Dan Chaon

A playfully macabre and utterly thrilling tale about orphaned twins on the run from their murderous uncle who find refuge in a bizarre traveling carnival, from master of literary horror Dan Chaon It's 1915 and the world is transforming, but for thirteen-year-old Bolt and Eleanor--twins so close they can literally read each other's minds--life is falling apart. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie, the only kin they have left. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee. Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders and father to its many members. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. There's Minnie, the three-legged lady, and Dr. Chui, who stands over seven feet tall; Thistle Britches, the clown with no nose, and Rosalie, who can foretell the death of anyone she meets. After a lifetime of having only each other, Eleanor and Bolt are finally part of something bigger. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril as strange as it is terrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives. An ode to the misfits and the marginalized, One of Us is a riotous and singularly creepy celebration of the strange and the spectacular and of family in its many forms.

Sleepwalk is a high speed and darkly comic road trip through a near future America with a big-hearted mercenary, from beloved and acclaimed award-winning novelist Dan Chaon. " Chaon] does madcap well and likes his characters, even the killers--especially the killers."--The New York Times Book Review A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceAn NPR "Book of the Day"A USA Today "Must Read" Sleepwalk's hero, Will Bear, is a man with so many aliases that he simply thinks of himself as the Barely Blur. At fifty years old, he's been living off the grid for over half his life. He's never had a real job, never paid taxes, never been in a committed relationship. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation he's never troubled himself to learn too much about. He has lots of connections, but no true ties. His longest relationships are with an old rescue dog that has post-traumatic stress and a childhood friend as deeply entrenched in the underworld as he is, who, lately, he's less and less sure he can trust. Out of the blue, one of Will's many burner phones heralds a call from a twenty-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She says she's the product of one of his long-ago sperm donations; he's half certain she's AI. She needs his help. She's entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will's employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he is working for and the people he's running from. With his signature blend of haunting emotional realism and fast-paced intrigue, Dan Chaon populates his fractured America with characters who ring all too true. Gazing both back to the past and forward to an inevitable-enough-seeming future, Sleepwalk examines where we've been and where we're going and the connections that bind us, no matter how far we travel to dodge them or how cleverly we hide.

'A thrilling and often hilarious road trip across America in the very near future, told by a winning and murderous narrator' Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl Sleepwalk's hero, Will Bear, is a man with so many aliases that he simply thinks of himself as the Barely Blur. At fifty years old, he's been living off the grid for over half his life. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation he's never troubled himself to learn too much about. Out of the blue, one of Will's many burner phones heralds a call from a twenty-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She says she's the product of one of his long-ago sperm donations; he's half certain she's AI. She needs his help. She's entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will's employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he is working for and the people he's running from. With his signature blend of haunting emotional realism and fast-paced intrigue, Dan Chaon populates his fractured America with characters who ring all too true. Sleepwalk examines where we've been and where we're going and the connections that bind us, no matter how far we travel to dodge them or how cleverly we hide.'Dan Chaon has given us one of the most intriguing, original, and fully-realized characters in recent memory; that he's the center of an absolute page-turner is the icing on the cake. Sleepwalk is riveting, propulsive, chilling, and (no shocker) pure genius' Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

Fiction. THE BEST MICROFICTION anthology series provides recognition for outstanding literary stories of 400 words or fewer. Co-edited by award-winning microfiction writer/editor Meg Pokrass, and Flannery O'Connor Prize-winning author Gary Fincke, the anthology features the well-known novelist and short story writer Dan Chaon serving as final judge, an exclusive craft-oriented interview with the great Etgar Keret, and an essay about the current state of microfiction written by Robert Scotellaro. The inaugural edition, BEST MICROFICTION 2019, features eighty seven of the world's best very short stories.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Two sensational unsolved crimes--one in the past, another in the present--are linked by one man's memory and self-deception in this chilling novel of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon. Includes an exclusive conversation between Dan Chaon and Lynda Barry NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal - NPR - The New York Times - Los Angeles Times - The Washington Post - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly "We are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves." This is one of the little mantras Dustin Tillman likes to share with his patients, and it's meant to be reassuring. But what if that story is a lie? A psychologist in suburban Cleveland, Dustin is drifting through his forties when he hears the news: His adopted brother, Rusty, is being released from prison. Thirty years ago, Rusty received a life sentence for the massacre of Dustin's parents, aunt, and uncle. The trial came to epitomize the 1980s hysteria over Satanic cults; despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury believed the outlandish accusations Dustin and his cousin made against Rusty. Now, after DNA analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning. Meanwhile, one of Dustin's patients has been plying him with stories of the drowning deaths of a string of drunk college boys. At first Dustin dismisses his patient's suggestions that a serial killer is at work as paranoid thinking, but as the two embark on an amateur investigation, Dustin starts to believe that there's more to the deaths than coincidence. Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundaries--and putting his own family in harm's way. From one of today's most renowned practitioners of literary suspense, Ill Will is an intimate thriller about the failures of memory and the perils of self-deception. In Dan Chaon's nimble, chilling prose, the past looms over the present, turning each into a haunted place. "In his haunting, strikingly original new novel, Dan] Chaon takes formidable risks, dismantling his timeline like a film editor."--The New York Times Book Review "The scariest novel of the year . . . ingenious . . . Chaon's novel walks along a garrote stretched taut between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock."--The Washington Post

Robert Louis Stevenson explores the very nature of man in this classic horror novel.“Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.” Robert Louis Stevenson’s masterpiece of the duality in man’s nature sprang from the darkest recesses of his own unconscious—during a nightmare from which his wife awakened him, alerted by his screams. More than a hundred years later, this tale of the mild-mannered Dr. Jekyll and the drug that unleashes his evil, inner persona—the loathsome, twisted Mr. Hyde—has lost none of its ability to shock. Its realistic narrative chillingly relates Jekyll’s desperation as Hyde gains control of his soul—and gives voice to our own fears of the violence and evil within us. Written before Freud’s naming of the ego and the id, Stevenson’s enduring classic demonstrates a remarkable understanding of the personality’s inner conflicts—and remains the irresistibly terrifying stuff of our worst nightmares. Includes the Famous Cornell Lecture on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Vladimir NabokovWith an Introduction by Kelly Hurleyand an Afterword by Dan Chaon

"Eerily beautiful . . . Chaon] is the modern day John Cheever."--"Boston Sunday Globe " "Powerful and disturbing . . . The shocks in this collection are many."--"The Washington Pos""t"" " These haunting, suspenseful stories by acclaimed author Dan Chaon feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls--lost, fragile, searching characters who wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection--and exist in a twilight realm, in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But it is not, and neither are you. And since you cannot sleep, you stay awake. "Chaon is able to create fully realized characters in mere pages. . . . This collection is further proof that Chaon is one of the best fiction writers working right now."--"Omaha World-Herald"" ""There are not many fiction writers who can do what Dan Chaon can do. . . . He is] a literary force."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer"" ""Intense and suspenseful . . . a highly recommended work, not to be missed."--"Library Journa"l (starred review) "Mesmerizing . . . gripping, masterful fiction."--"The Plain Dealer"" ""Superbly disquieting."--"The New York Times Book Review"" "Don't miss the exclusive conversation between Dan Chaon and Emma Straub at the back of the book. Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

A tale of the impact of circumstance and fate on identity follows the interconnected lives of a little boy who is attacked by his mother's dog, a pregnant teenager who admits herself to a maternity home, a young man who considers a drug-dealing career, and a child who disappears from his grandmother's backyard. By the author of Among the Missing. Reader's Guide included. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Fitting Ends is the first collection of fiction by the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist Among the Missing and now appears in this newly revised edition with two never before collected stories. Written before Among the Missing and originally published by Northwestern University Press, Fitting Ends features thirteen stories detailing the almost panicked angst of the American generation now approaching thirty. Struggling with gaps between youthful expectations and adult experiences, these characters long for understanding and acceptance--but are thwarted by failed love, family disruptions, numbing work, and sexual confusion. Chaon is one of the most promising new voices in fiction, and this re-issued collection offers further evidence of his unique talent. "The best of these stories . . . possess a rare, disorienting force. When you look up from them, the quality of light seems a little different. It's a reminder to those of us who have almost forgotten what literature can sometimes do."--Boston Book Review "The most honest, observant and timely book written this year about the American generation now approaching thirty . . . Chaon speaks with clarity of feeling, and more than a little oddball wit, about the lives of those left behind the demographic curve of America--men and woman with pointless jobs, doughy faces, soured relationships, bad credit. . . . Each story pulls you into its subtle emotional vortex, largely because of Chaon's knack for simple but poignant detail."--New York Newsday "Remarkable . . . Each story is a marvel of complexity, dense with meaning and nuance. . . . Very few first works are as solid, moving, and pitch-perfect as Chaon's."--The Cleveland Plain Dealer" AN] OFTEN PERCEPTIVE, LUCID VOICE."--The New York Times Book Review