Do you love fan fiction? Cats? Friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers quadrangles? Time travel adventures? If you answered yes to any of the above, you’ll want to add Shoestring Theory to your TBR as soon as possible!
Set to publish in late 2024 with Angry Robot Books, Shoestring Theory is Mariana Costa’s debut cozy romantasy novel, which follows a wizard who travels back in time to kill his husband before their kingdom is destroyed, and is self-described by the author as “time traveling to undo your gay divorce.”
Want to know more? Check out the official synopsis:
The kingdom of Farsala is broken and black clouds hang heavy over the arid lands. Former Grand-Mage of the High Court, Cyril Laverre, has spent the last decade hiding himself away in a ramshackle hut by the sea, trying to catch any remaining fish for his cat familiar, Shoestring, and suppressing his guilt over the kingdom’s ruin. For he played his part – for as the King, Eufrates Margrave, descended further and further into paranoia, violence and madness, his Grand-Mage – and husband – Cyril didn’t do a thing to stop him.
When Shoestring wanders away and dies one morning, Cyril knows his days are finally numbered. But are there enough left to have a last go at putting things right? With his remaining lifeblood, he casts a powerful spell that catapults him back in time to a happier period of Farsalan history – a time when it was Eufrates’s older sister Tig destined to ascend to the throne, before she died of a wasting disease, and a time when Cyril and Eufrates’s tentative romance had not yet bloomed. If he can just make sure Eufie never becomes King, then maybe he can prevent the kingdom’s tragic fate. But the magical oath he made to his husband at the altar, transcending both time and space, may prove to be his most enduring – and most dangerous – feat of magic to date…
Shoestring Theory won’t be out until October, but the stunning cover (designed by Alice Coleman), in all its queer, cat-filled glory was revealed this morning, March 27, and can be seen below!
Shoestring Theory releases with Angry Robot Books late this year and is currently set to hit shelves on October 8, 2024. You can find pre-order links (and even request an early copy!) here.
Not sure what to do while you wait? Mariana Costa is an artist and illustrator, and while Shoestring Theory is her debut novel, she’s released a handful of graphic novels that you can check out now, including:
Belle of the Ball, a sapphic, contemporary romance graphic novel set in high school. It’s pink, features an all-lesbian main cast, and a love triangle. More from the author, here.
Life of Melody, a queer, slice-of-life fantasy webcomic-turned-graphic novel featuring fairy godparents, co-parenting, and a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers, fake dating romance. More from the author, here.
You can learn more about Costa here, including links to her website; Instagram; and, another of her (unfinished) webcomics, Peritale.
Here’s another glimpse at the cover, courtesy of Angry Robot Books!
Leave a Reply