Brilliant Disguise

Brilliant Disguise was a writing exercise of ours that ran for the duration of 2011. It featured short fiction inspired by Bruce Springsteen lyrics. A daunting task, but the stories brave enough to go up against the Boss are below.

I’m riding down Kingsley, / figurin’ I’ll get a drink — “Something in the Night”
“Something in the Night” by Mike Sweeney

He was standin’ in the door, I was standin’ in the rain /
With the same hot blood burning in our veins — “Adam Raised a Cain”
“Carbon” by Ryan Werner

A ragged suitcase in his hand, he steals silently away from the circus grounds / And the highway’s haunted by the carnival sounds — “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”
“Seven of Swords” by T.S. Mallow

Yesterday I went shopping, buddy, down to the mall
— “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)”
“My Mother’s Bra Size” by Adam Lucas

Early in the morning factory whistle blows / Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light
It’s the working, the working, just the working life — “Factory”
“The Working Life” by Matthew Oldridge

‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run — “Born to Run”
“To Your Memory: New Jersey” by Rebecca Camarda

She’ll let you in her mouth, if the words you say are right — “Secret Garden”
“The Dark Side of Serendipity” by Denise Willson

Remember the morning we dug up your gun / The worms in the barrel, the hangin’ sun — “Devil’s Arcade”
“Devil’s Arcade” by Ally Malinenko

It’s been such a long, long time since it’s been good with us
And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost your trust
 — “Fade Away”
“Coda” by Danielle Stewart

Sundown, sundown / They’re taking all the tents down
Where have you gone my handsome Billy?
— “The Last Carnival”
“Carnival’s Last Show” by Walter Giersbach