Madeleine Nakamura has a new queer fantasy/sci-fi book out (gay, gender fluid): Cursebreakers.
Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic, must survive his own failing mental health and a tenuous partnership with a dangerous ally in order to save the city of Astrum from a spreading curse.
Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic and disgraced ex-physician, has discovered a conspiracy. Someone is inflicting magical comas on the inhabitants of the massive city of Astrum, and no one knows how or why. Caught between a faction of scheming magical academics and an explosive schism in the ranks of the Astrum’s power-hungry military, Adrien is swallowed by the growing chaos.
Alongside Gennady, an unruly, damaged young soldier, and Malise, a brilliant healer and Adrien’s best friend, Adrien searches for a way to stop the spreading curse before the city implodes. He must survive his own bipolar disorder, his self-destructive tendencies, and his entanglement with the man who doesn’t love him back.
Get It At Amazon
Excerpt
The officer from the hall of St. Osiander was there, sitting in a chair and watching his comrades with his rache on his lap. When compared to her fellows, I realized exactly how undersized the animal was.
“Ah,” I said.
“Go away,” the officer suggested with great sincerity.
“I used to be a healer,” I began, and he stood up, letting his rache jump down to the floor.
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “You used to, but you messed up. So why are you here?”
That caught me well and truly off guard; I shook my head. “How on earth do you know that?”
He grinned, a singularly unpleasant expression. “I got curious and asked around. You know that skinny guy, four-eyes, annoying, black hair, skittish? What’s his deal? And one of the other professors told me. She seemed pretty
eager, too.”
I stared, somewhat wounded. I knew all these things about myself individually, but to hear them laid out in sequence was a little much. “It’s nice to meet you too,” I said. I didn’t bother asking whom he’d talked to. The knowledge would do me no good.
He shrugged. “You’re the one who didn’t bow when we met,” he said.
I realized that he was right. I’d been too preoccupied with his rache’s teeth and the shine of his saber to offer any pleasantries.
Mekhanically, I bowed. “Adrien Desfourneaux.”
He squinted me down and did not return the gesture. “Gennady Richter.”
His tone was an exact copy of mine; either he was mocking me, or he was unsure of how to introduce himself politely. More fondly, he nodded to his rache. “This is Lady.”
Most Vigil give their raches names like Ripper and Titus; I willed myself not to smile. I knew enough about the Vigil to address myself directly to the rache. They must be treated as people, or the soldiers get up in arms.
“A pleasure,” I said to her. She nodded, her long muzzle waving delicately.
The marginally less hostile moment passed in a blink. “You have some kind of fetish for this stuff?” Gennady asked, gesturing toward the beds. “Is that why you’re here? You turn one group of people into vegetables, and now you can’t wait to get a look at the next batch?”
Author Bio
Madeleine Nakamura is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles and the author of the fantasy novel Cursebreakers. A lifelong fantasy devotee, she began writing her first novel the day she realized a computer science degree wasn’t happening.
| Author Website | https://madeleinenakamura.com/ |