Into the wasteland cometh Marooned, a new campus literary magazine for and by ASU undergraduates.
The magazine's title is a reference to ASU's colors, maroon and gold. But Bryan Meyerowitz, an English and history sophomore and founder of the magazine, said it has another dimension.
He said the University doesn't have enough publishing opportunities for creative writing that undergraduates produce.
"We're barren at this point, and we need something to fill that space," he said.
In early March, Meyerowitz and Kira Hesser, an English sophomore, will be doing just that when they publish the first issue of Marooned and sell each 30-page printing for $2.
They said they plan to publish twice a semester, with another issue coming in May.
Meyerowitz said they would use the profits to print a lengthier and higher-quality magazine.
Hesser said she thought of starting the magazine in September, when she searched for a campus outlet for her creative energies and didn't find anything other than Hayden's Ferry Review.
While HFR does not discriminate based on graduate or undergraduate status, it circulates nationally, so ASU undergraduates compete with thousands of submissions from around the country.
Marooned's circulation will be local, so being published in it would be less competitive.
Meyerowitz said the magazine received about 100 submissions, including short stories and poetry, for the first issue and picked about 20.
Hesser and Meyerowitz raised about $200 for the project through a book sale they held in late January.
Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe donated about 300 books to help start the project.
In the end, Meyerowitz said Marooned isn't about making money.
"We're really just trying to find creative minds ... that can sort of express themselves in fresh ways," he said.
Reach the reporter at ilan.brat@asu.edu.
