38 Roads
My latest novel, 38 Roads, recently appeared from All Things That Matter Press. Detailing the times and travels of Sean Morgan, a young man adrift in America in the period after Woodstock and the collapse of the Counterculture, the novel is at once the narrative of a single man's unique journey and—like Jack Kerouac's On the Road—a glimpse of a whole generation.Its language is sometimes at humorous, or tragic, or encouraging, or sad, and sometimes all of those at the same time, and Sean's adventures roll out on the page like a fast moving car does on an endless highway. You can buy both paperback and Kindle copies on Amazon.com here.
As always, I'm grateful for Amazon.com reviews, which help independent presses and their authors get seen despite the giant scope of Amazon's search feature. Also as always, I'm grateful for the hard and skillful efforts the folks at All Things That Matter have made in sharing my work with the public and for their ongoing belief in my work.
Emmitt at Love
The final novel in my Raines Family Trilogy, Emmitt at Love, is now available from All Things That Matter Press, the publisher of the first two books in the series. You can purchase your Kindle or paperback copy here!
Raines in the Day
Men Without Hate
My novel Men Without Hate was also published by All Things That Matter Press. Men Without Hate centers on the journeys of two different men from the Raines family, who fight in two very different wars. You can buy it on Amazon. Reader reviews are hugely appreciated—length doesn't matter, but review quantity counts in Amazon's search metrics.
Generous praise: Needless to say, I was over the moon to get the following praise for Men Without Hate from Nick Reynolds, the New York Times bestselling author of Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures 1935-1961. Heartfelt thanks, Nick!
Anthology pieces: My essays are featured in two anthologies from Stories of You Press. The first piece, on the "seeds," sources and development of Men Without Hate, can be read in Stories of Inspiration: Historical Fiction Edition. I'm honored to be in the company of the forty or so accomplished authors from Britain, the US and Europe the editors have collected! In addition, my essay on the influence of "Papa" Hemingway on my life and writing appears in another Stories of You collection, this one called The Mentor That Matters.
Other News
Story publications: I'm pleased to have several of my stories appear in Sporting Classics magazine. They include "Andros" ( May/June 2021 issue), "The Perfect Dove Field" (July/August 2022 issue), "East End" (March/April 2023 issue) and "Too Old" (March/April 2025 issue). An excerpt from Emmitt in Love, the third novel in the Raines trilogy, appeared in the September/October 2023 issue under the title "In the Fall." Thanks to Sporting Classics for both a great magazine and their continuing support for my work!
"For this military historian Gene Lee’s epic is riveting and true to life—whether he is describing what Confederate soldiers saw, said, and did in the minutes before Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg in 1863, or what it was like to be in a US Army artillery unit in the Philippines in 1944. With scenes as vivid as those in a Michael Shaara Civil War novel, or one of the great World War II novels about the Pacific—think Thin Red Line—Lee seizes and holds the reader’s attention as he guides his story through American history. He compels us to reflect about life motives like family, racism, and the aftereffects of war."