Published in Overland Issue False Documents · Uncategorized False Documents: an introduction Dave Drayton Dear Paul, Paul, Sonia, and Tony, I would like to congratulate you on your publication in Overland’s special fiction edition, ‘False Documents’. Your documents were chosen after a blind-reading of more than 300 entries, narrowed down to a not-so-shortlist of 30-odd works, before the final selection There were meta-critical and existential post-it notes; numerous Wikipedia entries so studiously facsimiled that I’d find myself searching the website, certain they had been copy and pasted; more meticulously and inventively documented crimes than Dick Wolf could ever hope to produce; intra- and inter-office email threads that were unstitched; love letters; threats; liner notes for non-existent albums; and so much more I could not have imagined when putting the callout for false documents. The best (and there were some great submissions that could not be included) were those in which the narrative potential of the story was inextricably linked to the shape and form it took. Thank you again for the opportunity to read your work, and to share it as part of this series of false documents. Firm regards, Dave Read the False Documents edition If you enjoyed this special edition, subscribe and receive a year’s worth of print issues, the online magazine, special editions and discounted entry to our literary competitions Dave Drayton Dave Drayton is a poet, writer and Overland poetry reader He is a founding member of the Atterton Academy, Kanganoulipian, and the author of E, UIO, A: a feghoot (Container), P(oe)Ms (Rabbit), A Pet Per Ably-Faced Kid (Stale Objects dePress) and Haiturograms(Stale Objects dePress). Find him on Overland and Twitter. More by Dave Drayton › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 22 November 202422 November 2024 · Fiction A map of underneath Madeleine Rebbechi They had been tangled together like kelp from the age of fourteen: sunburned, electric Meg and her sidekick Ruth the dreamer, up to all manner of sinister things. So said their parents; so their teachers reported when the two girls were found down at the estuary during a school excursion, whispering to something scaly wriggling in the reeds. 21 November 202421 November 2024 · Fiction Whack-a-mole Sheila Ngọc Phạm We sit in silence a few more moments as there is no need to talk further; it is the right place to end. There is more I want to know but we had revisited enough of the horror for one day. As I stood up to thank Bác Dzũng for sharing his story, I wished I could tell him how I finally understood that Father’s prophecy would never be fulfilled.