Horror author releases third book, ‘In Between’

Date: 10/20/2021

EAST LONGMEADOW – After the success of her first two books, “Inside” and “Under Another Sun,” horror author and East Longmeadow native Darlene Longo – writing under the pen name D.M Siciliano – returns with the release of her third book “In Between.”

The novel depicts a woman named Amy who goes back to her childhood home in Massachusetts to confront her ghosts ­– both figurative and literal – in order to move on and start her own family. In the house that Amy grew up in, she was able to actually see ghosts that resided there and she suffered from a neurological disorder called Alice in Wonderland syndrome from early childhood.

“I'd heard of several younger individuals who have had this syndrome and basically it's almost like if you get overtired, your brain gets a little confused and your perception gets skewed very much like with Alice in Wonderland,” said Longo." “For instance, you'd look at a house and all of a sudden the house looks like it’s Barbie-sized or somebody’s head looks too big for their body. Perception is very confused in this state and I thought how cool it would be if when she’s in one of these lapses that not only is she seeing her perception is skewed, but it causes her to see in between worlds of the living and the dead. That’s what Amy was able to do as a child, so she wants to go back and set these ghosts free to start her own life and her own family.”

Longo told Reminder Publishing, with “Inside” it was a bunch of preteens who went into a haunted house and although there were some dark scenes, underneath there was friendship. “Under Another Sun” was an apocalyptic horror novel about the end of the world. Stylistically, it was a little different and much more adult. It centered around one family and how they were coming to terms with the end of the world which surprised readers in a good way.

“I like to have some sort of psychological horror in my books,” Longo pointed out. “I want my horror to almost be a little bit more subtle. I want the reader to work for it. As they go along, I want them to question what’s happening, what is real or not real, what is she imagining and what’s actually taking place which is the main theme for ‘In Between.’ As you’re reading through and Amy is going through this struggle, the reader is riding along with her asking themselves what did she really remember.”

Along with the horror and suspense, Longo pulls at the readers’ heart strings stating the theme of “In Between” is about love and relationship struggle; a woman who’s married and about to have a baby confronts her estranged father on her upbringing, making amends with her past before she becomes a parent.

Longo shared she hopes for readers to take from the story is that life is “not neat and life is not always pretty.” And that “we all have a little struggle in things that makes us who we are, which she thinks is the beauty and horror of life.

“I just want to continue to grow and learn as an author and push my own boundaries, my own desire for horror and continue to change,” Longo responded. “In the end, I write because the story is there and it needs to be told. It’s amazing when I put my books out there, I never realized I would get amazing feedback and so many people were affected by what I was writing. That pushes me even further to keep going and to know that I'm on the right path.”

“In Between” goes on sale Oct. 21, available in both eBooks and paperback on Amazon. Signed paperbacks will only be through Longo’s website at www.dmsiciliano.com."