Many early reviews have mentioned that your new collection, Stay Awake, is disturbing and depressing. One Amazon review says: “For those wanting to float in a dark world of unsettling edges and places you want to leave quickly, I’d highly recommend this book.” Another Amazon reader asks: “I would just like to know what, if anything, makes Dan Chaon laugh.”

I do not know this word, ‘laugh.’ What is it? The sound of this word has an unsettling edge that I find disturbing and depressing. It makes me want to leave this place quickly.

Why do you think the word “dark” appears so often in the reviews of your new collection?

I think they mean “dank.”

Your stories include a family burnt to death in a mysterious fire, a kid whose parents commit suicide, deadly car accidents, and a murderous mother, among other grim subjects. Two pieces feature dead babies. Do any of your stories look at the lighter side of things?

Ah, but of course there’s a lighter side to dead babies. I once heard a wonderful joke about dead babies when I was a youth attending Sidney Junior High School in Sidney, Nebraska. It goes like this: “How do you unload a pickup truck full of dead babies?”