Book Promotions discussion

I’m Roberta Franklin, a newbie author of adventure-romance. I’ve been writing short stories ever since my teenage days – always that combination of adventure and romance which fascinates me: a good dose of action and suspense, a heart-warming romance, and not to forget a bit of freshness and sex. Anyway, this is the 21st century!
I’d never got around to writing a novel, though, until a year ago when – inspired by real-life love I found at last – I started on “The Professor and the Bird”. Actually, I found that composing a novel isn’t really that much more difficult than writing short stories; you’ve just got to follow certain rules, have a guideline for the plot, separate the chapters – and there you are! Once you’re into it, your characters will tell you what to write, believe it or not.
Three months ago, “The Professor and the Bird” was published by Olympia Publishers. Now what is it about? First of all, of course, the romance – and not just ‘any’ romance, but a highly unlikely one: a Professor of Archaeology and a young girl who takes part in motorcycle races in the desert; he is Greek, she is Irish, and the age difference between them is more than 30 years… No wonder they’ve got a bit of a communication problem in the beginning – and not because of the language!
It does take them a while to understand that, despite all those facts, they were made for each other; and in the meantime, while they really get to know each other in that excavation camp in the Anatolian desert where Sally had got stranded, adventure unfolds. Sally begins to get interested in archaeology and starts helping Professor Nikos, and she finds a clay fragment that bears the oldest inscription in an Indo-European language found to date. The news of that rare find, of course, attracts shady characters: an American millionaire wants the piece for his collection, and when Nikos explains to him that ancient artefacts cannot be sold and belong to the country they are found in, the rich crook resorts to other methods of getting at it…
Set against an exotic Turkish background with interesting characters of various nationalities, a lively story unfolds as Nikos and Sally develop a deep passion for each other and simultaneously defend the artefact from the thieves. But determined as they are, and cleverly as they go about dealing with the millionaire and his dangerous stooges, they still find time to celebrate their blossoming love which knows no age barrier – whether a luxurious hotel room or a spartan room at the camp, anything will do for their hot encounters!
But sex isn’t everything, as we all know – can their love survive in spite of all the differences? In the beginning, Sally is a rather superficial young creature, a bit flirty, not too much concerned with the future and not very much interested in science; while Nikos is a serious historian who lives for his profession and has almost forgotten about the pleasures of life and love. Very soon, though, their acquaintance makes them both change, and they realise there is much more to life than what they had thought. Their love will be put to the test – will it be strong enough?

Actually, I recently read a romance with a 40 year age difference and really enjoyed it. I I only saw your book as a paperback and there was no excerpt.

Wow, that's great, a 40 year age difference! Yes, it IS a special thing, isn't it? It's not only about sex and physical attraction (though IMHO a mature man is much more attractive and desirable than a young one), but it's also about tenderness, understanding and protection. And it's been much misinterpreted in books and films: usually the young girl only gets interested in an older man if he's rich or famous - or there's something wrong with her, and in the end she'll 'come to her senses' and finds a boy her own age...

"The Professor and the Bird" is available on Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Bird...

And here's an excerpt, showing one of the aspects that is so special about a relationship with an age difference: the teacher and the pupil...

“Well, our work demands a lot of discipline,” the Professor explained while he sat down next to her with his cup of tea; “we start working at dawn, because the midday heat doesn’t allow us to work out in the open. I’m working in the treasure house, that’s what I call it” he added in a slightly embarrassed way, “with yesterday’s finds, which were plenty, and I’m waiting for the youths to tell me their opinion about my first evaluations; and maybe, at the trading place, they’ll find something really old sometime...” he said enthusiastically – and Sally asked, quite puzzled: “Well – I thought that all those things were old?”
“But of course, my dear child,” Professor Nikos smiled, and further explained to his young ‘pupil’ “Only there is a vast difference between a piece that is two thousand years old and one that is four thousand years old. Those finds can speak, if you understand what I mean. If one has learned their language, of course. The differences in the material, the style, the painting, the themes; right here on this spot there are items which give evidence about various quite different cultures, great empires that rose and fell or were destroyed, in the course of centuries. We know the more recent ones by heart, so to speak; anyone who has done three years of Ancient Greek or Latin at school can decipher the inscriptions; but the earlier cultures are still much of a mystery to us, and that is exactly what’s so suspenseful and fascinating about them. We don’t just assemble fragments of clay as if they were jigsaw puzzles; the whole history of mankind is like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and it takes a lot of patience and knowledge, and most of all curiosity, to try and assemble it. And there are still many pieces missing, and perhaps one or two of them are buried right here in the desert sand.”
The wise scientist’s speech had really made a great impression on Sally; and she admitted: “Gee, I’d never thought about it all like that... To me, history had always been just learning boring dates by heart.”

A while later, though, they're already getting a lot more physical:

So they’d done their duty – and so they were free again, to do whatever they wanted! And what should they be wanting now but...? They sat down on the couch and started kissing most passionately; and at some point, though completely wrapped up in his arms and his charms and his love, Sally remembered something. She smiled at him and whispered in his ear: “I’ve got a surprise for you!” She got up, and he looked after her, a bit puzzled, and already eager to continue their kissing game – but when she reappeared two minutes later, he was even more eager to do so: she’d taken off all her clothes, and wrapped herself up in those diaphanous cloths they’d found at the bazaar that morning... And oooh, how sexy she looked! His eyes were almost popping out of his head when he told her: “Come here, my princess!”
“At your command, my prince!” she curtseyed to him, smiling roguishly, and sat down again beside him; and he gently moved his hands over her body and whispered lovingly: “My dear little red-haired, blue-eyed princess...” Even in the relatively dim light of the floor lamp it was plain to see that she was wearing neither a bra nor a slip, and her most intimate parts were accentuated rather than hidden by those thin, shiny veils; and so again he had to loosen up his tie before his hand ventured underneath the cloth that was supposed to be a kind of ‘skirt’ – and she spread her legs most willingly in order to enjoy his skilful caresses...
Not long after that, the cloths and Nikos’ clothes lay scattered on the floor, and the two lovers were lying on the bed, caressing each other and moving their bodies rhythmically, with their lustful groans going along with the rhythm; enjoying their victory, their carefreeness, their peace and quiet – and most of all, of course, their love...