Every Rule Undone. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.Every Rule Undone

Aza Gen, curse cleaner and snooper at keyholes, never set out to break all the rules.

She lives a sheltered life as a curse cleaner for Maripesa's ruling family. At thirteen, the day of her first period, she acquires an ability to split herself and see from two perspectives. She keeps it a secret, not knowing where this Talent fits in the magical structure of her society.

Magic can so easily slide into chaos. That's why the belief in it was phased out over eons. But the island of Maripesa took a different approach. They used those eons to breed a system that uses magic to maintain order. Spell types are genetically bound to family clans. The upper clans curse. The mid clans repair or heal those curses. The lower clans have no magic. Anyone who breeds outside their clan is executed. It is a simple and perfect balance of power.

Years later, Maripesa's rigid calm devolves under an upper clan spellwar and, not coincidentally, Aza loses everything. Sick, fearful and grieving, she's thrust alone into the unfamiliar city where she encounters hypocrisy and deception—so much worse than the twin evils of curses and maladies. But there are also good people with wells of kindness and wisdom; the experience of romance and sexual awakening; profound new kinships; and a burgeoning awareness of her own power.

She finds women who have magic similar to hers. Women's magic—minimized, ridiculed, suppressed through generations—becomes her focus. Aza realizes that because it crosses and includes all clans, it can subvert the system. Her rage at mounting injustices will not stop until every outdated rule is undone.

Book One of The Last Magic City unfolds through four characters from different clans. In addition to Aza Gen, there are Ferjival Puraples, son of the ruler, and an angst-ridden antagonist; Benelek Kruik, a fun-loving, charismatic woman whose generosity and ambition don't always coexist easily; and Vijo Besin, healer of maladies, scholar of all magic, romantic soul with perhaps too much patience for his own good.

Aza, Ferjival, Benelek and Vijo show us the way through this charm-filled, twisty, heartfelt journey about the chaos that hypocrisy and hubris can bring and the healing that kindness will always manifest.

Nancy SM Waldman found her place in the woods of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada after growing up in Freeport and Houston, Texas, enjoying lengthy stays in Connecticut, and a short one in London, England. She lives with her husband, Barry, in a house built in 1900, which they, in a fit of newlywed enthusiasm, painted in five bright colors in the early 2000s. The paint is peeling, but their love is adhering nicely. She also claims an otherworldly outpost in the mountains of North Carolina where she communes with her predecessors and participates in fabulous family and friends reunions. There are fireflies.Nancy's short stories have been published online in AE: the Canadian Review of Science Fiction (Editor's Choice Winner), Perihelion, Fantasy Scroll, and others; in anthologies, including Tesseracts Twenty; Futuristica, Vol 1; Lazurus Rising; and all the outstanding Third Person Press books. Her two volumes of collected short stories, As Far As and Rooster's Dawn were published in 2021. Readers have described these stories as "fascinating and strange, with brilliant beauty," "layered," "funny," and "consistently excellent." Her first novel, Every Rule Undone, was published in 2024. It's been described as a "delicious revolution story," and a "page-turner," with "incredible world-building," and "great characters." A story that gives "cathartic satisfaction with the women-power," that explores "identity and power struggles through a fantasy lens," and is "a story of defiance, self-discovery, and the courage to rewrite the rules." She is a full member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association and SF Canada.Nancy is blessed with two sons, three step-daughters, and four amazing grandkids. In addition to writing, she enjoys cooking, growing plants, all kinds of creative arts, and helping with Barry's educational charity, EPIC.