As I get older, I find myself wanting more protagonists my age. It often feels, especially in TV and movies, as if most of the main characters are in their twenties. (YA, of course, is a different matter).

I’m old enough to be their mother…and of course women my age are often relegated to the role of mentor or mom on screen…and on screen moms don’t have a great survival record in general.

But there are some works out there that do have older protagonists. Scalzi’s Old Man’s War is a classic example. Asimov was fond of writing about older men; Lije Baley has a grown son and Hari Seldon is an established scientist with a long career.