Here, Take This, I Love You: "Any Man"
A special giveaway on the publication anniversary of my novel, Any Man.
“Am I in a body?
No body answers.”
—The opening two lines of Any Man, each line written on its own page
Eight years ago in 2016, (how has it been eight years already?!) I had reached an impasse: unsure of how to re-sensitize the unaffected and apathetic to conversations of sexual violence. I was stuck after listening to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump brag about grabbing women’s pussies, only to watch the national response be, for the most part, Eh, so what? It’s just locker room talk. It was around this time that an idea came to me for a novel that I hoped would move to un-numb people to these difficult and uncomfortable discussions by placing male victims at the center of the story and a terrifying, shapeshifting female serial rapist as the outlier antagonist.
I wanted the book to both terrify and electrify readers as any classic thriller does, but I also wanted to open their eyes to the various ways in which we—even the most progressive of us—are complicit in a system and culture that often feels more predatory than even the predators themselves. Parts of the book are written in unusual fiction forms: from poetry and overheard news broadcasts to Tweets and dating app messages. It was with the enormous support of my editors at HarperCollins, Laura Brown, (she and I also did Listening in the Dark together) and Calvert Morgan (who published Dark Sparkler) that Any Man was able to find its most powerful voice on the page.
Any Man’s original title was Maude, named after the antagonist who haunts the novel’s pages without ever fully revealing herself in the way we expect our villains to. Instead of depictions of the vile acts she commits, what is showcased in the story is the psychological, emotional, and physical aftermath of her crimes. By denying the victims in the book—and therefore, the readers of the book—a real description or physical presence of Maude, they are left to fill in the blanks from the wildest, most haunted edges of their own minds, creating an antagonist and story far more terrifying.
Any Man had a massive press campaign and tour that extended for months after its release, helping to make it one of my most successful books to date. Now in its fourth printing, (Look, Mom! I made it!) the book continues to find new audiences. (Thank you to everyone who tags me in their bookstagram posts; I love seeing them!) I’m so grateful the novel has maintained a life far beyond its publication date. Truly, it’s an author’s dream come true.
Today is the sixth anniversary of Any Man’s publication. To celebrate, I’m giving away a signed copy of the book, plus copies of my notes and the story’s structural outline from back when I was writing it.
NOTE: Please review the full eligibility details, rules, and info below. The deadline for the Chapter 13 Any Man anniversary giveaway is Friday, June 28, 2024 at 11:59pm ET. All Paid, Founding, and Gift subscription recipients with subscriptions active at the time of the deadline will be automatically entered into the Chapter 13 giveaway. The recipient will first be notified via Substack Direct Message. If the recipient has disabled direct messaging, they will be notified via the email address connected to their Substack account. This notification email will be sent from LITDSubstack@gmail.com, so be sure to add that address to your contacts so you don’t miss out!
