Mercurius Magazine was founded in May 2020 with the aim of building a community of writers and artists around the themes of “transformation” and “vitality”. The site subsequently evolved to focus on contemporary surrealism.

Printed books are also published via “Mercurius Press”.

Who is Mercurius?

The word Mercurius comes from the alchemical concept of a “world-creating spirit”. It is the animating principle that dwells inside all things, a deity of vitality and transformation; the breath of life and death, the heart-beat enabling song; the integration of light and dark into vision; the beginning and the end of the alchemist’s quest; the base metal and the gold; the emptiness and the fullness of time. More info here.

What is the Surreal-Absurd?

The spirit of surrealism is alive and kicking and it is wild. It is always relevant because our mysterious complex organ of a brain goes well beyond the narrow confines of rational thinking. Unlike the historical surrealism of the 20th century, we don’t have any rules or manifestos about what surrealism is or should be. Some of our authors write deceptively simple prose-poems or micro-fiction that elucidate a single weird image or situation. Others draw inspiration from the complexity of John Ashberry or the rebellious experimentation of Dadaism.  Still more probe the absurdity of post-modernity and capitalism in crisis. One thing is clear though. We’re living in a golden age of surrealism. An era we’re thrilled to be part of. Both in the sense of our own writing practices and by editing this unique series.

What?

Mercurius is a volunteer-run magazine that does not own any intellectual property.

The site has five main sections:
Surreal-Absurd: Experiments in surrealism and absurdism
Images: Asemic writing, visual poetry, paintings, digital art, photography
Books: Print editions of the magazine published by Mercurius Press
Archive: A mysterious labyrinth
Submit: Fancy contributing your own work? Click here.

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EDITORS

Thomas Helm

Thomas is a writer, musician, and journalist. His two poetry pamphlets The Mountain Where Nothing Happens (Alien Buddha Press) and A Pilgrimage of Donkeys (Beir Bua Press) engage with elements of surrealism, minimalism, absurdism, alchemy and Buddhism. He founded Mercurius in 2020. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Neon Magazine. Click here for more details.

Marcus Silcock

Neurodivergent and nomadic, Marcus Silcock (FKA Slease) was born in Portadown, N. Ireland. His latest books include: Never Mind the Beasts (Dostoyevsky Wannabe), The Green Monk (Boiler House Press), Play Yr Kardz Right (Dostoyevsky Wannabe), Mu (Dream) So (Window (Poor Claudia), and Rides (Blart Books), among others. His poetry has been translated into Slovak, Turkish, Polish and Danish and has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including: Toad Suck Review, New World Writing, The Lincoln Review, Tin House, POETRY, Bath Magg, Tupelo Quarterly, and in the Best British Poetry series.  He comes from a working class background and currently teaches secondary school in Barcelona. He introduces Mercurius to contemporary poetry with surrealist and absurdist elements. Visit his website here: Never Mind the Beasts.

Vik Shirley

Vik Shirley's chapbook Corpses (Sublunary Editions) was published in 2020. Her collection The Continued Closure of the Blue Door (HVTN Press), her book of photo-poetry Disrupted Blue and other poems on Polaroid (Hesterglock Press), and her pamphlet Grotesquerie for the Apocalypse (Beir Bua Press) were published in 2021. Her work has appeared in such places as Poetry London, The Rialto, Magma, 3am Magazine, Shearsman and Tentacular. She is currently studying for a PhD in Dark Humour and the Surreal at the University of Birmingham and is Associate Editor of Sublunary Edition. She edits Surreal-Absurd. Visit her website here.

Ben Niespodziany

Benjamin Niespodziany's chapbook The Northerners was published by above / ground press in 2021. His writing has appeared in the Wigleaf Top 50, Fence, Fairy Tale Review, Maudlin House, Salt Hill Journal, and various others. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net. He works nights in a library in Chicago and runs the multimedia art blog [neonpajamas].

FORMER EDITORS

Nidia Hernández, Poetry of Life Editor

Nidia has travelled the world recording the voices of poets. Her Maja Desnuda is a shrine for poetry. She introduced Mercurius to contemporary poetry from North and South America. Read an interview with her here.

Andrea Mason, Fiction Editor

Andrea Mason is fascinated with work that considers the body, objects, art and spatiality; work that uses language as an artform, and considers the page as a space and hybrid texts which take risks with form and content. She curated Mercurius’s fiction section. Visit her website here. Twitter @Andrea__Mason Instagram @andreaemason

Richard Capener, Reviews Editor

Richard Capener's releases are KL7 (The Red Ceilings, 2022), Dance! The Statue Has Fallen! Now His Head is Beneath Our Feet! (Broken Sleep Books, 2021) and The Voice Without (Beir Bua Press, December 2022) alongside writing in UK, American and Canadian publications. He edits Hem Press.

Mariana Lemos, Future World(s) Editor

Mariana is a contemporary art curator focused on Feminist and Performance Art in times of climate crisis, drawing from Posthumanism, Queer, Feminist and Affect theories. She is an organising member of SALOON London, the FDRG feminist reading group. and Plants Speak If We Listen. She helped edit Mercurius’s Future World(s) section. Click here for more details.

The image at the top of this page “Is this the stuff dreams are made of?” is a painting by contemporary surrealist José Castiella