almost the full price of the book to ship it within the U.S. If you would still like a paperback copy, it is listed with the retailers linked below, or we can send you a custom invoice link to pay the cost of the book + shipping if you would still like to purchase it directly from me.
This book is also available through many online retailers, such as Barnes & Noble, Powell's, Better World Books, and some of the other large retailers...you know which ones I mean...
Book I Links:
Barnes & Noble
Powell's Bookstore
Better World Books
Books-A-Million
Book II coming to other online retailers soon!
About Anthony Halligan
Anthony Halligan writes mythic truth disguised as epic fantasy.
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His debut series, The Drakaina Blood Saga, isn’t just a story—it’s a map through the human nervous system, a mirror for collective memory, and a key for those ready to break the cycles that keep us locked in survival. At its core, this saga explores the hidden architecture of collapse—how our brains, wired for fear, can trap entire civilizations in loops of scarcity, shame, and disconnection. Through layered world-building and emotional depth, the story invites readers to confront what we’ve forgotten and remember what we’re capable of.
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Anthony holds a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology & Injury Rehabilitation from California University of Pennsylvania, and a dual Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Oregon. His academic work focused on the science of human behavior, trauma response, and physical recovery, laying the foundation for a life devoted to transformation.
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Before writing, Anthony built a career as a high-level fitness professional and rehabilitation specialist, working with athletes, youth, and injured adults. From founding his own facility—Halligan Elite Athletic Development—to mentoring in schools and serving as an exercise physiologist at Boeing, his work always centered on resilience, both physical and psychological.
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As a survivor of sexual trauma, Anthony brings rare vulnerability and truth to his writing. The Drakaina Blood Saga was born from that silence—the kind that fractures identity—and from the long, nonlinear path of healing that follows. He writes to challenge stigma, to give language to the unspoken, and to show how pain, when processed through truth, becomes power.
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His mission is to use storytelling not just to entertain, but to awaken. This saga is for those standing at the threshold—those who feel the world can’t go on the way it has, and are ready to walk the edge of what comes next.
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This isn’t "comfortable" storytelling because growth doesn't come from comfort. Growth comes from acknowledging the discomfort of reality rather than sitting in comfortable—but ultimately dangerous—illusions.
It’s neurologically-encoded myth for those ready to remember.
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