Eight-year-old Sultan AlWahshi publishes debut space adventure

Sultan AlWahshi has selected the year 3045 with the certainty of someone who has already surveyed it. The eight-year-old Emirati author pictures a skyline of immense buildings, flying cars moving overhead and robots woven into daily life. It is a future distant enough to accommodate every possibility his imagination can produce. In Sultan’s Time Travel Adventure, his newly published children’s book, that world is reached through one of the most mysterious phenomena in the universe: a black hole.

“I’ve always been curious about black holes, so I started imagining that they could take you to a different universe or dimension,” Sultan says. That curiosity becomes the premise of a story in which a young astronaut named Sultan begins a routine space mission, enters a black hole and arrives more than a thousand years into the future.

The choice of 3045 is deliberate in the straightforward manner of a child who sees no reason to place limits on invention. “I chose it because it’s very futuristic,” he explains. “I think the world will be full of flying cars, tall buildings and robots.”

The book has made Sultan the youngest author published by Sandstorm Comics, Abu Dhabi’s first dedicated comic book studio. It appears under Little Storm, the company’s children’s imprint, and joins a catalogue that includes original comics, manga, graphic novels and picture books. Its publication places a young Emirati storyteller inside a growing local creative industry that wants children to see themselves as readers, characters and authors.

Sultan’s route to publication began with Sandstorm Comics’ annual open submissions programme, which invites aspiring creators of all ages to pitch original concepts. His idea caught the attention of the editorial team and moved into professional development. Age brought no special exemption and created no barrier. The story earned its place on the strength of its premise and Sultan’s evident appetite for adventure.

“Sultan is exactly who our open submissions programme exists for,” says Mo Abedin, editor-in-chief of Sandstorm Comics. “Our criteria is simple: we look for great stories. In this case, that story came from an eight-year-old with an incredible imagination.”

For Sultan, the news that his work would become a real book brought a sense of achievement followed by the pleasure of imagining an audience. “I felt proud of myself, and happy that so many people and children would get to read my story,” he says.

Building a hero

His central character shares more than his name. Asked whether anyone in the book resembles a person from his own life, Sultan gives an immediate answer: “Yes, Sultan represents me.” The fictional astronaut carries his creator’s curiosity into space and faces the kind of danger that allows an ordinary mission to become a heroic test.

The confrontation with the villains is Sultan’s favourite section and an important late addition to the manuscript. During the editorial process, his editor, Rayan, encouraged him to consider how the narrative could be extended. Sultan responded by creating a new challenge for his protagonist.

“The villain’s part was the last thing I added,” he says. “My editor, Rayan, helped me think about making the story longer, so I decided to add that challenge and turn Sultan into a hero.”

That addition gives the book its most exciting sequence for the young author. When asked which section he most enjoyed writing, he chooses “the part where he fights the villains”. The answer reveals his instinct for momentum. Futuristic scenery creates the world; conflict gives the astronaut something meaningful to do inside it.

The visual identity of that world was developed with Greg Baldwin, an American character designer, illustrator and founder of Lost Bear Studios. Baldwin has more than two decades of experience across comics, animation and video games. His credits include character design for the Ratchet & Clank franchise and projects involving Marvel and Disney. Working closely with Sultan, he translated the young writer’s ideas into finished illustrations without losing the personality of the original concept. For a child accustomed to seeing the story in his mind, the first encounter with Baldwin’s artwork offered a new kind of surprise. “It was amazing,” Sultan says. “I wasn’t expecting the characters to look this good!”

Stories after school

Behind the cosmic journeys and villain battles is a routine familiar to many eight-year-olds. Sultan attends school, completes his homework, spends time with friends and takes swimming classes. Writing fits naturally into that life because he experiences it as play and discovery.

“Writing is so much fun for me, so it doesn’t feel hard,” he says. His mother is his first audience and a steady source of encouragement. His teacher has supported his storytelling since he was in Grade 1, when he would carry his papers into school and show her what he had created. Weekends still leave ample time for playing and swimming.

His cousins have already read the book and, according to Sultan, enjoyed it greatly. His classmates and teacher will receive their first look when school resumes at the end of August. The return to the classroom will give the publication another layer of reality: the papers once carried to school have grown into a professionally illustrated book available to readers. Sandstorm Comics sees that progression as proof of the creative ability already present among young people in the UAE. Abedin describes watching Sultan’s idea become a published book as rewarding for the entire team and “a wonderful reminder of the creative talent we have here in the UAE”.

Sultan also understands what beginning a story can feel like for another child. His advice is free of complicated rules or reverence for the blank page. “Your ideas are important, so share them with people, and just start writing,” he says. His own experience supports every part of that instruction: an idea was shared, a publisher listened and a book followed.

The future continues to exert the strongest pull on him. If he could leave school for one day and travel through time, he would visit the same year chosen for his fictional astronaut. “The year 3045, because I want to see the robots and all the amazing things the future will bring,” he says.

His next book may take him in the opposite direction. Sultan wants to write a sequel that sends his namesake into the past, opening another field for questions, danger and discovery. He is already protective of the idea. “I don’t want to spoil it, though, so it’ll be a surprise!”

For now, Sultan’s Time Travel Adventure sits on shelves at Sandstorm Comics and Kinokuniya, with online orders available through Kinokuniya and Deliveroo.