Gentry Lee

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Bert Gentry Lee (born 1942) is the chief engineer for the Planetary Flight Systems Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a science fiction writer. As an author he is best known for co-writing, with Arthur C. Clarke, the books Cradle in 1989, Rama II in 1989, The Garden of Rama in 1991 and Rama Revealed in 1993. He collaborated with Carl Sagan on the 1980 series Cosmos.

Rendezvous With Rama was written in 1972 and Clarke had no intention of writing a sequel. Lee attempted to turn the Rama series into a more character-driven story following the adventures of Nicole des Jardins Wakefield, who becomes the main character in Rama II, The Garden of Rama and Rama Revealed. Many fans of the original book, however, see the three sequels as a money-making ploy. Criticism includes over-stereotyped, exaggerated characters, little resemblance to the original book, and few answers to the questions readers wanted answered most. When asked, Arthur C. Clarke said that Gentry did the writing while he was a source of ideas.^{[citation needed]}

Lee went on to write three more science fiction novels after Rama Revealed. Two take place in the Rama universe (Bright Messengers, Double Full Moon Night) while one makes several references to it (Tranquility Wars).