Arrow Rock is committed to promoting and providing a mature environment for Lindenwood University students to publish quality fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, plays, and artwork while showcasing the integrity and the individual talents of each writer or artist.
The staff and contributors of Arrow Rock strive to produce a literary journal that interests and inspires.
16th Edition – 2024
Erin Maixner
Erin Maixner is a senior at Lindenwood University who is majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. After graduation, she plans on becoming a high school English teacher and also hopes to be an author as well someday. When she is not writing, doing on homework, or working her job as a preschool teacher, she enjoys hiking, biking, diamond painting, puzzles, going to local coffee shops, and reading. Her favorite genres she enjoys reading are fantasy, romance, thriller, horror, mystery, and gothic. She has one published poem in Arrow Rock. https://arrowrockjournal.com/2023/05/01/if-these-walls-could-talk/.
Cayley DuBray
Cayley DuBray is a senior at Lindenwood University majoring in English with a literary emphasis and a minor in Creative Writing and is set to graduate December 2024. She is a member of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society and has one piece published in the Lindenwood University Digital Commons. Cayley loves writing and reading and spends most of her free time doing both, though she is very passionate about the Sims4. She plans to pursue video game writing in the future while also writing on the side. She hopes to someday publish a novel or two and dreams of writing a possible bestseller.
Madeline Cronin
Madeline Cronin transferred from Missouri State University, and is now a junior at Lindenwood University. She is pursuing an English major with an emphasis in Creative Writing, and a Sociology minor. When she has the time, she’s often spending it drawing, writing, or with friends. Off campus, she’s either working at Harper’s Doggie Daycare, babysitting, or she’s at home with her parents and her own two dogs. Maya Angelou inspired her to start writing all the way back in seventh grade, and remains one of her favorite authors to this day. Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is still one of her favorite books. Madeline hopes to publish her poetry… she just has to actually write it first. She has been published once in 2020 in Currents magazine.
Michael Samuel
Michael Samuel is currently a junior at Lindenwood University majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. He is currently aiming to graduate by May 2025. This is his first year working on the Arrow Rock Literary Journal. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing, and watching movies and tv. His favorite genres to read include fantasy, science fiction, thriller, and horror. He especially enjoys a good time travel story. His favorite television show is Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House by Mike Flanagan. After graduation, he hopes to have a career writing and editing books aimed at a young adult audience.
Holly Burchett
Holly Burchett is currently a junior undergraduate student at Lindenwood University majoring in Creative Writing with minors in both Theatre and Art History. When she’s not writing or in rehearsal, you will likely find her cozied up at home reading, playing video games, re-watching old seasons of Survivor, or working on a new embroidery project. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Holly would like to pursue writing as well as acting, hopefully resulting in a published novel and as consistent of an acting career as one could hope for. Holly has been previously published in Collinsville High School’s 2021 edition of Kahok Ink with her poem “The Waltz”.
Helen Ball
Helen Ball is a sophomore English Literature major at Lindenwood University with a minor in Critical Thinking. She is new to the creative writing field, but she enjoys writing short nonfiction and humor pieces and hopes to improve and publish some of her work one day. Helen loves reading British literature and classic novels, studying logic and philosophy, baking, and playing violin. She is involved in the Philosophy Club and the Orchestra at Lindenwood. She can often be found re-watching BBC’s Pride and Prejudice or listening to The Beach Boys. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Helen plans to attend graduate school and eventually work as an editor or professor.
Amber Budd
Amber Budd is a senior at Lindenwood University majoring in Creative Writing. After her bachelor’s degree, she plans on pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Lindenwood with the ultimate goal of a PhD in English in order to become a college professor. Besides reading and writing, she spends most of her free time playing video games (like the Horizon franchise), drawing, or rewatching various Star Wars movies and shows. One day, she hopes to write cozy fantasy and sci-fi novels, but for now, she mainly focuses on short stories and poetry. Amber has one sci-fi short story published in Winged Penny Review and several pieces published in both the 2022 and 2023 editions of Mid Rivers Review.
Raya Kruger
Raya Kruger is a transfer student from St. Louis Community college, and is currently a Junior at Lindenwood University majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. He has had a passion for writing and reading all of his life, even writing his first poem at four years old. In his free time he enjoys reading, buying books (ignoring the piles of books at home), listening to music, and of course writing. As a transgender and biracial writer, he likes to express his experiences through poetry and creative prose. He is the 2024 winner of the Linda L. Ross Creative Writing Award for his piece “Fragile Identity: The Body and Its Roots” featured in Arrow Rock 16th Issue.
Chloe Dee
Chloe Dee is a junior at Lindenwood University and studying English with Emphasis in Creative Writing with minors in Art History and Studio Art. Two of her pieces were published in issue 15 of Arrow Rock, and she’s excited to join the team to create issue 16. Chloe spends much of her time writing, drawing, and gaming, but she also dabbles in photography and sewing. She hopes to become a successful author and illustrator, and start up her own online shop for her art. She is drawn to cute, creepy, and galactic subjects for her writing and art. To keep up with her work, follow @blissful_production_16 on Instagram.
Bree Stock
Bree Stock is a Sophomore at Lindenwood University. She is pursuing a major in English with a Creative Writing emphasis and minor in Digital Art. Bree is an active member of the sorority Phi Sigma Sigma and Lindenwood’s Creative Writing Club. After graduating, she plans on pursuing a career as an author and is currently working on her first book. Bree spends much of her free time reading, writing, and drawing. Currently, she has a couple of published pieces and is super excited to get more of her work out into the world.
Aleah Worzel
Aleah Worzel loves fantasy romance. That’s about all she knows about herself. She’s currently a junior Creative Writing major who dreams of filling the world with more stories about sexy vampires and fae and anything that is kind of creepy, but mostly hot. She has yet to find a publisher interested in her particular…skill set. She released her own tiny literary journal last year for a school assignment and is soon starting her side-hustle as a ghost writer. She would like to thank everyone who submitted a piece for this issue of Arrow Rock and to encourage them to keep creating!
Kaya Bain
Kaya Bain is a senior in high school. She is currently homeschooled and taking classes at Lindenwood University. After she graduates from high school, she is planning on studying aerospace engineering. She mostly writes fantasy and science fiction but will occasionally try to write something more realistic. She often has new ideas of stories she wants to write, but tends to get distracted before actually writing them, never mind finishing them. She has had a few pieces published in The Luminous Literary Magazine, a non-competitive magazine for homeschooled middle and high schoolers. In her free time, she is part of an FRC robotics team, where she works on programming robots. She also does taekwondo and is a second degree black belt.
Aria Nichole
Aria Nichole is a senior at Lindenwood University who is majoring in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing. When she is not writing or reading, she spends her time with her husband, trying out different restaurants in and around the Saint Louis area and posting about it on her foodstagram, @SheEatsStL. Currently, she works at St. Charles City-County Library and is a social media intern for the library at Lindenwood University. Aria has 3 published poems that you can find on her website, arianichole.com. Someday, she wants to be a New York Times Best Selling Author, own a bookstore, and host fantasy events in the St. Louis area!
Allison Brown
Allison Brown is a sophomore at Lindenwood University studying English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She has published a few pieces under the name A.L. Goetemann to Currents, the literary journal at Meramec-STLCC, and plans to publish more under the same name. She hopes to publish and print her own pieces and expand operations into a publishing company to bring the means of publishing into the hands of creatives. When not writing, she can be found playing almost any cozy game, reading, crocheting, and planning her first D&D campaign (which is coincidentally within a story she’s developing, and she really should finish that first).
Raegan Blair
Raegan Blair is currently a Lindenwood sophomore double majoring in English and Game Design and plays on the Lindenwood women’s rugby team. She loves to write short stories that pull from different horror and thriller genres but doesn’t turn her nose to the occasional fantasy piece! She boasts an impressive first place win in a poetry competition from her middle school years, but otherwise does not currently have any pieces published and is eager to get one of her works out there! In the future, she hopes to work as a narrative designer or writer for a video game development studio.
Ellie/Elix Jones
Ellie/Elix Jones is a senior at Lindenwood who is majoring in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis and has a certification in Executive Writing. She will be graduating in May 2024, so in the meantime she will try to write new stories or work on current ones by expanding upon the world. Elix has not yet been published by any literary journal or contest. They are currently working on a few pieces: The Order of Velnanor, The Runes of Reiven, and The Souls of Orellion. Someday, Elix wants to become a best selling author and surpass JK Rowling in popularity with no transphobia or homophobia present in their works. They want to have a series of books and maybe movies in the fantasy dystopian genre.
Eric Mulherin
Eric Mulherin is a senior at Lindenwood University, holding a major in English with a Creative Writing emphasis. He often pursues a variety of creative outlets, including music, poetry, and prose pieces. His Pop EP, Now In Color, released on music streaming services in 2022, features him in the role of producer and songwriter, and his wife, Zoe, as the lead singer. He’s currently working on a narrative poetry book, planned for release in late Spring/early Summer 2024. Outside of creative projects, Eric works at the St. Charles City-County Library and is interning at the Lindenwood Writing Center for the Spring 2024 semester.
Pearl Johnson
Pearl Johnson is a sophomore at Lindenwood University currently studying English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and is also in the process of getting a minor in history. She enjoys writing almost everything, especially fan fiction, historical fiction and poetry. Pearl loves reading, playing video games, writing for fun, listening to music, watching movies, tv shows, especially cartoons and anime, such as Haikyu, Gravity Falls, SpongeBob, and Jujutsu Kaisen. She has written all her life and wishes to be published. For now, she is studying to get her bachelor’s and is planning to go to graduate school for library sciences afterwards.
Connor Vargas
Connor Vargas is a senior at Lindenwood University, and is majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. When he is not working on homework or earning cash on the side, he is working on any multitude of personal projects that he has currently on-going. He has published three pieces in Arrow Rock Literary Journal, “Atomic Ballet,” “fleur,” and “Potassium Nitrate.” After graduation, he hopes to acquire a job in the ever-increasingly choppy waters of the film and television or videogame industries. It is his greatest hope that his inane shouts into the void have brought someone somewhere some level of peace.
Brenden Stock
Brenden Stock is a Senior Creative Writing major and plans to graduate in May 2024. In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Brenden will have a minor in Anthropology. This is his second year working on the Arrow Rock Literary Journal. He currently has one piece published titled The Phoenix of Carthac, which can be found in the 15th edition of the Arrow Rock Literary Journal. He plans to become a video game writer after graduation and hopes to one day write a book. Brenden is a member of Lindenwood’s Creative Writing Club and works for LU reslife as an OA at the Linden Lodge. In high school, Brenden was on the varsity swim team and in his school’s jazz band, marching band, and symphonic band. Brenden still enjoys swimming as often as possible in his free time, in addition to reading, writing, and watching a good movie.
Isabel Boyd
Isabel Boyd is a junior at Lindenwood University majoring in English with Emphasis in Creative Writing and Political Science. When she is not writing stories, she spends her time with friends. She currently does not have any published pieces, but she has a passion for writing. She wants to either have a career in advocating or implementing policies or decision making for the common good, but she also wants to do writing on the side. She has a great skill for what she loves and will work hard for whatever she wishes to accomplish.
John Rogan
John Rogan is a senior at Lindenwood University graduating with a major in Acting and a minor in Creative Writing. Any time he has outside of classes, rehearsals, and a regular 9-5 job he spends writing, hiking, forging armor, streaming, and playing the guitar at the grungiest pubs in town. John hasn’t been published yet, but he’s hoping to get plenty of letters of rejection in the future. While his main occupation is acting in various productions around the St. Louis area, he plans to pursue voice acting and writing on the West Coast after graduation.
Arrow Rock Literary Journal 