Writer to Writer – Featured Guest

At a time when historical novels are one of the most popular genres, we’re offering you a conversation with a fascinating writer: H. Lee Barnes, author of ten books, including four novels and four short story collections. His newest, EMERALD CITY BLUES (University of Nevada Press), is a searing historical novel set in San Pedro, California during World War II that paints a vivid and memorable picture of forbidden romance, war-time culture, and the human fabric of our shared identities in times that seek to divide us, illustrating the similarities between then and now.

Before Lee became a writer and professor, he was a Green Beret in the Vietnam War and was honored by the Vietnam Veterans of America with an Excellence in the Arts Award for his Vietnam War books. After his time in service, he became a detective, employed by Griffin’s Detective Agency as a Private Investigator and for the Nevada Division of Investigation and Narcotics. And yes, there was a time he went undercover.

In 2009, Lee was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. He earned his MFA in creative writing from Arizona State University and taught English and creative writing at the College of Southern Nevada, retiring emeritus in 2017. His short fiction work received the Willamette Fiction Award and the Arizona Author’s Association Fiction Award. His last collection, Life Is a Country Western Song, garnered the 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award for Fiction Other. Lee lives in the Hualapai Valley in northern Arizona.