Chris Kauzlarich is the author of the new story collection Menagerie in the Dark. He also has written the novella Lazarus. He lives in Chicago and in Naples, Florida.
Q: Over how long a period did you write the stories in Menagerie in the Dark?
A: Menagerie in the Dark took me about a year to turn into a finished collection, but the stories inside had been collecting dust on my computer—some for as long as 12 years, while others were only a few. It was only after I had the thought to assemble them that I realized I could create a thematic arc.
I picked out my favorite 14 stories from the pile I had, then sat back to assess them. I saw that their flow from dusk to dawn followed a mood shift, which was a really cool experience. I wish the stories were ready at that point, but I only had them in rough draft format.
After months of revision and substantial reworking of several stories to flesh them out completely, Menagerie in the Dark was finally realized.
Q: How did you decide on the book’s title, and what does it signify for you?
A: The book’s title was actually the first one I thought of, and it stuck with me right away. My brainstorming began by looking at the stories holistically, and what stood out to me were the characters and the number of dark themes I had.
Each member of this diverse group seemed to dance in their own version of darkness—some plunging to their lowest depths, and others, toward the end of the collection, rising into the light. It reminded me of a circus, and of course, a book titled “The Night Circus” already existed.
That’s when the word “menagerie” started floating around in my head. A collection of characters—the menagerie navigating the dark. The lightbulb went off, and my collection’s title was born.
Q: Can you say more about how you chose the order in which the stories would appear in the collection?
A: I grouped my stories together almost instinctively without assigning a deeper meaning to what I’d done: melancholic stories, horror, and what I call the leftovers—those few that didn’t end dark and tragic.
As I mentioned earlier, it took some time to determine how the flow of the collection should unfold, with me initially doubting whether it would even work—the stories were quite different, and the ones that were similar were too few; was a collection even possible?
That’s when I realized how the stories flowed and the parallels to darkness and light, night and day, began to emerge. Maybe the collection was possible, I thought. It would be a journey through horror, starting with more realistic tragedies before morphing into the supernatural or horrific, then catching that first glimmer of light toward a hopeful tomorrow. My order was set!
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: I hope readers are not only entertained by Menagerie in the Dark but also walk away from the book realizing that despite all the darkness, if they look toward the horizon—that rising sun in the east—they will see a brighter tomorrow. Darkness is cyclical and must end at some point.
Obviously, with some of my horror tales in part two, they don’t need to be that deep; a good jump scare or shiver of fright will do too!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Right now, I am working on a suspense novel about a couple who move to an affluent town after nearly separating. While there, they encounter a woman with a dark past that makes them feel uneasy. She warns of the town's dark side, how they treat and ostracize people, leaving the reader wondering which is the real threat: her, the town, or both?
This book is currently with my editor, and I hope to begin a round of revisions with editorial notes at the end of July 2025.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I just want to thank all the readers out there who give my book a chance. Being a writer has been my dream since I was a boy growing up in the suburbs of Chicago.
I remember always begging my mom to take me to Barnes & Noble, where I’d get lost in stories for hours on end. I wanted to be one of those writers one day, someone who could walk into a bookstore or my local library and see a copy of a book I wrote waiting for a reader to pick it up and escape into a world like I had done so many times before.
I have so many stories inside me, with outlines for at least six books just waiting for me to start them. With my full-time job and family, I’m a bit of a slow writer and constantly have to slap my hand away whenever I consider starting a new story while I’m already working on one.
The ideas drift in and out, so I do my best to capture them in notes to come back to later—especially when I’m out in the wilderness. The open road and getting lost in the woods are my favorite times to sit with some notes and create a loose, rough outline—I don’t like to get too detailed since I’m a bit of a pantser.
And if you’re wondering how often I venture into the wilderness, the answer is quite often—my husband, daughter, and I travel several months out of the year in our RV, and the fresh air, mountain scenery, and hikes get the creative juices flowing like nothing else. (I’m doing this interview from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming as we speak!)
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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