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Assimilation

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Pub Date Oct 30 2025 | Archive Date Nov 30 2025


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Description

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 attempt to assault her. She manages to escape into the dense underbrush of the island, only to witness the unholy cries of her attackers as they’re savagely murdered.


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.


[CONTENT ADVISORY: Intended for adult readership and contains scenes of violence, sexuality, aliens, and language that may be uncomfortable for some readers.]


[TRIGGER WARNING: Rape]

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...


A Note From the Publisher
Lonnie Busch (illustrator, cover design) is an award-winning author whose short fiction has appeared in Southwest Review, The Minnesota Review, The Baltimore Review and other magazines. Among his awards for fiction are the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize for his novella, Turnback Creek (published by Texas Review Press), finalist in the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction, the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award, and others.

Busch's short story collection, Push Me, is available on Amazon, along with his reissued award-winning novella Turnback Creek: A Novella & Six Stories, with six additional unpublished short stories.

Busch is the author of several novels, Assimilation, The Anything Room, Cargo Hold 4, Project Übermensch, All Hope of Becoming Human, The Cabin on Souder Hill and The Baldwin Hotel.

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

Assimilation will be available in ebook ($9.99), paperback ($16.95) and hardcover ($24.95).

Lonnie Busch (illustrator, cover design) is an award-winning author whose short fiction has appeared in Southwest Review, The Minnesota Review, The Baltimore Review and other magazines. Among his...


Advance Praise

"Assimilation is a true page-turner. but—again—go in with your eyes open. Its ultimately extraordinarily satisfying because of the terror of the ride." —GL Charlebois, Goodreads


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


"The book was really good but it was creepy at the same time. This one was a mix of horror and Sci Fi leaning more towards horror." —Willow Webster, BookBub

"Assimilation is a true page-turner. but—again—go in with your eyes open. Its ultimately extraordinarily satisfying because of the terror of the ride." —GL Charlebois, Goodreads


"Yet another...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781964024127
PRICE $9.99 (USD)

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