Branching Plot Books

Branching Plot Books is an innovative reading experience devoted to the power of reader interpretation and interactive storytelling.

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Book cover of 'The Empty Lot Next Door' by Arthur Mills with a handprint on glass.

Book cover of 'The Lost Souls' from the Candle Face Chronicles series by Arthur Mills

Front cover of Isabel: The Forgotten Daughter of La Llorona from Candle Face Chronicles. Features a ghostly La Llorona standing before a full moon, with Isabel sitting in the water, symbolizing her tragic past and lost identity.

Wooden chest with skeleton on a dark background, title 'The Crawl Space' by Arthur Mills.

Multiple Interpretations

Perspective Shapes Outcome

Multiple Interpretations

Perspective Shapes Outcome

Multiple Interpretations

Perspective Shapes Outcome

Multiple Interpretations

Perspective Shapes Outcome

Multiple Interpretations

Perspective Shapes Outcome

Research Informed Writing

Structured Narrative Design

Research Informed Writing

Structured Narrative Design

Research Informed Writing

Structured Narrative Design

Research Informed Writing

Structured Narrative Design

Research Informed Writing

Structured Narrative Design

What is Branching Plot Books?

Founded in 2012, Branching Plot Books is my independent, author-run imprint. It includes interactive fiction, traditional novels, a memoir, investigative writing, and reader-driven projects.

The formats vary. Some books offer multiple outcomes. Some follow a single narrative line. Some projects invite readers to document what they find, investigate details, or take on a defined role inside the story.

What stays consistent is the reader's involvement. Each project asks readers to interpret what they see, question assumptions, and choose how they engage with the material.

How Branching Plot Books Works

Ambiguity

Branching Plot Books doesn't show its connections right away. Readers who pay attention will find them.
Reader Interpretation

The stories aren't rigid. What a reader brings to the page shapes what they take from it.
Interactivity

Some books, like The Crawl Space and Isabel, give readers choices that change the outcome. Those books are built to be read more than once.
No Single Right Reading

There's no one correct way to read my books. Two readers can finish the same one and walk away with different interpretations.
Designed Architecture

The ambiguity isn't accidental. There's a clear structure underneath, built so the books can be read more than one way without falling apart.

Cartoon illustration of Arthur Mills with gray hair wearing a beige shirt on a white background.

The Author Behind Branching Plot Books

For over two decades, Arthur Mills served as an Army Intelligence Warrant Officer, specializing in piecing together what others missed: patterns, threats, enemy intent, and clandestine activity. He also trained intelligence professionals, built threat models, and briefed commanders and world leaders on global threats and battlefield strategy. After retiring from the military, he transitioned into private investigation, focusing on missing persons, human trafficking, opposition research, and fraud cases. He also holds a degree in Counterterrorism, adding academic grounding to the skills he developed in the field.

He is an award-winning author who has been writing books since 2006. While he publishes under his own name, much of his best and most widely read work has appeared under pseudonyms. Readers may already know those titles, although they would not know they are his. That separation is intentional because just as his books invite readers to participate and interpret what is hidden between the lines, his career as a writer reflects the same principle.

Explore the Work

The Empty Lot Next Door

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, my true-life experience deserves consideration. Find out who Candle Face was, her taunting behavior, and how she turned my childhood into a living nightmare in The Empty Lot Next Door.

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Candle Face Chronicles

Candle Face Chronicles is a three-part series in which you work alongside me to investigate Candle Face. In The Lost Souls, The Fugitives, and Isabel, you'll see real case files, witness accounts, and field research, and you'll be asked to draw your own conclusions.

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Candle Face, her hollow scream carries the weight of forgotten souls. A disturbing presence from Candle Face Chronicles, brought to you by Branching Plot Books.

The Lost Souls [Book One]

The Empty Lot was only the beginning. The Lost Souls [Book One] moves from my childhood haunting into a broader set of victims connected by the same presence, the same heat, and the same pattern of escalation. If you want the truth, you have to look at the cases, not just the legend.

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A dark, shadowy figure standing upright, its body composed of swirling black smoke and mist. The figure appears menacing and powerful, partially shrouded in darkness yet illuminated by a faint, eerie light from above. This entity, titled 'Master Shadow,' represents Candle Face's lead shadow, actively pursuing and haunting the Fugitives. Associated with Candle Face Chronicles.

The Lost Souls [Book Two]

The Lost Souls [Book Two] continues the investigation with more victims and more consistency in the details. What looked like scattered events in Book One starts to align here. Keep reading if you want to see how Candle Face moves from victim to victim.

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A frightened figure hiding in darkness, with wide, glowing eyes visible above folded arms. The face is partially obscured by shadow, suggesting a Fugitive concealed in Arthur’s attic, watching and waiting in fear.

The Fugitives

A more active phase of Candle Face Chronicles involving thirty-one escaped souls sealed into scrolls and placed with Guardians for protection. This active investigation invites readers to document details, track patterns, and take on defined roles.

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Isabel: The Forgotten Daughter of La Llorona

Isabel was never supposed to be remembered. Her brothers became gods, her mother became a legend, and Isabel was erased. She returns as Candle Face, and forgetting her has a cost.

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Silhouette of a haunted house with trees and a moon in the background.

The Haunted Handbook

Professional paranormal investigation needs structure. The Haunted Handbook gives investigators forms and a step-by-step process built on decades of investigative experience. It helps them document cases, manage clients, and run investigations that hold up to scrutiny.

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The Crawl Space

When the principal punishes three middle school boys for bullying a fellow student, they find themselves trapped in the haunted school over the weekend. What happens next is up to the reader in the teen/young adult interactive novel The Crawl Space.

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Mara Flores inside a mirrored elevator, wearing a dark suit with her arms folded.

The Legend of Mara Flores

The Legend of Mara Flores is a tense corporate thriller where a woman survives inside a watched building until the rules start closing in.

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Man and woman in a dimly lit room with a laptop and red megaphone.

Co-Author

Chelsie Crammer’s goal is to write the next best romance novel, but when her story’s hero is too much even for her to resist, she can’t help but fall in love with him. Together, they pen the perfect love story.

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Reader

Voices

Matter

"I began to read [The Empty Lot Next Door] at my usual reading time, right before bed. After the first night of sleeping with the light on, I ended up taking off two afternoons from work to finish it which is all it took because I couldn't put this book down."

Amazon Reviewer

"Finally, [The Crawl Space] is a novel-length interactive story. All other interactive stories are only 50-90 pages long. The Crawl Space is nearly 250 pages with 24 choices and 11 alternate endings. I read the book but I didn’t really care for the storyline but my two little girls (10 and 13) loved it."

Amazon Reviewer

"[Candle Face Chronicles: The Lost Souls [Book One]] keeps you interested and on the edge of your seat! Loved this book. Entertaining and frightening!"

Amazon Reviewer

The Author's Desk

Visit The Author’s Desk for updates on books and projects, along with behind-the-scenes notes on process and design.

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Branching Plot Books