
Marianne H. Donley makes her home in Pennsylvania with her husband, son, and a very very active dog. She is a member of Bethlehem Writers Group, The Charmed Connection, Sisters in Crime, The Guppies and Capital Crimes. When Marianne isn’t working on A Slice of Orange, she might be writing short stories, funny romances, or quirky murder mysteries, but this could be a rumor. She also could be knitting.

Illusive Worlds, Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC’s 9th anthology in the series Sweet, Funny, and Strange® Tales is available for preorder—both the print version and the ebook. The ebook is on sale for only 99¢ and will revert to the regular price of $3.99 on pub day—October 16, 2026.
Marianne’s short story, “The Confession of George Mullins,” deals with a nasty old man who has decided murdering his wife of sixty years is a great way to get “the state” to put him in jail and cater to his every wish—starting with his breakfast order of two eggs over easy, crisp bacon, hash browns and toast with tons of butter. Unfortunately for George, Detective Eleanor Reed and the ghosts of Mrs. Virtue and Uncle Walt are on the case, so he may learn to be careful for what he wishes.
Enter our worlds of imagination!
In this ninth “Sweet, Funny, and Strange”® anthology from the multiple award-winning authors of the Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC, we explore everything from faraway galaxies to the vagaries of the human mind.
Our stories include ventures into the supernatural, meeting aliens and witches, experimenting in time travel, and encountering technology that is sometimes benign but at other times menacing. The blurred lines between human and machine, life and death, or illusion and reality have provided our authors more than sufficient inspiration to create myriad visions of science fiction and fantasy to pique your curiosity, spark your sense of humor, sometimes horrify you a bit, and occasionally bring delight.

In addition to tales from BWG’s inventive minds, we are excited to bring you six prize-winning stories from our 2025 and 2026 Short Story Award competitions. We know these authors will become some of your favorites—just as they have for us.
So please join us in our illusive worlds. We’re very happy to have you along for the ride.


Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun, was a finalist in the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for first novel.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna helped edit Celebrating: 20 Years of Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales which includes her story, “Tommy.” She is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. In addition to being Chief Editor of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, she also contributes stories and articles.
Since writing and editing is clearly not enough work, Dianna is also a Book Coach. You can learn more about that on her website: https://dianna-sinovic.com/.
Dianna has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.


Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun, was a finalist in the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for first novel.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna helped edit Celebrating: 20 Years of Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales which includes her story, “Tommy.” She is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. In addition to being Chief Editor of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, she also contributes stories and articles.
Since writing and editing is clearly not enough work, Dianna is also a Book Coach. You can learn more about that on her website: https://dianna-sinovic.com/.
Dianna has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.


Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun, was a finalist in the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for first novel.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna helped edit Celebrating: 20 Years of Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales which includes her story, “Tommy.” She is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. In addition to being Chief Editor of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, she also contributes stories and articles.
Since writing and editing is clearly not enough work, Dianna is also a Book Coach. You can learn more about that on her website: https://dianna-sinovic.com/.
Dianna has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.


Award winning author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature, but her true passion is the much happier world of romance fiction. Though her roots are in the Midwest, after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with two furry four-legged girls and keeps a dependable stash of lollipops for the munchkins in her life.
She is the author of several Regency romances, including the 2014 Book Buyer’s Best winner, Rosalyn’s Ring. She is hard at work on her next series of Regency romances, but loves to hear from readers!
In addition to Quarter Days, Alina’s quarterly column’s on A Slice of Orange, you can visit her at:
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Four blind dates in five days. I can’t believe I agreed to this.
More info →Only an unfair universe makes a guy who’s that gorgeous so damned obnoxious.
More info →Karma is a good judge of character, and you my friend, are screwed
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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