RAVEL: An adult portal fantasy
by Crista Scott Tappan and Michael Tappan
Genre: Adult Portal Fantasy
Vibes: RAVEL combines cozy and whimsical fantasy with darker fairy-tale stakes, a mysterious hidden goblin world, craft-centered magic, folklore, and a the cutest mouse sidekick you could ever imagine.
Similar Books/Movies: The Spellshop, Nettle & Bone, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story
Setting: Oregon, Manhattan, and somewhere considerably stranger
Era: 1990s (primarily) + 1950s
Length: Approximately 100,000 words
Status: Currently seeking literary representation
If you’re a literary agent and think an entire magic system built around yarn might be your particular kind of weird, I’d love to hear from you!
Query materials, sample pages, and the full manuscript are available upon request — CristaTappanWrites@gmail.com.
Set in the 1990s, RAVEL follows twenty-eight-year-old Esther Wolfe, an Oregon-based rare-book specialist and award-winning knitter who has spent most of her life searching for adventure in books and yarn.
When a mysterious agency offers her an extraordinary salary to catalogue a rare fiber-arts collection in Manhattan, Esther takes the biggest leap of her life. But her new home—the once-glamorous Emerald—holds secrets of its own, including an abandoned subway station connected to the decades-old disappearance of a young girl.
Following clues beneath Manhattan, Esther boards an impossible train and crosses into Goblin City: a strange subterranean world where bargains are bound with knots, intention can be spun into yarn, and magic is worked stitch by stitch.
To find her way home, Esther must apprentice to an ancient goblin fiber artist and learn to spin, dye, and knit magic before the city changes her forever.
Fiber Magic
Fiber arts aren't simply backdrop pieces in RAVEL—they form the foundation of its magic system!
Knots can bind agreements. Intention can be spun into yarn. Color and meaning can be dyed into fiber. And magic is created slowly, deliberately, one stitch at a time.
The magic of RAVEL draws from textile traditions, craft folklore, historical beliefs surrounding thread and knots, and my own experience as a knitter and fiber artist. Since my FMC is a textile and fiber arts historian, I went on a deep dive to learn everything I could about the history of the craft!
Follow the Journey
I'm sharing occasional updates about writing, querying, knitting, fiber folklore, and the creative world surrounding RAVEL in my blog!
From Fiction to Fiber
Several knitted pieces created by Esther throughout the story also exist outside the book IRL!
I've designed real knitting patterns inspired by RAVEL, including pieces connected to the characters, symbolism, and magic of the story. More patterns and fiber-art projects connected to the world of RAVEL are in development. I will be launching these patterns alongside the publication of my novel, so stay tuned!
See a preview of two of the pieces below:
The Emerald Beanie
