Heroes Get Better with Age: 10 Middle-Aged Protagonists in SFF

A strange alien invasion has taken over the world, and while most people have embraced the almost utopian changes, Trina has not. When her wife, Deeba, decides to use Seep technology to start over as a baby, reliving her childhood for the better this time, there’s nothing left for Trina but to run away. Deep in an alcoholic haze, she stumbles across a young boy and sets out on a quest to save him from the grip of the Seep. But is it really a quest, or just a desperate bid to escape her grief?

A renowned violin instructor paying off a deal with the devil and an alien refugee running a donut shop with her children come together in unexpected ways in this lyrical novel that blends together fantasy and science fiction. What does it mean to be a parent, a family? And what are we willing to sacrifice for the ones we love? As both women experience the complications of motherhood, in all its various forms, they realize that love is worth it, no matter the consequences.

In this eldritch horror novella, a 55-year-old professor at the Ulthar Women’s College follows a wayward student across the Dreamlands when she elopes with a dreamer from the waking world. It’s a dangerous journey that will send her into the very depths of her own mysterious past. Vellitt Boe is a seasoned adventurer in addition to being a math professor, but will she be able to track down her missing student in a land of ever-changing dreams?

A retired pirate with a young daughter is drawn back into a dangerous job on the high seas when a rich woman tracks her down and threatens her family. Amina Al-Sirafi thought she had left that life behind her when she gave birth to her daughter, determined to keep her little girl safe. But now, it’s only by going on a perilous journey that reunites her with the girl’s otherworldly father and a cast of criminals both friend and foe that she can hope to keep her daughter out of harm’s way. And maybe being back on the sea and at the helm of her own ship, even if it means being worlds away from the ones she loves, might be worth it anyway.

A disgraced doctor working at a village clinic in India is approached by a family one night with a strange request: if the doctor can mend their fatal wounds before sunup, they’ll be brought back to life. The surgeon and his assistant will have to work through the night to save them. And by morning, they’ll both have gained knowledge that no mortal should ever have.

A floating city in the Arctic Circle protects it’s citizens from devastation after the world was rocked by the climate wars. But the city, once a marvel of engineering, is now fraying along the edges. Crime, poverty, and corruption are destroying the city’s way of life. When a mysterious woman riding an orca arrives with a polar bear by her side, she encourages a wave of resistance. And four people living on the periphery are brought together to save their city from its own decay, discovering shocking truths about themselves in the process.

At 75 years old, after attending his wife’s funeral, John Perry enlisted in the Colonial Defense Force. They’re not interested in young soldiers; they want people with a lifetime of knowledge and skill. And if recruits like John can survive two years in the service, they’re given a homestead of their own on one of the colony planets they’re fighting so hard to protect. But first, he’ll have to undergo the process of becoming the sort of soldier the Colonial Defense Forces want — and that means being changed, body and soul.