It began with a small door in an upstairs bedroom of a Cape Cod house in central Pennsylvania. Although Jacque Day Pallone had lived in the house for a number of years, neither she nor her husband had ever opened the door, assuming it led only into a small crawlspace. That got her to thinking what else it might lead to—if imagination were mixed in.
Jacque is one of five members of a small tribe of writers who called themselves The Hive, a spin-off of the Pennsylvania Horror Writers Association. Formed during the early days of the pandemic, the Hive members write primarily dark fiction. They embraced Jacque’s story idea, and Hive mate Cathy Jordan suggested the group use it as an anthology theme. Each Hive member contributed a story, and they called for other writers of dark fiction to submit.
This month, That Darkened Doorstep will be released by Sunbury Press. All of the stories touch on the detail of an unopened door and the consequences that might lie beyond it.
Between the anthology’s covers, you’ll find Jacque’s story, “Seeking a Good Woman,” Cathy’s story, “Lonely Is the Desperate Heart,” and 18 others, including one by Louisa May Alcott, “The Mummy’s Curse.”
The list includes a tale about a camping trailer with a mind of its own; a hard-luck woman who’s unstrung by her mother’s death; a house with a haunted history; a remote mountain lodge with a disturbing past; and a genetic experiment that has life-changing results.
And Jacque’s actual unopened door? She did finally open it—to find not a crawlspace, but an actual room, ten feet deep. The next mystery is why was it built, but that’s for another day.
Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna Sinovic has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories and poetry, and is working on a full-length novel about a young woman in search of her long-lost brother.
Dianna is a member of Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Other Books By Dianna Sinovic
Sally Paradysz wrote from a book-lined cabin in the woods beside the home she built from scratch. She was an ordained minister of the Assembly of the Word, founded in 1975. For two decades, she provided spiritual counseling and ministerial assistance. Sal completed undergraduate and graduate courses in business and journalism. She took courses at NOVA, and served as a hotline, hospital, and police interview volunteer in Bucks County, PA. She was definitely owned by her two Maine Coon cats, Kiva and Kodi.
Sal is missed by all who knew her.
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