Brandon Quinn

The longer version

Brandon is a writer, musician, business owner, and software engineer. He graduated from Rowan University with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and saxophone performance.

His first publication grew out of music. During college he became fascinated by quarter tones, the notes that sit halfway between the familiar twelve, and mapped out fingerings for quarter tones across most of the saxophone’s range. That work became Quarter Tone Technique for Saxophone (2017), followed by Introduction to Quarter Tone Composition. In 2025 he relaunched both books along with quartertonemusician.com (opens in a new tab).

In late 2023 he published Method Matters, a practical guide to critical thinking that Kirkus Reviews called “a simple introduction to critical thinking and its practical benefits that readers will find easy to grasp.” Mental Mosaics, a collection of 200 logic puzzles, followed in 2024, and then the Hexakai puzzle book.

His first work of fiction is a collection of mystery short stories, The Investigations of Rockwell & Chase (2027), in which a street-smart former cop and a software engineer form their own private investigative agency and solve cases from burglary to homicide.

Hexakai started as a game: a Sudoku-inspired puzzle played on hexagons, now on the web, iOS and Android at hexakai.com (opens in a new tab). He has since made more games, including Hyperkai (in beta) and a blindfold chess trainer (in beta).

Outside of writing, Brandon develops software with a focus on systems design and problem-solving and works to find creative intersections between technology, mathematics, and the arts. On the blog he writes about puzzles and reasoning, recommends a book every month, and shares notes on writing and making games.