<p>This volume of <em>The Conium Review</em>&nbsp;features nine new stories from Emily Koon, Tamara K. Walker, Rita Bullwinkel, Marina Petrova, Kayla Pongrac, Ingrid Jendrzejewski, Zach Powers, and Theodora Ziolkowski. The pieces include a mix of flash fiction and short stories, each with a penchant for innovative characterization, bizarre settings, and other weirdness. You&rsquo;ll discover a dictator in a jar, a modernized fairy tale, a person living as a Tinseltown extra, and more.<br />
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This issue includes 'The People Who Live in the Sears,' by Emily Koon, winner of of <em>The Conium Review</em>&#39;s 2015 Innovative Short Fiction Contest. The contest was judged by Amelia Gray, author of <em>Gutshot</em>, <em>THREATS</em>, <em>Museum of the Weird</em>, and <em>AM/PM</em>. Amelia called Emily&#39;s story 'a little George Saunders, a little Don Barthelme, but best of all a lot of its own thing, the neon Jazzercize glory of the 80s going up like the asbestos-fueled fire it features.'</p>