Shapero began writing his first novel,
Wild Animus, in 1979 while on a two-month solo hike in southeast Alaska. He founded the publishing company TooFar Media in 2000 to publish and distribute the book. He dedicated all future profits from
Wild Animus sales to
The Conservation Fund. Shapero reacted to the negative response, saying "I was surprised initially that there was so much controversy," having assumed that dissatisfied readers would "just leave it and move on."
Wild Animus was released in October 2004 with a first print run of 50,000 copies. Shapero spent more than $450,000 to market and distribute
Wild Animus through TooFar Media, which has been described as a
vanity press. Shapero gave away as many as 100,000 copies of the book within the first month after its release. To further promote the book, Shapero's company hired actors in several US cities to dress up as sheep and hikers while reenacting scenes from the book in public areas and at book industry events, giving away free copies. Promotion and free distribution of
Wild Animus continued years after its release. In 2007, as part of a "guerilla-style performance-promotion program," a group of costumed female dancers performed on the streets of
Adelaide, Australia, giving away "several thousand copies" of Shapero's CD, "The Ram," which was meant to accompany
Wild Animus. TwoFar continued to distribute the book on college campuses along with the accompanying CD. In 2010, one of several boxes left on
Yale University's campus containing copies of the book was reported as a suspicious package and triggered a response from Yale University Police and
New Haven Police Department bomb disposal unit.
Critical reception Reception of
Wild Animus was mixed.
Publishers Weekly praised Shapero's "vivid imagery" but found the bulk of the story did "little more than track one man's tedious journey toward acid-induced madness." Jim Dwyer, writing for
Library Journal, called
Wild Animus "a powerful and complex book" and recommended it for "all libraries." However, a
Library Journal review of the
audiobook concluded the story "will not appeal to the general listener." In the
American Book Review, Dave Stevens praised the narration of the audiobook and discussed the philosophical themes of the "inner story," though he described the surface-level plot as "mundane." A review in the
Peninsula Clarion described Shapero's "heady first novel" as "full of energy, gripping action and sensual details." Book critic, John Goodspeed, said
Wild Animus is "well-written for a first novel." == Other novels ==