In early July, author Eli Easton is already starting work on her annual Christmas novel. It’s part of a long-running tradition—the first was Blame It on the Mistletoe back in 2013, when Easton kicked off her gay-romance writing career. Since then, she’s written over 30 books that cover everything from burgeoning Amish boy-love to a hot firefighter family (they’re nicknamed “the Hot Cannolis,” of course), and perhaps most tellingly, a series about paranormal dog-shifting guys whose human personalities reflect their canine forms.
This isn’t Easton’s first foray into writing. Eli Easton is, in fact, a pen name for one of gaming’s greatest icons—Jane Jensen, the veteran Sierra Online writer who codesigned King’s Quest VI and created the Gabriel Knight paranormal adventure series. The second game, 1995’s The Beast Within, was arguably the finest piece of full-motion video (FMV) storytelling at the time, delving into deep character-driven storytelling, an incredible tapestry of historical detail, and, quite notably at the time, smoldering queer subtext that has since found new life on the fanfiction hub AO3.
Jensen hasn’t been active in games for a while—her last big project was a Kickstarter for her Pinkerton Road Studio with her husband, Sierra composer Robert Holmes, and the 20th anniversary edition of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father. With renewed interest in point-and-click adventures and Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision (we even have a Monkey Island reboot happening), inquiring minds need to know: When are we getting a new Gabriel Knight adventure?
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
WIRED: Roberta Williams mentioned that she got super lockdown boredom during the pandemic, and now she and Ken Williams are making a new game. Any chance we're gonna see Gabriel Knight 4?
Jane Jensen: I wish. I would have made Gabriel Knight 4 years ago if I'd been able to, but the rights are with Activision, and they just weren't interested in doing that. I have written a lot during the pandemic, and my introverted side has blossomed, let's put it that way, where you forget how to be with people. I do about four books a year as Eli Easton. So I’ve written quite a bit. I’m just finishing up a series with a coauthor, Tara Lain. The new book is coming out tomorrow [Thursday, June 30], actually.
A surprise to many fans, it's astounding how the author of gaming world-renowned essays has ventured into crafting heartwarmingly romantic novels full throttle.
