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Branching Plot Books

The Haves and Have Nots

The Crawl Space

The Empty Lot Next Door

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Branching Plot Books
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Arthur M. Mills, Jr.’s third grade teacher read Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the class and then asked the students to write a one-page sequel to the book. Arthur couldn't stop writing, and it was then that Arthur knew he would be a writer.

Arthur M. Mills, Jr. is a full-time husband, father, and Warrant Officer in the U.S. Army. If that isn’t busy enough, he is also a full-time author. Arthur is the creator of Branching Plot Books, a book series devoted to the art of double meanings and reader interaction. Branching Plot Books include the award-winning part-memoir and part-fiction novel The Empty Lot Next Door and the teen/young adult interactive fiction novel The Crawl Space, as well as the modern day fable The Haves and Have Nots. Arthur and his wife, Yonsun, have two children, Arthur and Allen.

meet the author

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Newspapers are ripe with headlines about bullied children being assaulted, murdered, and even taking their own lives. Arthur M. Mills, Jr. has lived through the dangerous effects bullying can have, as his 12 year old brother tragically took his own life in Austin, Texas in 1984 because of playground antics gone too far.

About branching plot books

A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. These characteristics are often easy to identify. For example, Goosebumps is the famous children book series that depicts fictional children being involved in scary situations. Another example is the Choose Your Own Adventure books that allow readers to assume the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character’s actions and the plot’s outcome.

The characteristics that bind the books in Branching Plot Books is much less obvious. On the surface, Branching Plot Books are just a bunch of unrelated books. However, Branching Plot Books is a small but growing series of books that can be read in a variety of ways, depending on the reader. Each book’s plot and premise can be seen differently, depending on the readers’ mood, experiences, and values.

To create this effect, Branching Plot Books focuses on the literary technique double entendre and on the use of interactive fiction. Double-entendre is a phrase that could have two meanings or that could be understood in two different ways. Literally, a double-entendre is limited to a phrase or figure of speech but in Branching Plot Books, a whole book could have a double meaning and be understood in two different ways. For example, in The Empty Lot Next Door, children and young adults might see the story as a ghost story while older adults see the story as a young child coping with bullies and with a dysfunctional family life. In The Haves and Have Nots, liberal readers will relate to the blue jay named Javlin and despise the greedy chipmunk named Mitch while conservative readers will rally behind Mitch because of his hard-working attitude and will see Javlin as a lazy freeloader. Some readers believe the struggle has nothing to do about political ideologies but instead the book is really about race or immigration issues. Therefore, in both The Empty Lot Next Door and The Haves and Have Nots, the plots and the premises can be seen differently, depending on the readers’ mood, experiences, and values.

Some books within Branching Plot Books make it more obvious the reader can change the plot and take charge of the premise. For example, The Crawl Space has 24 choices and 11 alternate endings, allowing the reader to decide for him or herself how the storyline should flow. Different readers may take different paths, which can change the readers’ impressions of the story.

There is no right or wrong way to interpret Branching Plot Books because the book series is tailored to every reader. Branching Plot Books is where the reader becomes the author.

Meet the characters

MARK

prankster

BRUCE

leader

CHARLES

brain

The Crawl Space

The Haves and Have Nots

Books by arthur m. Mills, jr.

The Haves and Have Nots

In The Haves and Have Nots, Arthur M. Mills, Jr. has written a modern day ant-and-the-grasshopper-style fable that speaks to the greatest concerns of our times, including politics, the economy, and the environment.

The Crawl Space

The Crawl Space by Arthur M. Mills, Jr. is an interactive teen and young adult novel about bullying, punishment, and redemption. The novel inspires teens and young adults to look at life from a new perspective of hope, courage, and respect for others.

The Empty Lot Next Door

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, the true life experience of Arthur M. Mills, Jr. deserves consideration. Find out who Candle Face was, her taunting behavior, and how she made a boy’s childhood into a living nightmare in The Empty Lot Next Door.