Check in to your hotel, and check out the ghosts! Sexy specters await you – but can you fix up the hotel in style so that the living guests will find luxury, too?

Haunted Hearts Hotel is an interactive erotic paranormal romance novel by Elle Grace. It’s entirely text-based, 140,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Choice of Games editor Mary Duffy sat down with Elle to talk about her upcoming game and spooky season!

Haunted Hearts Hotel will be available on Thursday, November 14th. You can wishlist it on Steam in advance of its release—it really helps!

I believe you come to writing for us from a more academic background but with some experience writing erotica too. Tell me a little about yourself.

I’ve made academic writing my career, that’s true. I’ve always enjoyed writing fiction, especially of the spicy variety. A couple of years back, a professor friend of mine asked if I wanted to co-write a chooseable path textbook for her marketing class to help boost student engagement. Brilliant! I had a blast working on that project, and it got me thinking, I wonder if anyone is writing choosable path erotica. That’s what led me to Heart’s Choice.

What inspired Haunted Hearts Hotel? I definitely see shades of places like Berkeley Springs, West Virginia in this game.

While I haven’t heard of Berkeley Springs, I suppose every little haunted spa town likely has a few things in common. Hot Springs and Eureka Springs, both in Arkansas (my neck of the woods), were particularly inspirational. I’ve always been fascinated by hotels like the Arlington in Hot Springs–built in 1875, and the Crescent in Eureka Springs, which was built in 1886. Hot Springs was a hangout for infamous gangsters, among them Lucky Luciano and Al Capone. You can still see bullet holes in the walls and ceiling on a bathhouse tour. The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs has been called one of the most haunted hotels in America. The tv series Ghost Hunters even did an episode on the hotel back in 2014. Among its haunted histories, “Dr.” Norman Baker–he claimed to be a licensed physician but was not– performed experimental cancer treatments on unsuspecting patients. The hotel’s spa is located in what was once “Dr.” Baker’s morgue. The ghost stories and histories of these places were definitely an inspiration.

The characters and romance options in this game are very exciting. Can you give our readers an overview (minor spoilers are ok!) of who they’ll be encountering?

First, we meet Manfri Booney who basically runs the hotel and loves it dearly. Manfri might have been my favorite character to write. In a nutshell, they’re joyful, spiritual, and fashionable. Then there’s Remington Peabody, the investor with ulterior motives. She’s wily and sophisticated, used to getting what she wants. The romance scenes with Remington were fun to write because here’s this person who likes to be in the driver’s seat most of the time, which means she just might like to take a more submissive role in the bedroom. Next we meet Sunny Thompson, a tv star with a bubbly personality and winning smile. Sunny is interested in the paranormal, and he loves the spotlight. My favorite part about writing Sunny was how uncomplicated he is, how he’s game for anything. Both Remington and Sunny can be male, female, or non-binary. Last but most certainly not least, we have Della, our blast from the past. She’s lovely, self-possessed, and doesn’t mind telling you what she thinks. What can I say, she loves a party. I loved getting to know Della, but one of the best parts of writing her was researching 1920s fashion.

What surprised you about the writing process?

I knew nothing about coding. Like, zero. It was interesting to see how game mechanics influence narrative. This process was quite different from my usual writing process, and I’m not sure I ever quite got into the flow, but it was fun to try!

It’s spooky season! What are some of your favorite Halloween/spooky traditions? Do you have a favorite novel or film you enjoy this time of year?

Oh my goodness! This is my absolute favorite time of year. I adore autumn, and I’m drawn to all things spooky. I would be hard pressed to name a favorite, so let’s try this–an all-time favorite novel / movie for the spooky season has to be The Shining. Plus, the Stanley is an exquisitely haunted hotel. A new favorite might be Late Night with the Devil. It’s set in 1977, so perhaps a theme emerges.

What are you working on next?

I have several ideas swirling around, so we’ll see what finds legs. I have a tiny bud of an idea around using astrology to make your way through some kind of historical catastrophe. Otherwise, I’m always working on my short form erotica.