C. B. Lee is a Chinese-Vietnamese-American author based out of Los Angeles, California. They are the author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

, best known for their Sidekick Squad series, which follows a quartet of teenagers in a near future world of

superheroes A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

and supervillains.

Profile

Lee's parents are immigrants from Vietnam and China. Lee is openly bisexual and also open about their struggles with mental illness. They have been featured in Teen Vogue, Hypable, and Wired Magazine for their novels. Lee is represented by Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

Selected works

Their debut young adult novel, ''Seven Tears at High Tide'', about a boy who gets rescued and falls for a selkie, was published by Duet Books in 2015. It won the 2016 Rainbow Award for Bisexual Fantasy & Fantasy Romance in 2016 and was a finalist for the 2016 Bisexual Book Award in the category Young Adult and Speculative Fiction. The first book in the Sidekick Squad series, ''Not Your Sidekick'', was published by Duet Books in 2016. It tells the story of Jess, a bisexual teen without superpowers living in a world where superpowers are normal, who has to compete with her town's infamous supervillain for her dream internship and deal with her crush on her friend Abby. ''Not Your Sidekick'' was a finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award in the category LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult and a finalist for the 2017 Bisexual Book Award in Speculative Fiction. The second book, ''Not Your Villain'', following the protagonists from the first novel who have now joined a resistance movement, was published by Duet Books in 2017. A third book, ''Not Your Backup'', was published in 2019. Lee cites the

X-men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

and wanting to write a story incorporating identity and alienation as inspiration for writing the series. Lee also contributed a short story to Saundra Mitchell's ''Out Now: Queer We Go Again!'', published by Inkyard Press in 2020.

Selected bibliography

Young Adult series

Sidekick Squad

*''Not Your Sidekick'' (Duet Books, 2016) *''Not Your Villain'' (Duet Books, 2017) *''Not Your Backup'' (Duet Books, 2019) * Not Your Hero (2022, not released yet)

Stand-alone young adult novels

* ''Seven Tears at High Tide'' (Duet Books, 2015) * ''A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix'' (Macmillan, 2021)

Awards

Won

* Rainbow Award for Bisexual Fantasy & Fantasy Romance for ''Seven Tears at High Tide'' (Duet Books, 2015)

Nominated

*Bisexual Book Award in Young Adult and Speculative Fiction for ''Seven Tears at High Tide'' (Duet Books, 2015) *Lambda Literary Award in the category LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult for ''Not Your Sidekick'' (Duet Books, 2016) * Bisexual Book Award Finalist in Speculative Fiction for ''Not Your Sidekick'' (Duet Books, 2016) *Lambda Literary Award in the category LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult for ''Not Your Sidekick'' (Duet Books, 2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, C. B. Living people Women writers of young adult literature 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American LGBT people American bisexual writers