What happens when we choose to see the world in terms of treachery, trickery and deceit? Perhaps we would discover that epic myths and theoretical abstractions are the lies we need in order to navigate chaos——or as the writer and poet Joan Didion would like to say it: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” In between stories, art, and lies, what fertile ground for thought do we find?

With this issue, Simulacrum Magazine invited writers and artists to contribute scholarly articles, freeform essays, creative writing and image-based art that engages with lies.