Assimilation

She was far away, this woman he'd been. He knew her child's and husband's names. He could see their faces. But Natalie was a ghost.



Natalie Keller was a happy, attractive woman in the prime of her life: a mother and a wife. The kind of woman some people are jealous of. When a fatal car accident ends Natalie's life, a new technology allows her husband to bring her back. Except it isn't Natalie who wakes up over a year after the accident. It's Andrew.



Andrew is not the only one who has returned from death profoundly changed, and he soon finds a group of misfits who share his fate. They include the brilliant and reckless Oz, who decides to make Andrew his project. The closer they become, the more Oz pushes Andrew into a carelessness that jeopardizes both of their lives.



Having paid for the procedure, Natalie's husband Robert has control over Andrew's body and legal identity. In order to get his life back, Andrew must play a dangerous game, keeping Robert in the dark and preserving his own sanity until he can legally revoke Natalie's identity. But Robert is not the only threat. CryoLife, the company behind the new procedure, is eager to cover up any "mistakes".



In a world where a new life is possible, there are still those who would tell Andrew and Oz how to live theirs. When the truth of who they are is on the line, what are they willing to sacrifice for their freedom?



A dystopian sci-fi thriller for fans of Ann Leckie, Lila Bowen and Kameron Hurley.

James Stryker lives in small-town Pennsylvania, though he grew up in Ogden, Utah. He relocated 2,000 miles to be with the love of his life (also a writer and more importantly, an expert maker of fajitas). He also shares a residence with a pack of pugs who keep his world full of strange scents and his sweaters covered in fur.

James enjoys writing both short and novel-length pieces of speculative and literary fiction. Themes in his work focus toward diversity in the LGBTQ spectrum and the voice of underrepresented or misunderstood points of view. When not writing, James can be found reading, listening to opera at obscene decibels, wearing pedantic vests/sweaters with large buttons, and trying to figure out who in his neighborhood has fabric softener that smells like Dr. Pepper.

Until he is able to do nothing but write (Walden with Wi-Fi), James is part of the leadership team at a customer service center where his primary responsibilities include coaching/mentoring and ensuring that the coffee pot is turned off on Saturdays. Despite his day job and working on new writing projects, James is never too busy to connect with readers or other writers. He welcomes you to check out his website, www.jamesstryker.com, follow him on social media, or drop a line to his email.