Lose your heart to an angel or a demon and join the battle between chaos and order! Will you fly with the angels or cast a dark spell alongside the demon lord? Brimstone Manor is a 168,000-word interactive supernatural romance novel by Frances Pauli, part of our Heart’s Choice line of interactive romance novels. I sat down with Frances to talk about her work and this latest Heart’s Choice game.

Brimstone Manor releases this Thursday, February 10th. You can play the first three chapters for free, today.

This is your first foray into interactive fiction, but definitely not your first publication! Tell me all about your other work.

I write across a broad selection of genres, but I cut my teeth on romance, and most of my work has strong romantic plot elements. I have a lot of series published, from Fey worlds to Space Opera, and more recently I’ve been writing shifters and stories with animal characters, which have always been a staple in my books. So you could say I diversify a lot, I suppose. But there is always a speculative element, a romantic element, and lots of fun critters.

Brimstone Manor contains a really classic dichotomy for the romance interests: Angel or Demon!?  What drew you to writing a supernatural romance? 

You know, despite all the aliens, shifters, mythical creatures and speculative elements I’ve worked with, I’d never done an angels and demons romance before. The closest I came were the demons in my Dogs of War series, but they’re a very different manifestation of the idea. I thought it would be a fun theme to write, in particular in a format where the reader has choices, and I really did enjoy it a lot.

Did you have a favorite NPC while you were writing the game?

Lucifer won me over hands down. (paws down?) I love writing animals, and if they’re sassy and highly food motivated, even better. I’m fond of Gabby and Lily as well, but as an animal lover, Lucifer was my favorite from page one.

What surprised you about writing an interactive story? 

So much surprised me about this process I’m not sure where to start. First, it was a lot harder than I expected, more challenging. But that’s a good thing, right? At times it felt like I was writing several stories at the same time, or several versions of the same book. It was definitely a new experience for me.

What’s your favorite genre of romance? 

I love sci-fi romance and shifters. I’m not sure I could choose between those two. Aliens and animals. It’s a pretty simple recipe to keep me happy as a reader. So long as you throw in a happily ever after to go with it. If a story has sci-fi AND shifters or animal aliens, then I’m going to be hooked immediately.

Tell our readers what else you’re working on.

This will probably not be surprising, but I’m writing a new series about a family of shifter witches called Brighton Vale. There is a heavy romance lean, but it’s also family saga, and follows an incredibly dysfunctional but very loving family of shifters as they try to navigate romance, danger, and family squabbles while keeping their existence secret. In addition, I’m working on a new serial story that falls along the lines of My Little Pony meets Twilight. Unicorns, and vampire-style Kelpies, and a lot of hijinks.
You can find info about all of the above on my website: francespauli.com