I'm almost done with the first Whiskey-Four interactive epilogue! I'm finishing up the third ending, and then I have to do some code-check and spell-check. It's not super long, but I think it's quite fun, and a really good entry back into the world of Whiskey-Four and the romance dynamic with Ulysses/Ulyssa.
It's also, without a doubt, the... most sexual thing I've written.
It's not erotica by any means--all of the sex is fade to black--but the actual dialogue between Whiskey and Uly is pretty explicit. In this epilogue story, you've been married for almost a decade, and there aren't exactly any kids around to make you watch your language, and Uly is obviously quite shameless and forward considering they chased the MC for nine years in Whiskey-Four. Lot of raunchy talk. Might have to tone it down for the final release...
It's been absolutely fascinating writing an obsessed yandere-esque romance character after they've gotten their lover. To what degree should the obsession remain? Should their personality change? How does the actual relationship dynamic work when one of the lovers is obsessive in the larger-than-life way that Uly is? The "thrill" / "fantasy" of the yandere archetype is in the chase; what happens when the chase is over?
I think I have a pretty good handle of it, so far. I have one last ending to write for the short story, and all of the three routes are brief and pretty fun. One ends in an exciting way on an action stinger, one in a more reflective way, and one in a... sexy(?) way (that's also supposed to be contemplative. It makes more sense in context, I swear).
I've been listening to Måneskin's "Beggin'" while writing all the Uly/Whiskey romance stuff, and it fits so well that I can't get the damn song out of my head. But it fits so well for the style of relationship I want to capture.
I'm super excited to publish it soon, and I'll keep you all updated when I do :))
We are so excited for this interview with the author of Whiskey Four, @johnlouisif!
Do you want to play a retired contract killer? Who's being hunted down by the corpos, the cops and even your (supposedly dead) ex! Oh right...you also need to save the galaxy from an unknown entity...
Have what it takes?
Check out the other winners in the action/adventure category here.
About the author
I don’t drink coffee. Or alcohol. My inspiration for my work comes purely from the pains of cold sobriety. I broke my wrist when I was eleven years old and my handwriting hasn’t recovered since, and I very often can’t read my own notes when I’m annotating books.
About the book
John Wick in space meets Lovecraftian cosmic horror.
Tell us a bit about what you're working on right now and your journey into interactive fiction
I’m working on the sequel to my first interactive fiction game, I, the Forgotten One. It’s a pretty beastly project, as the multiple endings diverge into three primary routes, so every chapter needs to be written about two and a half times. I started ITFO six years ago during COVID, and it was just a hobby for a while, but I’ve been attempting to take it more seriously with the opening of a Patreon, hoping that I can potentially do writing full time in the future.
What was the inspiration for this game and why did you want to write an action story?
I wanted to write in a futuristic/sci-fi setting after finishing ITFO, but more than that, I wanted to write a story with completely different pacing. ITFO and its sequel, I, the Unbroken One, take place over months. I need, for the sake of the plot, a great deal of time to pass. The characters are marching or riding vast distances; medieval war involves a lot of waiting and boredom. This doesn’t make for a good story, so time needs to be skipped. The great danger of this style of story is that it can sometimes feel like a series of vignettes; if I keep skipping time and just jumping between major scenes, there won’t be any connective tissue.
Whiskey-Four is all connective tissue. The game takes place over four days, and each scene leads immediately into the next. The movement of time is kept in check by the use of a clock which tells the reader what time it is after every minor time skip. This style of pacing is best suited to action/adventure stories, I believe.
What is one thing you're really proud of that you've written? Do you have any favourite character or scene you've written?
I think writing Ulysses/Ulyssa, the primary love interest from Whiskey-Four, was the best creative decision I have made in writing. I believe they are singlehandedly responsible for a full half of Whiskey-Four’s popularity. In the grand scheme of love interests, they don’t even have a lot of time with the protagonist, and yet they’re still so well-liked, which I think is a testament to how compelling they turned out.
How has your identity, heritage/background, or personal experiences influenced your storytelling or writing process?
I’ve dealt with mental health troubles in the past which really colored the prose and, for lack of a better term, the vibe of I, the Forgotten One. It’s a vibe I can’t really recapture, now that I’m in a better place.
For folks who have enjoyed your IF, what other book/music/movie should they check out for the same 'vibe'?
I discovered the song “Infinite Skin” by Blaqk Audio when writing Whiskey-Four, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song better encapsulate something I wrote. The entire album, “Only Things We Love,” fits the cyberpunk aesthetic of Whiskey-Four so well.
What are you excited to tackle/implement/work on next?
I, the Unbroken One, the sequel to ITFO! It’s up to 200,000+ words now, and it’s… maybe a quarter done. It’s been a huge project, much larger than I typically like, but I’ve so far enjoyed the process. I think the third chapter which I just released publicly is the best of the story so far. I started ITFO six years ago, and I’ve become a better writer since then, so the sequel is an opportunity to take existing characters and make them even stronger.
Whiskey-Four and I, The Forgotten One may have single (double?) handedly revived my love for interactive fiction, both as part of the audience and as a creator, while healing a part of me in two wildly different yet somehow similar ways. check both of them out and support their creators if you enjoy the type of narration and characters i usually draw or prattle about
The reason i like Uly more than their other yandere™ counterparts is bc they actually see Whiskey as an equal, someone skilled, and they need them to accomplish a goal - and the clear desperation of their love, as disturbing as it can be sometimes, makes you pity them, --- in this essay
Love the theme in Whiskey-Four of ‘knowledge kills, but not knowing will wreck you just as hard’
U. THINKS they know why Whiskey shot them, but they're wrong. They think it’s about loyalty, about Whiskey choosing the AIU over them, and that assumption does arguably more damage than the bullet, and turns into a full blown obsession.
(whereas in reality what happened is that they came at Whiskey with a gun and zero context, and Whiskey – who is 93 combat PTSD diagnoses in a trenchcoat – shot first)
Whiskey, on the other hand, has NO IDEA why any of it happened. They don’t know why U. went after Uvarov, they don’t know why U. didn’t tell them, they don’t know why U. didn’t trust them, and depending on how much reflex was involved, they may not even truly know why they fired. They can't process what happened because nothing that happened makes any sense, to potentially include their own actions. All they can do is try to bury it before it eats them alive.
