"Here are stories to read again and again. Here is language to live in. David Hayden is a serious force."—Sam Lipsyte, author of The Fun Parts

Driven hypnotically forward by a powerful, deeply felt narrative force, the stories in this debut collection pull off that rare trick of captivating the reader, while twisting the form into truly new shapes. With an imagist's flair for photographic observation and unsettling, often startling, emotional landscapes, Darker With the Lights On introduces a mesmeric new literary talent with seismic potential.