International Writers Inspiring Change presents: Assimilation by Lonnie Busch

They’ve only visited her in dreams… until now.

Kercy Powell loves spending summers at their secluded island cottage in Ontario; a place where her birth defects and wheelchair are never on display. Just before her eighteenth birthday, Kercy is shocked to learn her mother sold their island paradise, offering only this grave warning, “Don’t ever go back there!”

The ensuing years bring Kercy a miraculous metamorphous, making her wheelchair unnecessary. Upon her mother’s death, she inherits the family fortune and buys back her most treasured getaway. Kercy is soon plagued by old nightmares; strange beings who visit in her sleep. One night, two men boat out to her cottage and try to assault her. She manages to escape, only to witness the unholy cries of her attackers being savagely killed.

The inexplicable murders trigger a visit from Special Agent Mallory, a cagey FBI officer who is only interested in how the two men died. But Kercy has no idea, until she comes face to face with her “protectors,” creatures who live beneath the deep, icy waters of Georgian Bay. And while they’ve rescued her before, Kercy can’t shake the notion that their intentions are nefarious.

Reviews:

"Creating haunting imagery and fantastical characters, Busch’s writing comes alive. Despite the wild beings within and the creepy descriptions provided for them; they each feel so alive. Emotionally invested in Kercy’s plight, Lonnie’s stories wrap readers in a chilling embrace, blurring dreams from reality..." - Jill Rey

"Lonnie Busch is one of a half-dozen indie writers whose work I follow assiduously. He writes sci-fi that even I understand or at least he writes in a way that makes me wrap my head around his concepts simply because his characters are so strong you honestly want to see what happens to them..." - GL. C.

"Yet another incredible story by Lonnie Busch, drawing you in from the get go, and with that underlying level of mystery, suspense and terror..." T.K. Toppin

International Writers Inspiring Change review of ASSIMILATION

Assimilation by Lonnie Busch, while listed as science fiction genre, is, to the open-minded reader, more about possibility than fiction. The story follows Kercy Powell, a disabled and wheel-chair bound young woman, who from the very start exhibits something strange, something special. Her love of water, despite the danger it presents in her condition, draws the reader down the spiraling mystery, which Busch does a great job of creating. The strange creatures she encounters, and their bizarre activities, somewhere between reality and Kercy's dreams, mystifies and haunts us to turn the pages to find out who they are, why they are so interested in Kercy, and sometimes, we wonder if they are real at all - but they are. This is more than just a fiction story, it is a statement about our existence as a race and what will happen if we continue to destroy our world. Can we survive, and if so, how, and what roll do the strange creatures play in this scenario. A consuming read. Pull up the duvet, pour a large cup of coffee, and dive in. It does not disappoint.

About the author

Lonnie Busch is an award-winning author whose short fiction has appeared in Southwest Review, The Minnesota Review, The Baltimore Review and other literary magazines. Among his awards for fiction are the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize for his novella, Turnback Creek, finalist in the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction, the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award, and others. His first novel, The Cabin On Souder Hill, was released from Blackstone Publishing in September, 2020. His newest novel, The Baldwin Hotel was released December 17, 2022.

Busch is also a painter, animator and illustrator, and has created artwork for numerous corporations, ad agencies and institutions, including the “Greetings from America” stamps and “Wonders of America” for the USPS.

Author website