Lee Winter

Lee Winter (born in Christchurch, New Zealand) is the pen name of an Australian journalist and novelist specializing in lesbian fiction.

Biography

Lee Winter spent her early years growing up on the Gold Coast, Queensland, before her family moved to Brisbane. Originally, she had a three-decade career in journalism, winning awards for her work. Later, she became a novelist, specializing in lesbian fiction, covering genres from mystery and thriller to romance.

In 2015 Winter released the novel ''The Red Files''; Marisol Cortez of ''Lesbians on the Loose'' described it as "a great read by a promising debut author", praised the writing and characters, and noted the inspiration from Winter's journalism career. In 2016, she wrote the novel ''Requiem for Immortals''; Tara Scott of ''Lesbians on the Loose'' said, "if I want to read something from a different genre, it’s a relief to not have to leave lesfic to find it, and ''Requiem for Immortals'' perfectly scratches that itch." Both of these novels were nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery and won the Golden Crown Literary Society for Mystery/Thriller: ''The Red Files'' in 2016 and ''Requiem for Immortals'' in 2017.

In 2017 she wrote the novel ''Shattered'', which won the 2018 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy. In 2020, she wrote the novel ''Hotel Queens'', which won the 2021 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Romantic Blend.

In 2023 Winter started a new book series, ''The Villains'', with ''The Fixer'' as the inaugural title. Writing for ''Autostraddle'', Christina Tucker said of the book, "If you have ever known the joy and the pain of being totally head-over-heels invested in a slow burn, incomplete fanfic, then ''The Fixer'' is for you, I promise." ''The Fixer'' broke its publisher Ylva Publishing's record for most preorders.

That same year, Winter released another novel, ''Chaos Agent'', which Tucker said "surprised erwith its smart and heartfelt combination of questions about morality and ethics, as it concluded the story that began in ''The Fixer''. Writing for ''AfterEllen'', Claire Heuchan described ''The Villains'' as "a slick political thriller like ''Scandal'' if Olivia Pope was sapphic", noting that the relationship between the series' main characters Eden and Michelle was "the ultimate Opposites Attract romance". She was one of three winners of that year's Alice B Readers Award.

In 2024, Winter's ''Chaos Agent'' won for best Romantic Blend at the Golden Crown Literary Society Awards, as well as winning its top prize, the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award (Gold).

According to Heuchan, Winter's novels include a "deep understanding of media, politics, and how power is structured".

Winter works as an editor part-time.

Works

Novels

''On the Record'' series
* ''The Red Files.'' Book 1. (2015) 2. Auflage. Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2021, .
* ''Under Your Skin.'' Book 2. Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2018, .

''The Villains series''
* ''The Fixer.'' Book 1. Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2023, .
* ''Chaos Agent.'' Book 2. Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2023, .
* ''Number Six.'' Book 3. Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2025, .

Standalone novels
* ''Requiem For Immortals.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2016, .
* ''Shattered.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2017, .
* ''The Brutal Truth.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2017, .
* ''Breaking Character.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2018, .
* ''Changing The Script.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2019, .
* ''Hotel Queens.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2020, .
* ''The Awkward Truth.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2021, .
* ''Vengeance Planning for Amateurs.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2024, .

Short fiction

* ''Love is Not Nothing.'' E-Book. Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2017, .
* ''Sliced Ice: Lee Winter's Iconic Ice Queens.'' Ylva Publishing, Kriftel 2021, .

Awards

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Lee

Living people
Australian LGBTQ novelists
Australian lesbian writers
Lesbian novelists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Pseudonyms