C.B. Lee

C.B. Lee writes teen and middle-grade fiction that combines speculative ideas, historical settings, and characters finding community. Clash of Steel reimagines Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island in the South China Sea during the Qing dynasty. Macmillan identifies it as volume one in the Remixed Classics series, following two girls whose search for legendary treasure draws on records of the pirate leader Zheng Yi Sao. Lee's background as a Chinese Vietnamese American writer informs the novel's attention to language, food, family, and movement across cultures. The book was selected for the Junior Library Guild and the ALA Rainbow Project list. Beyond this historical adventure, Lee created the Sidekick Squad superhero series and writes fantasy for younger audiences. Their work regularly places friendship and belonging beside genre action, giving familiar forms new protagonists and cultural frames. Clash of Steel applies that approach to a canonical adventure while building its own maritime world and emotional stakes.