Yoon Ha Lee

Yoon Ha Lee is a highly regarded Korean-American fantasy writer, best known for his "Machineries of Empire" series of books. In addition to his work on this series, Lee is also an accomplished short story writer who has received numerous accolades and been published in various publications.

Born on January 26, 1979 in Houston, Texas, Lee is a Korean American who writes fantasy and science fiction stories, as well as military fiction and fairy tales. He has a particular fondness for writing short stories, but has also dabbled in poetry. As a child, Lee lived in both South Korea and Texas, attending high school in Korea and learning English at an international school.

Lee's first published story, "The Hundredth Question," appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1999. Since then, he has published over two dozen further stories. He currently resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In addition to his writing, Lee has a B.A. in math from Cornell University and an M.A. in math education from Stanford University. He finds it continually delightful that math can be a source of ideas for his stories. His novel "NINEFOX GAMBIT" won the Locus Award for best first novel and was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Clarke awards. The sequels, "RAVEN STRATAGEM" and "REVENANT GUN," were also Hugo finalists. His middle grade space opera "DRAGON PEARL" won the Mythopoeic Award for Children's Literature and the Locus Award for best YA novel, and was a New York Times bestseller. Lee's hobbies include composing music, art, and "destroying the reader." He currently lives in Louisiana with his family and an extremely lazy cat.