About

Do you know the Ted Hughes poem that begins: “This house has been far out at sea all night; the woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills…”?

That could be Lee’s house.

Lee lives and writes in a house on a hill in Wellington, New Zealand. They say Wellington is the windiest city in the world (sorry, Chicago!) so while you’re reading this, Lee’s probably writing at her scuffed old dining table, while the wind buffets the house until it quivers. Chances are it’s raining too – horizontal rain that rattles against the windows and roars on the tin roof. Wellington has a lot of dark and stormy nights; it’s a good city for writers.

Lee writes m/m romance, usually fantasy, or historical, or both. She has, to date, written one contemporary m/m romance as well.

When not writing stories, she works in a large government department, mainly writing and editing.

She’s a member of the Write Wellington group, which meets once a month to write and critique in the historic Thistle Inn. They say the great Maori chief Te Rauparaha used to paddle his waka (canoe) to the Thistle for a quick one. Apparently, he was friends with the landlord.

Lee has a degree in Ancient History from the University of Auckland, and a certificate in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London.

She’s mostly reading history, fantasy, folk and fairy tales, and m/m romance.

Favorite books, in no particular order:

  • Ursula Le Guin (The Left Hand of Darkness, Birthday of the World)
  • Diana Wynne Jones (Magicians of Caprona)
  • Austin Chant (Peter Darling)
  • KJ Charles (Magpie Lord series)
  • Jordan Castillo Price (PsyCop, Mnevermind)
  • Jordan L Hawke (Whyborne and Griffin)
  • CS Pascat (Captive Prince trilogy)
  • Bill Bryson (At Home)
  • Linda Medley (Castle Waiting)
  • Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Saga)
  • Satsuki Yoshino (Barakamon)
  • Donna Tartt (The Secret History)
  • Nghi Vo (Singing Hills cycle)
  • Martha Wells (Murderbot).

I love to hear from readers, so feel free to drop me a line. Find me on Bluesky or Facebook (links in the ‘Connect’ page) or email me at leewelchwriter [at] gmail [dot] com

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