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Stella has always wanted to be a writer.
Always. She just dreamed of spending her days writing and writing. And now she does!
She started as a voracious reader; a family story – oft repeated – is that as a child when friends would call for her to come and play, Stella’s response was to close the door saying “Go away, I’m reading a book.” Her social skills have developed since then, but her devotion to reading remains.
Her desire to write took her to Pomona College for an undergraduate degree in, of course, English with a concentration on writing. That was followed by a Master’s degree at Columbia, this time in Business Administration. It was clear that life was to intervene, as it does for most of us, and marriage and a family put a hold on writing in any serious way. As the children grew up Stella went back to school, first to study for a Masters in cell and macrobiology and then as a teacher of English & Biology in high schools.
Back in a corporate career, Stella worked with various biotech companies where she was again writing, but this time technical proposals to support government approval of medical and bio products.
Now she spends her retirement in advocacy for mature women (see her Manifesto) and writing full-time.
Brilliant Charming Bastard is Stella’s new novel about the power and sensuality of wise older women.
First Wives Club meets The Witches of Eastwick in Brilliant Charming Bastard. When three women scientists discover they are dating the same lying dilettante, who is stealing their ideas as well as their hearts, the best revenge is getting rich.
Brilliant Charming Bastard is hip romance for Boomers. Join author Stella Fosse on this sexy escapade through the San Francisco biotech scene.
Review by Judith Stanton, author of A Stallion to Die For
Classic revenge comedies include Sabrina to The First Wives Club to Kill Bill... well, that last one's not so funny. But almost every woman has her "somebody done somebody wrong song" and can identify. Brilliant Charming Bastard belongs in this emotionally satisfying tradition with a few new twists. First it enables, celebrates and avenges sexuality in older women when three women discover that they've been taken for a ride by the same brilliant charming man. Brendan Burns begins with a romantic onslaught of flattery, fine food and wine, and apparent adoration for each one. His clever deception includes promises of faithfulness to only one woman at a time and almost overweening respect for each one's intelligence and professional achievement -- Rose, the university biology professor, Maxine, a patent lawyer who's a partner in a top firm, and Joyce, a chemist in a pharmaceutical company. Turns out when Rose discovers that he's sending the same saccharine pompous emails to the other two women he was not only not a one-woman man but he was pumping each for information for an invention that would lead to using photosynthesis to power solar panels. To say anything more would be a spoiler, so let me talk about some of the other things I like about this brilliant charming revenge comedy. The plot is a wickedly funny rollercoaster ride, full of twists and turns and yet another surprise. And it's surprisingly easy to keep track of each woman's story in this book of multiple points of view. Salted in among the three feminist professionals and the cad they each fell for are also several admirable men, young and old, who love and support them at home and at work. The writing is stellar too—straightforward and efficient, but it especially shines when Stella Fosse takes on the scientific elements powering the newly formed partnership's solar panels.
You'll not only enjoy how smart the women's invention is, you will enjoy learning about some remarkable prospects coming down the pike for alternative green energy. Really. And you can't fault a book where characters deliver lines like: "Worry is the only thing that's improved by procrastination." Also, as a novelist myself, I'm a fan of super-short scenes -- half a page short or even shorter. Fosse deploys a number of these as she moves from one character's experiences to another. For me, they quietly make the story just speed along. But they also deliver a lot of punch. One thread throughout the book is when the scandal erupts and their unfolding story regularly hits the gossip column in the local tech rag Silicon News. Its revelations and speculations become juicier and juicier as the novel progresses. And here's another favorite short short scene: "When Rose stopped and stood back, she saw what a fool she had forced herself to be. When she stopped, it was a different neighborhood of self, a more spacious place. From that day on, Rose exercised every day. It was liberating to be freed from Brendan's couch, where she had spent many a weekend, sharing his torpor. It was liberating to have her own thoughts." I love the emotional efficiency here of Rose discovering "a different neighborhood of self," and I love it that it is "a more spacious place" for her. Even in the midst of scandal, conflict and setbacks, the reader is assured that the writer has control of her cast of characters and the outcome of their stories.
The Erotic Pandemic Ball: Tales of Love in Lockdown
Stella Fosse enchants us in her first outing since the highly successful Aphrodite’s Pen: The Power of Writing Erotica After Midlife, a book that guides women in the arts and craft of writing erotica. Stella honed her erotic writing skills at the Dirty Old Women collective in California. Join Stella Fosse on an imaginative exploration of erotic life under quarantine, in this three volume set of her Love in Lockdown stories.
Love in Lockdown: The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Mask On.
“Hot and pertinent stories for our times.”
– Dorothy Freed, Author of Perfect Strangers
“Boldly imagines lockdown desire… Stella Fosse teases and inspires with stories of inventive eros.”
– Lynx Canon, Editor of the Dirty Old Women Anthology.
The first book of its kind for middle-aged and older women wanting to empower their sexual lives through the craft of writing erotica
The erotic imagination is a doorway to personal empowerment, experienced no more viscerally and vibrantly than through the written word. Aphrodite’s Pen is a celebration of women’s sexuality after midlife. It is the first book of its kind created for older women who are ready to embark on an intimate journey of personal discovery, healing, connection, and growth through the art of writing erotica. Author Stella Fosse, founder of the Elderotica Writers group, has created a guide for writers and non-writers alike. This book covers all genres of writing, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, and more. Fosse offers step-by-step instructions for character design, plot development, and accessing the erotic imagination. She shares her expert advice on creating a writing circle within one’s community and gives useful tips for getting published or reading one’s work in public. Aphrodite’s Pen is an open invitation to women of all sexual orientations who are ready to take the next step and tap into the transformative power of their passions.
The activities in this book are designed for women who are new to writing, and also for experienced writers who are new to erotica. All of us get to celebrate our sexuality, whether we live in a suburb with a husband we have loved for fifty years, or live on the coast joyfully solo and fall in love with the sea. Whoever you are, whether menopause was yesterday or is a distant memory, feel free to play and explore.
It’s all there for you.
