Anyone: A Novel

Soon to be adapted for television by Carnival, creators of Downton AbbeyAn Indie Next Pick • A Science Fiction Book Club Pick Bestselling author of The Oracle Year, Charles Soule brings his signature knowledge—and wariness—of technology to his new novel set in a realistic future about a brilliant female scientist who creates a technology that allows for the transfer of human consciousness between bodies, and the transformations this process wreaks upon the world.Inside a barn in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a scientist searching for an Alzheimer’s cure throws a switch—and finds herself mysteriously transported into her husband’s body. What begins as a botched experiment will change her life—and the world—forever…Over two decades later, all across the planet, “flash” technology allows individuals the ability to transfer their consciousness into other bodies for specified periods, paid, registered and legal. Society has been utterly transformed by the process, from travel to warfare to entertainment; “Be anyone with Anyone” the tagline of the company offering this ultimate out-of-body experience. But beyond the reach of the law and government regulators is a sordid black market called the darkshare, where desperate “vessels” anonymously rent out their bodies, no questions asked for any purpose - sex, drugs, crime... or worse. Anyone masterfully interweaves the present-day story of the discovery and development of the flash with the gritty tale of one woman’s crusade to put an end to the darkness it has brought to the world twenty-five years after its creation. Like Blade Runner crossed with Get Out, Charles Soule’s thought-provoking work of speculative fiction takes us to a world where identity, morality, and technology collide.

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of December 2019: Charles Soule’s second novel (after The Oracle Year ) is a fast-paced, mind-bending science fiction adventure that will have you thinking about it days after you have finished. The book employs alternating chapters: one storyline begins in a barn in current day Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a female scientist unintentionally discovers a way to transport consciousness from one person to another; the other takes place twenty-five years in the future, once that technology has spread across the globe. Soule is able to explore a multitude of questions—about consciousness, privacy, anonymity, and identity—even as he keeps the action propelling forward. And when the two threads of the story merge, readers will experience the kind of aha moment that a high-caliber thriller will generate. The Oracle Year was a debut that announced an exciting new voice in speculative fiction; now Anyone is here to let us know that Charles Soule plans to stick around for a while. --Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review

Publishers Weekly

“Fast-paced and suspenseful. Soule’s uncomfortable vision of the future will please readers of cutting-edge speculative fiction. ”

Kirkus Reviews

“An imaginative, time-fragmented thriller about the bitter and potentially deadly consequences of body-snatching. Readers won’t feel that they’re on the edge of their seats as much as they’re on a balance beam above a pit of lava while trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube.”

Jennifer Wright, author of Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes That Fought Them

“With his second novel, Anyone, Charles Soule establishes himself as an author that readers of speculative fiction will love for years to come. The book will leave you thinking about gender, power, and what it means to be human for long after the final chapter.”

Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M

“Soule has wrapped a sharp, prescient investigation of the human mind inside a breakneck thriller that will have you riveted until the very last twist. Anyone is truly a book for everyone.”

Susan Henderson, author of The Flicker of Old Dreams

“I spent much of my childhood inside DARPA, where my father was Deputy Director, and this book captures the imagination and double-edged sword of our greatest scientific leaps. The same technology that can cure the world’s ills might also cause us to spiral into our own greed, selfishness, and vanity. Charles Soule’s Anyone is a remarkable, consequential novel and a terrifying wake-up call.”

Shelf Awareness

“A scientist's experiment gone wrong leads to a technology, called "flash," that changes the world. Charles Soule (The Oracle Year) gives this conventional sci-fi theme a rollicking 21st-century update in Anyone... . . Fans of N.K. Jemisin will devour this mind-bending novel.”

Sylvain Neuvel, author of Sleeping Giants ”Explosive”

“Anyone is an intense, superbly crafted, edge of your seat thrill ride. I loved the two slowly converging storylines, not to mention the most dedicated, hardcore character I’ve read in a long, long time. Who would you be if you could be anyone?  I’d really like to be Charles Soule and have written this book.”

About the Author

Charles Soule is a New York Times-bestselling, Brooklyn-based comic book writer, musician, and attorney. He is best known for writing Daredevil, She-Hulk, Death of Wolverine and various Star Wars comics from Marvel Comics, as well as his creator-owned series Curse Words from Image Comics and the award-winning political sci-fi epic Letter 44 from Oni Press.

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