Lesley Conner and Apex’s 2025 Kickstarter
Lesley Conner and Apex’s 2025 Kickstarter
By Angelique Fawns
Apex Magazine is where readers go to find stories that are strange, surreal, shocking, and beautiful. For almost 20 years, this publication has provided a home for some of the most thought-provoking — and sometimes uncomfortable — fiction I’ve personally read. The latest Kickstarter was awarded the coveted “Project We Love”, and has already passed its funding goal. However, the more money they can raise, the more stories Lesley Conner can buy.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/apexpublications/apex-magazine-2025
Conner is the editor-in-chief of Apex Magazine and no stranger to dark fiction. She’s the author of The Weight of Chains –a magic-filled horror — and has co-edited five anthologies. There are some very cool rewards available including a critiques from the Apex staff. The next open call for this magazine will be for unpublished authors only during August and September, 2024.
I asked the Lesley Conner a few questions:
AF: Can you give us some hints as to what kind of stories are most likely to be successful?
LC: This is a really hard question to answer. Because I could say that a story that deals with a current societal issue through a speculative lens and evokes strong emotions would be most likely to succeed. I could also say a speculative story that deals with a world view that is different from my own. But at the same time if you send me a story that makes me feel as if you truly see and understand where I come from … yeah, that’s also a winner. When it comes down to it, I want all those stories. I want stories that make me feel big emotions, that open my view of the world and galaxy beyond, I want stories that feel like the writer is sitting next to me and telling me a story that is meant for me only. When it comes right down to it, the writer needs to write a story that is important to them. If you tell your story, then you’ve already succeeded.
AF: What do you see too much of?
LC: I’m not sure I see too much of it, but the one piece of feedback I give to authors regularly when passing on a submission is that the speculative element isn’t strong enough for Apex. A good test is if you can take the speculative element out of your story and the story stays the pretty much the same, then you know that isn’t a story to send me.
An example would be a ghost story where the main character sees ghosts, but those ghosts never interact with the setting or other characters. Are there ghosts in this story? Or is the main character hallucinating? We don’t know, and if they’re hallucinating, then the story isn’t speculative.
Another example would be if you’re writing a near-future sci-fi story that uses technology that is very close to what we use today. If your only speculative element is these pieces of technology that we could reasonably see in the next five to ten years, then I don’t feel that is a strong enough speculative element for Apex.
I’m looking for stories with a strong speculative element that interacts with the story and helps move the plot along.
AF: What is your number one piece of advice for new writers?
LC: I know it has been said so many times before, but it’s so important: read. Read the magazines that you hope to be published in one day. Read the classics. Read outside of the genres that you write. Find authors writing/publishing now and figure out what makes their stories work. Slush for a magazine if you can. The more stories that you can read, enjoy, dissect, the better, because the more you read, the more you will understand what works, what doesn’t, what has been done over and over again. You’ll develop your own tastes and hopefully find your own unique voice that will set you apart from other writers. You would be shocked by how many times I’ve heard writers say they don’t read or say that they don’t read anything that’s been recently published.
AF: Tell us about your writing journey?
LC: I’ve always been a big reader, but it wasn’t until after I got married and decided to stay home with my older daughter that I started to take writing seriously. It gave me something that was mine; something outside of being a mom and wife. And while I love being a mom and wife, having an identity of my own was incredibly important for my mental health.
I started writing horror short stories and sold a handful to anthologies. Then I decided to expand a short story I’d written into a novel when my writing mentor J.F. Gonzalez ask me why I was trying to shove a novel into a short story. (When your favorite author tells you to write a novel, you write a novel!) He read horrid early drafts, helped me make them better, and was patient with me when it took me years to realize the book was done. Then he helped me write the summary and submit it. He taught me so much about the business part of being a writer. He passed away on November 10th, 2014 and I received an acceptance for my novel The Weight of Chains on November 11th. It was bitter sweet.
I more less stopped writing for a long time after that. I have about 20,000 words of a follow up novel written, but grief … well, yeah. But I’m getting back to it. Next year I’m planning to rerelease The Weight of Chains. It will be 10 years since it was originally published, so it’s time for a new addition. I’ve also been writing with my mom. We’re co-writing a paranormal romance series together. I’m hoping to have the first two books ready to release either late this year or early next year.
It feels good to be writing again.
AF: If you could do something differently in your career path, what would it be?
LC: I wish I hadn’t stopped writing after J.F. passed. I know why I did, and taking that time allowed me to heal. It also gave me the time and energy to build my editing career — which I absolutely love — but I wish I would have made space to just write a few words here and there. Maybe not with the intentions of ever publishing them, but just made the space for them. It’s hard now, after a decade of being so focused on editing, to find that time to write. I think if I had done it all along, it wouldn’t be such a struggle now.
AF: How have you seen Apex evolve over the years?
LC: It’s weird how when you’re in the middle of something you don’t really see the changes. Sure, I know there have been changes: changes in the team, who the eic is, what we publish. It’s a constant flux, but it … also stays the same. I’ve had some of the same deadlines since I became managing editor of Apex Magazine back at the beginning of 2015, and really from that point it was such a gradual transition from managing editor to co-editing with Jason Sizmore to becoming the sole editor-in-chief that the changes blur together.
AF: What is exciting you most in the genre of horror these days?
LC: As a fan of horror, there are so many amazing stories out there right now — in short fiction, novels, movies, and TV. Growing up a kid in the 80s and 90s, most of the horror I was exposed to was very white and geared directly at the male gaze. I still loved it, but looking back now I can see how lacking it truly was. Luckily, things are getting better! We’re getting stories from so many more perspectives!
Just a few examples (and some of my favorites):
- The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste (novel)
- The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher (novel)
- Linghun by Ai Jiang (novella)
- His House (movie on Netflix)
- “A Monster in the Shape of a Boy” by Hannah Yang (short story)
- “Kɛrozin Lamp Kurfi,” by Victor Forna (short story)
There are so many others! It’s fantastic and makes me so excited to be a horror fan right now!
https://horrortree.com/lesley-conner-and-apexs-2025-kickstarter/?feed_id=2774&_unique_id=66a8f2459c752
