A mermaid anthology…

Lines Underwater Anthology - Front Cover

LINES UNDERWATER is a mermaid anthology exploring mermaid myths in the modern world and creating new ones. Featuring artworks, writing and audio from over 40 contributors, here are tales of botched cosmetic surgery, 1950s glamour girls, mermaid chairs and singing sirens, postcards from Jenny Hanivers and memories of love affairs in the navy. Edited by Laura Seymour & Kirsten Tambling

“…this is a long way from the somewhat clichéd traditional view of a mermaid as an enchanting woman with a fish tail. Lines Underwater is by turns playful, thought-provoking and above all packed with original work.” – Caroline Davies, Sabotage

“A beautiful, mesmeric piece of work … there are no low points here. Here is a space that explores the grotesque, amusing and heartbreaking aspects of mermaids, as well as the fairytale portrayals we’re all so familiar with.

“Take a deep breath and jump in.” – Squeamish Bikini

Our brand new full-colour, 52-page anthology is now available for immediate dispatch for £10 + p&p in just one click. Checkout with Paypal below for a safe and secure purchase.
If you’d prefer an alternative method of payment (such as a cheque), feel free to get in touch at poemsunderwater @t gmail dot com.

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When will my order arrive?

We are super-fast when it comes to posting orders. We will post your order the same day if you order by 5pm, and early the next morning for orders placed after 5pm.

Are you based outside the UK?

If you’re based abroad, we’re happy to ship to you but p&p is probably a little bit more than it is within the UK – please email your location to poemsunderwater @t gmail dot com and we’ll figure out how much this is likely to be.

Thank You

Thank you very much for purchasing ‘Lines Underwater’, we hope you enjoy it. We’d love it if you could let us know what you think of the book, either by commenting here, sending us an email, or leaving us a comment on our Facebook, Twitter, or Goodreads pages. This is an independently published anthology, and we appreciate your support!

Contributors

In order of appearance: William Kherbek, Christopher Brown, Rebecca Gethin, Tony Winn, Katie Hale, Andrew Howell, C.R. Resetarits, Jennifer Brough, Jeanette Stevenson, Ieuan Edwards, Sara Eliot, Agnes Marton, Cheri Allcock, Piotr Cieplak, Karen Tang, Kirsten Tambling, Sarah McKee, Sue Wood, Christopher Mulrooney, Nicola Moorhouse, Phoebe Power, Polly Atkin, Andrew Souter, Bernd Sauermann, Kate Noakes, Ron Carey, Michele Brenton, Charlotte Higgins, Claire Trévien, Luciana Francis, Marie Naughton, Adam Steiner, Hilary Hares, Virginie Colline, Debby Akam, Jo Stanley, Meredith Knowles, Philip Burton, Chelsea Cargill, Jessica Taylor, and Ella Risbridger.

Thank  you to everyone who’s been involved in our project, by coming over to our website and submitting work to us. Thanks, too, to people who took the time to let us interview them and gave us comments about mermaids and their doings, especially Susan Wicks, Leo Geyer, and Martin Kratz.

And thank you to everyone whose fabulous work appears (or is soon to appear) on our website: May Dy, Penny Pepper, Sal Jones, RV Williams, Graham Burchell, Gill McEvoy, Katherine Shirley, Stephen Devereux, Denise Weaver-Ross, Kimberley Hayes,  Oliver Comins, Loz Atkinson, and Sandra Burnett.

 


Kilburn Comic & Zine Fair – February 15th

If you are in London this February, you might like to come down to Kilburn Comic & Zine Fair hosted by OOMK Zine on the 15th,

https://www.facebook.com/events/657152920997461/

It’s free to enter and is going to feature lots of fantastic things from people like Extra Bones, Dead Trees & Dye, and Melon Shrub.

We are going to bring some copies of our mermaid anthology ‘Lines Underwater’ to the fair, so come and say hi and get a copy if you’d like your very own book of new artwork and writing featuring mermaids! Take a look at a couple of the pages. Copies can also be bought right now from our online shop.


Zines of the Zone – Travelling Exhibition

Zines of the Zone is a travelling library of independent and self-published printed works containing, and relating to, photography. It’s going everywhere from Barcelona to Athens, and will be exhibiting the pieces it’s collected at special events in every city it visits.

Find out more about their project

We were very happy to hear about this fantastic project, and to donate a copy of our mermaid anthology ‘Lines Underwater’ for inclusion in the travelling library and exhibition.

Zines of the Zone logo

Zines of the Zone logo

Here on our website, you can read about some of the photography in our anthology, which ranges from a semi-animate bench and a romantic turtle to a mermaid’s-eye view with an underwater camera and a wiry siren (seen here in its fleshless glory), as well as lots of photographs by Kirsten Tambling. You can also take a look at some of the other artwork involved in our project.

And make sure to try and catch us at Zines of the Zone when it comes to a city near you. If you’d like to buy a copy of the anthology for yourself, it’s only £10 + p&p.


Exhibition at the Undercurrents Gallery now open

Thanks to everyone who came to our launch event at The Bird’s Nest on Friday 4 October. We are now open and on display in the Undercurrents Gallery, Deptford, until 30 October, so do pop by (there are also some events planned at the gallery as part of the exhibition).

Here are some photos from the installation:


Undersea Zines – Call for submissions

Undersea Zines at the Bird's Nest

As part of our residency at the Undercurrents Gallery throughout October, we’ll be hosting a zine and DIY fair open to all and free entry.

TABLES

We have a limited number of tables available for artists or zine-makers who want to sell their work during the day. If you’d like a spot, please send some mermaid-related samples to poemsunderwater @t gmail.com.

BRING AND SWAP

We’re also inviting people to come along and bring their own work to swap or share. As long as it’s mermaid-related, we’d love to see it.

You can also find out more and join the event on our Facebook page.


Maritime Urban Legends: Residency at the Undercurrents Gallery, Deptford

Don’t miss our residency at the Undercurrents Gallery, Deptford from next Friday, 4 October 2013!

We’ll be collaborating with the Minesweeper Collective (who hosted our launch event on the 14th) to offer a programme of events around the theme of maritime urban legends.
Lots still to come, but the following have all been confirmed:

Friday 4 October

Exhibition opens.

Launch event hosted by the Minesweeper Collective, featuring live music and poetry.

Wednesday 16 October

Open mic session, including Luciana Francis, Oswaldo Santos, and Jan Lee

Wednesday 23 October

Open mic session including Andrew Souter and Tony Winn

Sunday 27 October

Mer-zine and craft fair in the Undercurrents Gallery – line up TBC (email poemsunderwater @t gmail.com if you’re interested in selling your own work)

Wednesday 30 October

Open mic session including Charlotte Higgins

Thursday 31 October

Last night of the exhibition! Live sea shanties from 7pm till 1am.

Each event will also include an opportunity to buy our anthology ‘Lines Underwater’.

If you’ve got your own mermaid stories to tell or mermaid-themed music to play, we’ve got slots available throughout the month – get in touch to tell us your idea.

To stay up to date, you can also join the event on Facebook.


Poems Underwater – Launch event in Deptford

Poems Underwater set sail last night on board a boat in Deptford (courtesy of the brilliant Minesweeper Collective).

We launched our new anthology, Lines Underwater, exhibited some of the artworks made as part of the project, and heard readings from some of the poets and writers involved. Musicians Tony Winn, Andrew Souter, Luciana Francis and Sara Eliot performed sets, and we had a splendid mermaid cake (you may remember the original one) courtesy of Alice Saville (RaddingtonB).

Here are some photos from the night…

Thank you so much to everyone who came along, performed and helped make it such a great night.

If you missed it, you can see the artworks from this exhibition, along with a few extra, at the Undercurrents Gallery, Deptford, from 4 October – 1 November 2013. We’ll also be publishing details of events running alongside this in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.


Tony Winn – The Mermaid

 

Tony Winn’s great song The Mermaid is featured in our anthology, which you can buy online. He’ll also be performing it at our launch party this Saturday:

 

 

Lyrics

I don’t want to sit on this rock for ever
I can’t get to sleep on the sea bed
My complexion has been ruined by salt water
And who wants seaweed – all over her head

she prays for the day when a bold sea captain
will be lured by her mystical charms
and his ship will be wrecked on the rocks below
and the tide will bear him to her arms
but these days sailors are better educated
and they don’t believe in mythical sights
and they know that the sound of the mermaid’s song
is just the wind in the night

there was a time long ago when it was easy pickings
and you just had to hum a little tune
and a thousand sails would appear on the horizon
reflecting the beams of the moon
but these days ships are different
and they’re powered by the diesel engine
and you can’t hear the sound of the mermaids song
above the din of the piston thumping

one day she was sitting on her usual rock
with her tail stretched out in the sun
when a sailing yacht hove into view
she lifted up her head and sung
and the ship hit the rocks & the wind tore her sail
and the sailor was clinging to the wheel
and she knew that if once her eyes met his
his heart she would surely steal
but then a noise she heard
like a chopping sound in the air
and a rope came down and the sailor went up
air sea rescue – it just isn’t fair.

 

Essex man Tony Winn writes and performs his own songs and poems in a variety of styles covering all aspects of life, love , the universe and whatever else there is or may be!! An actor and member of a number of groups he also performs his one-man-show “Singing in the Bath” – Visit his world at www.tonywinn.org.uk

 


Launch event next week…

We’ve had lots of exciting deliveries this week, and many things to do as we prepare for our special launch event on Saturday (including some sheet painting, so we now have a flag).

We’re fully booked for Saturday, but if you’re missing out, don’t worry – you can come and see us for the whole month of October at the Undercurrents Gallery, Deptford. Here, we’ll be exhibiting selected works from the anthology and running a number of projects and events.

 


Residency at The Undercurrents Gallery, Deptford

We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be exhibited selected artworks from the project at Deptford’s Undercurrents Gallery from Friday 4 October 2013 until the end of the month.

As part of this project, we’ll also be holding a few open mic nights and some other mermaid-themed events, so stay tuned for more information coming soon…