Lee Nelson, best-known for his exciting Western novels, was recently honored by the Utah State Legislature for the 30 books he has written about Utah's history and people during the past 25 years. State representative Matthew Throckmorton made the presentation in the State Capitol during the Legislature's regular session in February. He specifically mentioned Lee's portrayal of Western life during the 1800s in his Storm Testament series, which has given hundreds of thousands of readers a glimpse into Utah's exciting past.
Born in Logan, Utah, Lee attended University of California Berkeley and received his BA and MBA from Brigham Young University. He began writing a rousing story called The Storm Testament for each edition of the Utah County Journal, a newspaper where he worked as editor. He began the story by describing his find in a Philadelphia deli of his family's handwritten journals in the ceiling being used as insulation. These journals described the adventures of a young man named Dan Storm who left Missouri and made his way to the Rocky Mountains in 1838.
Later volumes in the series detail the struggles, loves and challenges of Dan and his descendants as they helped shape the American West.
Lee also compiled the journals of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and an entire set of near-death experiences known as the Beyond the Veil series. In recent years he has had best-sellers with the novels The Black Hawk Journey, Ephraim Chronicles and The Wasatch Savage. This past year he co-authored a non-fiction work The Last Great Secret of the Third Reich. The book describes the secret efforts of the Germans and Japanese to develop nuclear weapons at the end of World War II, and how a rogue submarine captain spoiled their plans.
Lee is excited about the release this summer of his newest novel, A Thousand Souls, which is based on many of his missionary experiences in Germany in the 1960s.
Lee is not only one of Utah's most prolific native authors, but one of the West's rarest novelists. While it has been estimated that fewer than 200 people nationally per year actually make a living writing fiction, Lee has done it for more than twenty years!
Perhaps the most remarkable of Lee's talents is his ability to translate real experiences into adventurous stories. Not only did he kill the buffalo from the back of a galloping horse to gather research, but he criss-crossed the flood-swollen waters of the Green River on horseback to get viable information for his novel Walkara. He also took up team roping while documenting the early cowboy life of Butch Cassidy.
Lee's books have been serialized in more than 100 newspapers around the country. He has sold more than 500,000 books, and with several more novels underway, Lee will continue as one of America's finest novelists.
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