Tuesday 13 September 2011

Obsession With Age

Sapphire Phelan visits with us today. Please give her a warm welcome.

What is this obsession about age? I mean, my 57th birthday just hit me September 11th and do you see me all in a titter about it? Well, okay, maybe a little.

Look at Hollywood, for example. They take an actor like Sean Connery who's close to retirement age and pair him up with this 20-30-something for a romantic age. I see that many times in movies. I rarely see an older actress and a younger man as romantic leads, or even a man and woman the same age. Excuse me?

With Baby Boomers at or close to Social Security age, they don't call themselves old but middle-aged. I even saw a new report on CBS Early Show where senior citizens are getting face lifts through plastic surgery. And don't get me started on Botox!

With creams for anti-aging of all kinds fighting for space with the original, Olay, on shelves at stores, and every day on some talk show there's an expert on aging talking about how to fight age like a valiant knight battling a terrible dragon, no wonder age is on our minds all the time. We're searching for the "magic bullet" to delay wrinkles from spiraling out of control on our faces and hands. Put an anti-aging label on a bottle, stick it on the shelf at the store, and off it flies.

I admit I use Olay. I listen to those "experts" and try to do it ala natural, buying and eating vegetables, fruits, green tea, and other foods jammed packed full of antioxidants and other things that are suppose to save me from becoming Granny from Beverly Hillbillies. Besides the fact, I am not just fighting off wrinkles, but memory loss, osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancer. There's so much to worry and think about getting old, it's no wonder I might welcome memory loss.

I dye my hair. But my husband doesn't. When I tell him we can get him Just for Men, an over-the-counter hair dye for the guys, he just looks at me like I am crazy or something. He tells me he's happy with the gray. Maybe we should be like him and say, "So what? Who cares?" Then again, what does he know? This is the man who freaks out if I put his age on his birthday cake.

Yes, I think that everybody today is obsessed about age. But I plan to try and not be so much. In fact, I pledged to . . . excuse me, but I got to go, as another expert on aging is on right now on Live With Regis and Kelly.

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My newest title is A Familiar Tangle With Hell, the sequel to Being Familiar With a Witch. Find it at Phaze Books. Tina isn't obsessed with age--she's immortal--but she is worried about Lucifer, demons, prophesy, and even a demon bunny. Check out the blurb and a short excerpt from the erotic urban fantasy.

Blurb:

Tina and Charun thought it was all over and that their life would be normal--well, as normal as it could be for an immortal Witch and her demon Familiar. Except there was another prophesy, one that laid claim that if Lucifer snatches Tina and mates with her before the last chime before midnight of the new year and gets her pregnant with his son, that the real Armageddon would begin, spelling the end of life as they knew it.

When Tina is stolen away, Charun, along with Jacokb the archangel, must race against time into the bowels of Hell to rescue her. But with demons, Lucifer, and a cute demon bunny with fangs out of a Monty Python nightmare, out to stop them and Heaven not lending a hand, will Tina become the mother of the Antichrist and the start of a new Hell on Earth?

Excerpt:

She leaned back against the rocky wall in the cave and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Who are you?" asked a sweet little voice.

Wary, for in Hell, a child could be deadly, Tina muttered another spell and lit up the cave to see who the voice belonged to. Startled, she saw a cute little white bunny, wiggling its fluffy tail.

What the--

"I am Fluffy. Who are you?" it asked, hopping closer.

Tina dropped into a crouch, putting out a hand. "I'm Tina."

Fluffy stopped. "I am hungry. So very hungry. May I munch on you?" It opened its mouth incredibly wide and revealed sharp, bloody fangs, with what looked like a couple of pieces of flesh caught between in the back.

Tina leaped to her feet. "No, you may not eat me."

The bunny from Hell cocked its head, puzzled. "Why not? Lucifer has never stopped me from doing it to other unlucky living mortals who ended up here." Its eyes darkened, going to a hell spawn gleam. "My master has even let me nibble on souls, too, though those do not taste as good as real flesh."

"Well, there it is! Your master would not like it if I ended up on your dinner plate a pile of bones."

"Why?"

"Because specifically, he had me brought to Hell to become the mother of his child."

The tiny fiend looked downcast. "Master would give me to demons to roast over a fire if I do a stupid thing and eat you." It looked up at her and Tina grew chilled as a parody of a cunning grin flitted across its mouth. Back on Earth real rabbits did not grin. "But once you give Master his child, then maybe he will be grateful to Fluffy because I take you to him." Fluffy stared up at her with big, round eyes. "I do not think he would want you roaming around Hell. Other demons may not be as smart as me and would go ahead and swallow you."

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14 comments:

Faith Bicknell said...

What a unique title! I really like that!

Jennifer Wilck said...

So funny! Maybe we should put "anti-aging" on our books to help them sell!

Kenzie Michaels said...

I had to stop lying about my age when my doctor asked me how old I was. I couldn't remember if I was 34, 35, or 36! So I told him, 'However old you're going to be at the end of the month, that's how old I'll be next month.' (He's a month older than I am.) I'd been telling everyone '29' for so long, I'd forgotten myself!

Maybe it's the fact I've been blessed with good skin, but I just don't worry about it. And I think it has a lot to do with the way people have been raised. My mom only wears lipstick, and I only remember a couple of times when I refused to leave the house until my makeup was on. But after a while, it didn't matter anymore. My friends are my friends REGARDLESS if I'm made up or not. My BFF? Totally different story. She's not comfortable in her own skin (yet), but her mother raised her to never leave the house without 'her face on'. So in college, we clashed a bit, and I poked fun of that attitude in one of my upcoming books:) And yes, we still love each other!

Cassie Exline said...

We sure seem to be obsessed with age. Love the book cover. What a beautiful color and design plus it sounds great.

Anonymous said...

yes, there is a big obsession with age--least the commercials try to tell us.

And thanks, Cassie. :)

Christine Rains said...

Your story sounds great! I love a good demon story, especially one that can make me laugh.

This is my last year with an age starting with 3. Usually I don't think about birthdays, but I'm dreading it next year and that's weird for me.

Unknown said...

Great post, Sapphire!

I used to tell people I was celebrating the XX anniversary of my 21st birthday and watch them try to figure out how old I was. Of course, that stopped when the number of anniversaries exceeded 21. Now I just say it's a blessing to grow old since some people don't get the option. That said, I still dye my hair. :-)

Anonymous said...

Stepahnie, I still do too--dye me hair. :)

Christine, I understand, but reallyy doesn't get bad.

Terri Talley Venters said...

I enjoyed your post! I started using play at 19 and my mom only wears lipstick. Luckily I have great genes and look good at 40. But I love saying I've never had any work dine (other than highlights). However, I harbor an evil wish that all bowtox and vain cosmetic procedures be banned.

Ray said...

Linking Connery with a younger woman as in one of my favorites "The Medicine Man" are considered a normal relationship yet when an older woman is paired with a younger man it the show is about how the relationship is wrong and is usually comedic. Why should it matter?

Ray

desitheblonde said...

wow the page is great i like the colors and the book some thing i want to read i like the witch blonde like me cook good luck with the book and the other on the page so cool

Unknown said...

My husband is 11 years younger than me, but now looks 11 years older than me, I'm past 50 and people look at me if I go visit my 34 year old son and think I am his wife or GF.

When I first met my husband people who know how old I was gave us such a hard time yet one of them was married to a woman 15 years younger than him.

Another case of way to go stud and yet the woman is a cougar.

Sheesh

As to all those ads on TV for anti aging, my gawd you can't escape them. Somehow people have begun to think a wrinkle is bad and grey hair is some age related leprosy.

I don't dye my hair, and my skin care is home made soap and water and pure cocoa butter, that's it.

J.L. Campbell said...

Oh yeah, I'm getting to that age where I'm a little - okay, make that a lot concerned with age. You'd think I don't have a lot of more meaningful things to worry about.

Your book sounds interesting.

Fiona McGier said...

I have 3 kids in college and work 2 jobs now, so I've decided I can't afford to color my hair anymore. We'll see how I feel when the colored part gets cut off! I haven't worn make-up for years, because I resent being told that men look fine "as is", but that women need to slather expensive slop all over their faces before they go out into public. I'm too tired to get up early enough to do that!
And don't get me started on the older man/younger woman thing! How about the jolly fat man with younger, slim and very hot wife, that we see in the media all the time? You can tell who is still calling the shots at the TV stations and the movie studios! The only sexually aggressive women allowed are either comedy relief, or demons in disguise, because everyone knows "real women" aren't like that! (except in our books, of course!)