Stella Fosse Author
In her sixties, Stella Fosse left a career in biotechnology to become a full-time author, and has since published seven books. Her next, the second in her series of vampire novels, Sword of Vivienne, arrives October 2026. Her essay collection Rock On: Power, Sex & Money after Sixty draws on her background in healthcare, finance, and authorship to chart an empowering path for older women.
Stella blogs about issues of interest to Women of a Certain Age, including creativity, romance, and older women’s health.
Two of Stella’s books empower women past midlife to tell our vivid stories. Aphrodite’s Pen: The Power of Writing Erotica after Midlife includes fun prompts, interviews, and examples from Elderotica. Write & Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance is a step-by-step guide from premise to publicity. Stella’s fiction elevates older women, from the sexy stories in The Erotic Pandemic Collection, to the wise women scientists in Brilliant Charming Bastard, to the powerful, centuries old women in Vampires of a Certain Age. Stella’s essay collection, Rock On: Power, Sex and Money after 60, was shortlisted for the Nonfiction Award by Advantages of Age.
Stella hails from California and lives with her partner in Oregon. Stella’s books are available at your local bookseller and your favorite online place. She shares her writing, as well as resources for empowering women past midlife, at her website. You can also find Stella Fosse on Substack, LinkedIn, and Instagram; please join her there.
You can find all Stella’s books here.
You can sign up for a FREE online writing class.
Stella wishes you joy exploring!
The "Why" - Stella's Manifesto.
A decade ago, I was surprised to read an article by a romance author in her fifties recommending to her sisters that we disguise ourselves and our characters as young. Her reasoning was that young sex gets published and old sex does not. Why not pass, borrow the privilege of youth, and make more money? But the flip side of passing is the lost opportunity to expand our horizons and educate others. When we let people assume we are different than who we are, we allow them to continue their denial. We make a tacit agreement: "I won't rock your boat and you won't treat me as less-than." Passing is helpful in the short term, but it has costs: in attitudes that don't change, in lost opportunities for personal growth. Still, we must choose our battles. For example, I’m not ready to let my hair go grey. I am not prepared for the uphill slog of proving to each person I meet that I remain vivid and capable. Plus, why shouldn't I have the same right to dye my hair as a younger woman? I respect women who choose to go grey, but it’s not my fight.
Publishing sexy characters past midlife, and encouraging others to do the same, is my chosen battle. This is our voice. This is our opportunity to let others in on the "secret" that women past midlife are vibrant and alive. That when we live in sin, we are blissfully sinning; that when we marry, we want more than a companion; that whether single or in relationship, our sexuality is our innate birthright.
To write past midlife is a fun revolution: a creative way to thumb our noses at the dominant narrative. We write vibrant characters who share our complexity: humans who have lived full lives, loved much, desired much, and experienced much. And what we do when we break stereotypes is part of the larger struggle for equality. As we push back on gendered ageism, let us support our Sisters of a Certain Age who also face ableism, racism, homophobia, fatphobia, and antisemitism.
Let's be brave and fearless and sexy, let's find our voices, take our paths, strut our stuff. Let us be each other's biggest fans. Let us read books by and for older women. Let us write fearlessly, read joyfully, and love passionately.
If not now, when?
If not us, who?
Keep the pen moving (and the keys clicking)
