Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: Full disclosure—I read Lonnie Busch’s science fiction thriller Cargo Hold 4 and I absolutely loved it. I don’t want to say too much, because the mystery is part of what makes this horror so compelling. So Lonnie, tell us a bit about Cargo Hold 4—but no spoilers!

Lonnie: Several years into a multi-decade deep space mission, a team of eight scientists—four women, four men—explore a dwarf planet near the Kuiper Belt and inadvertently bring aboard a stowaway, which is desperately trying to escape from Cargo Hold 4. Or so the crew believes.

Zilla: The alien is a science fiction horror masterpiece, mashing up elements of frogs, bees, and plenty more. What inspired it?

Lonnie: I honestly don’t know. I’m what a lot of writers call a “pantser,” meaning I “write” by the seat of my pants. In other words, I don’t plot out the story. Cargo Hold 4 came out of nowhere. I’m trying to get my latest book, Project Übermensch, ready for publication, and I keep hearing in my head, Cargo Hold 4, Cargo Hold 4, like a mantra. I ignore it as long as I can, until “something” in Cargo Hold 4 starts beating on the huge yellow metal hatch, and I can see the big yellow hatch, and these enormous dents pushing out (which is what I animated in my book trailer.) 

So, I start writing, and when I get to finally revealing this thing, I realize I may be done. Nothing’s coming but worn-out tropes from years of too much TV and moviegoing. I ease forward and wait for something to emerge, and it does, and it’s super creepy and I go with it, trying to learn what it is, and what’s going on. There is always a risk with the panster approach of writing a lot of pages and ending up nowhere. But I’m used to that from my background in painting and working on sculpture. Just part of the creative process. I’m okay with it.

Zilla: It’s not just the alien though–plenty of the characters have their own dark secrets. Who is the real monster, the aliens or the humans?

Lonnie: Yeah, that was so cool, how organically it developed. Once this thing was kind of revealed, I started following what I imagined this crew would do, how they might react, how I might react, pitting reason against morals, navigating the conundrum they found themselves up against. I tried to be as honest as possible about the potential eruption of human emotions and choices, no matter how dark it got. As you know, it got pretty dark, way darker than I imagined.

Zilla: I really enjoyed the science tidbits you sprinkled through the book. Do you have a scientific background?

Lonnie: None. My older brother had a telescope when we were kids, but that was about it. But the first moon landing happened when I was 17 years old in 1969. That had to have affected me, I suppose. However, I believe many of the ideas I had about the journey, sprung from a reasoned approach to what might be needed for extended space exploration. I wasn’t ready to concede to “replicator-type” devices like Star Trek, as I didn’t see the mission that far in the future. And I’m glad I didn’t. The idea that came to me for their food and supply problem became a huge plot element. I hadn’t planned that. I think one thing that really spurred my ideas around the mission was reading about Voyager 1 and 2 and the Hubble telescope. Those articles debunked many misconceptions I had about space. Voyager 1 and 2 are still out there, still traveling into deep space after decades. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is still sending data back, and is expected to keep sending it back until 2036! And Voyager 2, also launched in 1977, is the only spacecraft ever to visit Uranus and Neptune, and is now in interstellar space. That’s wild to me.

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Lonnie: My books are on Amazon—go to this link for Cargo Hold 4. I’m still in the baby-steps stage as an indie author. My first novel was published by Blackstone Publishing, The Cabin on Souder Hill. I had an agent, a nice advance, a sweet two-book deal, and it seemed like after twenty plus years of writing I had finally arrived. But no. When The Cabin on Souder Hill didn’t fly off the shelves, Blackstone terminated the contract for the second book. Not long after, I ended my relationship with my agent when she seemed less than enthusiastic about my novel, All Hope of Becoming Human, which has won numerous awards and done pretty well. The audiobook for The Cabin on Souder Hill is now an Audible bestseller with over 3400 reviews, but that’s most likely due to Sarah Mollo-Christensen, the narrator. She has an incredible voice and a massive following. So, yeah, the short answer, just Amazon. But it’s cool. I like the KU aspect. I can reach a lot of readers I might otherwise not reach. All Hope of Becoming Human was just accepted into the Amazon Prime Readers Program, though I’m not sure when it will be available there.

People can find all my books, as well as links to my social media, on my website. They can even sign up for new release news and shout-outs for review readers there. I always welcome review readers!