Silver Desire, the collection of stories about 50-plus women that proves passionate sex doesn’t end when the menopause starts, is now available. Edited by the inimitable Zak Jane Keir, the book features stories by a number of top authors from the UK and US, including Jillian Boyd, F. Leonora Solomon, Spencer Dryden, Pepper Valentine, Madeline Moore and more. My own story in the anthology, Age Appropriate, tells of a woman making her first trip abroad alone, and discovering the perfect tour guide to show her around the beautiful city of Milan. Here’s a short extract:
He was looking at her. The first time, she hadn’t been sure she was the focus of his attention, but he’d glanced over a few times now—too many for it to be a coincidence, Molly decided. When their eyes met, she blushed and quickly looked down at the rim of her coffee cup.
It shouldn’t have surprised her, the fact she was so clearly an object of desire for a man barely half her age. She’d never been the focus of so much male attention as she had since she’d arrived in Milan, yesterday. Men, young and old, alone or with their wives, watched her pass with open admiration. One or two had even whistled, or uttered some compliment she didn’t understand. Back home in Lincoln, she could walk down the high street, ignored, invisible. British men seemed fitted with some kind of radar designed to home in only on the young and skinny. Once you hit the wrong side of fifty, they didn’t want to know.
And this rush of interest had nothing to do, she sensed, with the new choppy, chinlength haircut she’d had, or the clothes she’d bought for her holiday. Clothes the fashion feature on breakfast television had described as “age appropriate”—longline cardigans, loose, floral tops, a well-cut, flattering pair of black jeans. No, she could have been sitting here in a sloppy old tracksuit and the men would still have stared.
The guy at the table near the counter rose to his feet. Was he coming over to her? What would she do if he did? What would she say, given that her command of Italian didn’t extend much beyond “please”, “thank you” and “how much is it?” Molly’s heart thumped hard in her chest. He was beautiful, with those dark, liquid eyes, full lips and messy black curls. Too beautiful for her.
Silver Desire is on sale at Amazon UK and Amazon US. The official launch party is at Sh! in Hoxton Square this Friday night (September 16th) from 6 o’clock. We’ll be reading extracts from the stories and there should be snacks and a glass of something nice to accompany the fun. You can find out more on the Sh! blog. Hope to see you there.
The (Really) Naughty Corner 