Lee Pletzers

Lee Pletzers is a New Zealand-born author of horror, science fantasy, and now, crime thrillers. He started writing under the pen name Richard Lee in 2001. He has published over seventy short stories in anthologies and magazines worldwide, five novels, and two novellas.

Lee Pletzers started selling short stories in 2001 and entered self-publishing in 2004. He won The Horror World Flash Fiction contest and The Bloody Dagger Horror Award for the novel Re-Entry of Evil, later republished as The Last Church. He also managed a significant writers' group, Masters of Horror, on the Ning platform.

A small press publisher discovered his second self-published novel, leading to a contract under his real name. This change initially hindered reader recognition, but returning to his pen name in recent years helped regain momentum. Pletzers has diversified his writing to include science fantasy, winning the SFReaders award for Saving Kira and publishing several sci-fiction short stories.

DemiGod Games commissioned him in 2013 to write a short story for a new board game. His narrative features ninjas, samurais, and Princess Hemiko with a dragon, set before the samurai era.

Recently, Pletzers has shifted towards crime/thriller genres, completing works Death World and its sequel, Death World 2. It is a thriller set in Japan, New Zealand, and Russia.

Lee Pletzers works as an English teacher at Berlitz Corporation in Osaka.

Photo credit: thriller.nz