fiction and creative non-fiction from Brennan Quenneville
I wake to find the devil sitting near my bed. "Good morning, Jeff," he says. I rub my eyes. I am, obviously, delusional. Phantoms of evil don't just appear next to your nightstand, ready for an early morning chat. I blink. He's still there, not some horned, fork tongued little imp with a pointy tail [...]
In light of some of my recent commentary, some have wondered how well my manic beast survived the Fourth of July holiday. Elly survived, of course, though she didn't seem to enjoy the process all that much. What was probably the low point of her weekend came on Saturday night when a series of explosions [...]
Earth fought fiercely. I annihilated it all the same. The rings of Saturn were unable to defend their planet. I destroyed Pluto, too, just for old times' sake. By the time I was done even the sun was gone. No trace of the Milky Way remained save for the ruined detritus scattered in the wake of each [...]
Caitlin and I have two dogs. The younger one is named Jersey and is sweet, affectionate, and great with people and animals alike. This is Jersey: The older one is named Elly. She is terrible. Don't get me wrong, I love Elly unconditionally - I might even love that dog too much for all the [...]
Immersion is the goal. It doesn't matter which medium you're talking about. Art should suck you in, make you feel a part of another world so that you see its colors, feel its turmoil, and speak its tongues. In your mind, at least, the fiction should become the real. If that sounds more than a tad [...]
Over the past few weeks I've been going back through a lot of the story snippets that I generated during my 750 Words blitz, trying to see if there are any nuggets in there that are worth expanding and maybe even finishing up. The story that I've been focusing on most closely in last few [...]
On Friday night, Vasudeva - hailing from New Jersey and one of my all-time favorite instrumental bands - played just a mile or two from where I live. It was great to get out to see them again, especially since the last time I saw them was about a year ago in New Jersey, when [...]
There is a line in the Artifex Pereo song 'No Stranger to Worry' that reads, "Infatuated with a dark, looming end," which is not particularly eventful by itself. It's essentially a typical prog-rock lyric on what I consider to be a particularly excellent prog-rock album. I bring this up, though, because the phrasing and melody [...]
Whenever you're starting in on a new creative project, it's a good idea to have a plan going in. And it's a better idea to have a realistic plan. The better part of a year ago I was frustrated with my writing. I wasn't doing enough of it and what little I was doing wasn't [...]
Drums. Pulsing in the background, slow and throbbing. The kind of sound that you feel, the pressure of it coursing through the air, pushing and pulling on your ears and eyes. They are coming. "Get up." Williams was already awake. Terns dragged himself to a sit. I kicked Davis in the ribs to get him [...]
Songs & Stories 