New Releases by Armistead Maupin

Mary Ann Singleton kehrt nach San Francisco zurück, leider aus traurigem Anlass: Sie hat Krebs. Zu Hause will sie sich nicht behandeln lassen, erst recht nicht, seit sie bei einem Skype-Chat live miterleben musste, wie ihr Mann sie mit ihrer persönlichen Lebensberaterin betrog. Mary Ann will die Scheidung und findet Trost im Kreis ihrer alten Freunde: Michael Tolliver, Ben, Shawna, DeDe und D''Or. Doch gerade als Mary Ann es sich im Gartenhäuschen von Michael und Ben gemütlich gemacht hat, fliegt ihr ihre buntschillernde Vergangenheit um die Ohren ... «Vielleicht das herausragendste Stück Unterhaltungsliteratur, das Amerika je hervorgebracht hat.» Salon

Irgendwann ist jede Party zu Ende. Doch wird die Barbary Lane weiter zusammenhalten? Eigentlich wollte Anna Madrigal in Griechenland bloß ihre Tochter besuchen, doch dann findet sie dort ganz unerwartet die Liebe. Zwischen ihrem Leben in San Francisco und dem sonnig-leichten Neuanfang hin- und hergerissen, muss sie eine schwere Entscheidung treffen. Doch damit ist sie nicht allein, denn auch Mary Ann lockt es in die Ferne: In der Stadt an der Bucht bereits zu einer bekannten TV-Persönlichkeit avanciert, ruft nun der Big Apple. Aber davon kann sie ihrem Mann Brian nichts sagen, der als Geschäftsführer einer Gärtnerei endlich seine Berufung gefunden hat. Sein Geschäftspartner Michael Tolliver wiederum sitzt dabei zwischen den Stühlen, wobei er seiner eigenen, noch viel unsichereren Zukunft entgegenblickt. Was wird aus der Wahlfamilie, wenn die Umstände sie auseinanderzureißen drohen? Im sechsten Band der «Stadtgeschichten» nehmen wir Abschied von der Barbary Lane, wie wir sie kennen. Melancholisch, bestens unterhaltend und haltlos komisch schreibt Armistead Maupin über die legendäre Wahlfamilie. «Großstädtisch, witzig, traurig und ein Triumph.» San Francisco Chronicle

Mona, la fille d’Anna Madrigal, a hérité par son mari, feu Lord Roughton, d’un château dans les Cotswolds : Easley House. C’est là, dans ce manoir perdu au milieu de la campagne anglaise et transformé en maison d’hôtes, qu’Armistead Maupin a rassemblé le petit monde des Chroniques de San Francisco et du 28, Barbary Lane pour un dénouement aussi érotique qu’inattendu. Roman queer, Mona et son manoir est un pastiche irrésistible de ces comédies policières à l’anglaise dans lesquelles le crime est d’abord un prétexte pour nous divertir. À la veille du solstice d’été, tandis que s’allument les feux de joie et que la garden-party bat son plein, tout devient possible… Armistead Maupin est né en 1944. C’est en 1976 que paraissent ses premières Chroniques de San Francisco. Le succès est immédiat. En quelques années, l’événement local devient un phénomène international, les Chroniques sont traduites dans le monde entier. En France, Armistead Maupin a conquis plusieurs millions de lecteurs. Les Éditions de l’Olivier publient son œuvre depuis 2001. Traduit de l’anglais (États-Unis) par Marc Amfreville

Set in the early 1990s, the long-awaited tenth novel in Armistead Maupin’s beloved and enduring Tales of the City series follows the adventures of Mona Ramsey, now the widowed Lady of a glorious old manor in Britain’s golden Cotswolds, and her fabulous adopted son Wilfred, as they come to the aid of an American visitor with a troubling secret. When Mona Ramsey married Lord Teddy Roughton to secure his visa—allowing him to remain in San Francisco to fulfill his wildest dreams—she never imagined she would, by age 48, be the sole owner of Easley House, Teddy’s grand, romantic country manor in the UK. She also didn''t imagine that she’d need to open the manor’s doors to paying guests to afford the electric bill and repair the leaking roof. Yet somehow she and her young friend Wilfred--whom guests assume is serving as Easley’s charming-but-clumsy butler--and the loopy old gardener Mr. Hargis, are making it work. This delicate equilibrium is upended when Americans Rhonda and Ernie Blaylock arrive for a weekend vacation at Easley, and Wilfred stumbles onto their terrible secret. Now, instead of being able to focus on the imminent arrival of her old friend Michael Tolliver and beloved parent Anna Madrigal, Mona will need to focus all of her considerable charm, willpower, and wiles—and the help of Wilfred and Mona’s girlfriend Poppy, the town’s postmistress and local calligraphy whiz—to set things right before the Midsummer ceremony when the whole town will descend on Easley’s historic grounds.

A CLASSIC OF LGBTQ LITERATURE THAT HAS BECOME A CULT SEN-SATION! THE HEROES OF THIS ENCHANTING GROUP HAVE BEEN ENJOYED BY MILLIONS OF READERS WORLDWIDE! Adapted on TV (BBC), Limited Se-ries (Netflix), Theater...and now in graphic novel form for the first time! San Francisco, 28 Barbary Lane, Anna Madrigal runs a boarding house. She wel-comes people who have nowhere else to go: the misfits. This matriarch is known for her unending kindness and her superb marijuana crop. The novel starts with the arrival of Mary Ann Singleton, a prudish, naïve, young woman who escaped her dull Ohio hometown for San Francisco. She settles in with her other fellow tenants: Michael “Mouse,” a personable young gay man, Brian Hawkins, an incor-rigible Don Juan, and Mona Ramsey, a young hippyish bisexual.

Sono passati vent''anni da quando Mary Ann Singleton ha lasciato marito e figlia a San Francisco per inseguire il sogno di una carriera televisiva a New York. Ora, però, alcuni tragici eventi l''hanno riportata nella città della sua giovinezza, al 28 di Barbary Lane, dove ancora vive il suo più vecchio amico, il giardiniere Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, felicemente accasato con un uomo molto più giovane. A cinquantasette anni, Mary Ann si rifugia nella casa della coppia e fa il punto sugli errori che ha collezionato fino a quel momento. Presto, grazie a Facebook e a qualche vecchio amico, comincia a riprendere i contatti con la sua vecchia vita. Ma San Francisco è cambiata, ed è cambiata anche lei, che ora ha bisogno di ritrovare la sua casa, di scegliere la sua vera famiglia. Finché il passato non torna a tormentarla in un modo che non avrebbe mai immaginato. Un caleidoscopio di personaggi indimenticabili, da Shawna, la figliastra di Mary Ann diventata una celebre sex blogger, a Jake Greenleaf, l''assistente transgender di Michael, fino all''infaticabile Anna Madrigal, l''ex padrona di casa di Mary Ann al 28 di Barbary Lane. Un romanzo irriverente e divertentissimo, che esplora in piena libertà le mille sfaccettature della vita con intelligenza e sarcasmo, regalandoci il ritratto di una San Francisco piena di vitalità, cuore pulsante della leggendaria serie Tales of the City di Armistead Maupin.

Après vingt ans d''exil à New York, Mary Ann Singleton revient sur les lieux de sa jeunesse à San Francisco. Trompée par son mari, atteinte d''un cancer, elle a décidé de se battre pour changer de vie. Elle est hébergée par son ami de toujours, Michael Tolliver, et retrouve la légendaire propriétaire du 28, Barbary Lane, Anna Madrigal. Cette dernière retourne dans le Nevada affronter son passé, ce qui la conduira jusqu''au festival Burning Man. Michael, lui, est contacté par sa mère biologique qui n''a jamais accepté son homosexualité. Malade, elle le réclame à ses côtés. Doit-il rester auprès d''Anna ou accompagner dans ses derniers instants cette mère qui l''a tant rejeté ? C''est avec un savoureux mélange de drôlerie, de légèreté et de gravité que se clôt cette extraordinaire aventure littéraire dans ce troisième et dernier tome des Chroniques de San Francisco qui regroupe Mary Ann en automne, Anna Madrigal et Michael Tolliver est vivant, précédemment parus aux Éditions de l''Olivier. Traduit de l''anglais (États-Unis) par Michèle Albaret-Maatsch et Bernard Cohen.

" Écrits en grande partie sous forme de saynètes dialoguées, ces six romans décrivent mieux que n''importe quel traité de sociologie l''Amérique marginale des années 70 et 80, quand San Francisco était le laboratoire de toutes les expériences nouvelles. Amours, liberté, solitude, ambition professionnelle, fric, joints, homosexualité, et son affreux corollaire, le sida... tout est minutieusement décrit avec légèreté et brio. C''est criant de vérité et, surtout, ça nous ressemble. On rit, on pleure, on s''amuse, on jubile, on ne peut pas lâcher la tribu : au bout des cent premières pages, on est déjà complètement accro. " Michèle Fitoussi, Elle

"A book for any of us, gay or straight, who have had to find our family. Maupin is one of America’s finest storytellers."—Neil Gaiman "I fell in love with Maupin’s effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must read."—Mary Karr In this long-awaited memoir, the beloved author of the bestselling Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer. Born in the mid-twentieth century and raised in the heart of conservative North Carolina, Armistead Maupin lost his virginity to another man "on the very spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired." Realizing that the South was too small for him, this son of a traditional lawyer packed his earthly belongings into his Opel GT (including a beloved portrait of a Confederate ancestor), and took to the road in search of adventure. It was a journey that would lead him from a homoerotic Navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam to that strangest of strange lands: San Francisco in the early 1970s. Reflecting on the profound impact those closest to him have had on his life, Maupin shares his candid search for his "logical family," the people he could call his own. "Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us," he writes. "We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives." From his loving relationship with his palm-reading Grannie who insisted Maupin was the reincarnation of her artistic bachelor cousin, Curtis, to an awkward conversation about girls with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office, Maupin tells of the extraordinary individuals and situations that shaped him into one of the most influential writers of the last century. Maupin recalls his losses and life-changing experiences with humor and unflinching honesty, and brings to life flesh-and-blood characters as endearing and unforgettable as the vivid, fraught men and women who populate his enchanting novels. What emerges is an illuminating portrait of the man who depicted the liberation and evolution of America’s queer community over the last four decades with honesty and compassion—and inspired millions to claim their own lives. Logical Family includes black-and-white photographs.

Armistead Maupin''s uproarious and moving Tales of the City novels—the first three of which are collected in this omnibus volume—have earned a unique niche in American literature and are considered indelible documents of cultural change from the seventies through the first two decades of the new millennium. “These novels are as difficult to put down as a dish of pistachios. The reader starts playing the old childhood game of ''Just one more chapter and I''ll turn out the lights,'' only to look up and discover it''s after midnight.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review Originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City (1978), More Tales of the City (1980), and Further Tales of the City (1982) afforded a mainstream audience of millions its first exposure to straight and gay characters experiencing on equal terms the follies of urban life. Among the cast of this groundbreaking saga are the lovelorn residents of 28 Barbary Lane: the bewildered but aspiring Mary Ann Singleton, the libidinous Brian Hawkins; Mona Ramsey, still in a sixties trance, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, forever in bright-eyed pursuit of Mr. Right; and their marijuana-growing landlady, the indefatigable Mrs. Madrigal. Hurdling barriers both social and sexual, Maupin leads them through heartbreak and triumph, through nail-biting terrors and gleeful coincidences. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Armistead Maupin''s bestselling Tales of the City novels—the fourth, fifth and sixth of which are collected in this second omnibus volume—stand as an incomparable blend of great storytelling and incisive social commentary on American culture from the seventies through the first two decades of the new millennium. “Tearing through [the tales] one after the other, as I did, allows instant gratification; it also lets you appreciate how masterfully they''re constructed. No matter what Maupin writes next, he can look back on the rare achievement of having built a little world and made it run.”— Walter Kendrick, Village Voice Literary Supplement Armistead Maupin''s uproarious and moving Tales of the City novels have earned a unique niche in American literature and are considered indelible documents of cultural change from the seventies through the first two decades of the new millennium. The nine classic comedies, some of which originally appeared as serials in San Francisco newspapers, won Maupin critical acclaim around the world and enthralled legions of devoted fans. Back to Barbary Lane comprises the second omnibus of the series—Babycakes (1984), Significant Others (1987), and Sure of You (1989)—continuing the saga of the tenants, past and present, of Mrs. Madrigal''s beloved apartment house on Russian Hill. While the first trilogy celebrated the carefree excesses of the seventies, this volume tracks its hapless, all-too-human cast across the eighties—a decade troubled by plague, deceit, and overweening ambition. Like its companion volumes, 28 Barbary Lane and Goodbye, Barbary Lane, Back to Barbary Lane is distinguished by what The Guardian of London has called "some of the sharpest and most speakable dialogue you are ever likely to read."

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Armistead Maupin''s bestselling Tales of the City novels—the final three of which are collected in this third omnibus volume—stand as an incomparable blend of great storytelling and incisive social commentary on American culture from the seventies through the first two decades of the new millennium. “These final days of his San Francisco friends and lovers, gay and straight, are seriously moving…. Maupin deftly illustrates how far America and the pioneering Anna have come, and nearly forty years into the series, his writing remains wildly addictive but is deeper and richer.”—People The last three novels of Armistead Maupin’s bestselling, critically-acclaimed Tales of the City are now available for the first time as an omnibus edition. The epic series, published between 1978 and 2014, spans the decade before the AIDS crisis through the era of marriage equality following an unforgettable set of characters, whose diverse sexual identities helped set the social stage for the ongoing sexual revolution. Goodbye Barbary Lane—comprised of Michael Tolliver Lives (2007), Mary Ann in Autumn (2010), and The Days of Anna Madrigal (2014)—brings closure to the lives and legacies of the characters through which generations have found connection to America’s larger cultural struggles over the past four decades. Joining two companion omnibus volumes, 28 Barbary Lane and Back to Barbary Lane, Goodbye Barbary Lane presents all of “Mr. Maupin’s adeptness at fluid dialogue, his flair for shaping characters who thread the needle between pop archetypes and singular human beings, and his great gift for intricate if occasionally preposterous plotting”(New York Times).

C''est en 1998, avec The Art of Pleasure, que TASCHEN a fait découvrir au monde l''art remarquable de Touko Laaksonen. Avant cela, Laaksonen, alias Tom of Finland, artiste culte de la communauté gay internationale, était pratiquement inconnu du grand public. En 2009, TASCHEN poursuit l''entreprise avec l''ouvrage ultime retraçant l''oeuvre de Tom, Tom of Finland XXL, une magnifique édition collector grand format réunissant plus de 1000 illustrations et couvrant soixante ans de carrière de l''artiste. Son oeuvre a été réuni avec l''aide de la Tom of Finland Foundation, à partir de collections conservées aux Etats-Unis et en Europe, et comporte de nombreux dessins, peintures et études préparatoires qui n''avaient encore jamais été publiés. D''autres n''avaient jusqu''alors été vus qu''isolément et sont montrés ici dans l''ordre séquentiel prévu par Tom, gagnant ainsi toute leur valeur artistique et leur charge érotique. Cet élégant volume grand format présente toute l''étendue du talent de Tom, de ses portraits sensibles à ses descriptions explicites du plaisir sexuel et à ses hommages pleins de tendresse rendus aux jeunes hommes emportés par le sida, et il inclut, en complément, huit essais écrits pour l''occasion par Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham, entre autres, qui reviennent sur l''influence sociale et personnelle de Tom, ainsi qu''une étude approfondie de ses dessins par l''historien d''art Edward Lucie-Smith. Jusqu''à maintenant, la seule chose qui manquait à Tom of Finland XXL était un prix accessible au plus grand nombre. Le nouveau Tom of Finland XXL est toujours aussi gros, fera autant travailler vos biceps et reprend tout du contenu original, mais ne coûte qu''une fraction du prix d''origine. Il vous souhaite la bienvenue.

New York Times Bestseller “Wonderful. . . . As compulsively readable and endearing as all the previous novels have been.” — Booklist (starred review) Suspenseful, comic, and profoundly moving, The Days of Anna Madrigal, the ninth installment in Armistead Maupin''s bestselling "Tales of the City" series, follows one of modern literature’s most beloved and indelible characters—Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane—as she embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her complicated past Now ninety-two, and committed to the notion of “leaving like a lady,” Mrs. Madrigal has seemingly found peace with her “logical family” in San Francisco: her devoted young caretaker Jake Greenleaf; her former tenant Brian Hawkins and his daughter Shawna; and Michael Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton, who have known and loved Anna for nearly four decades. Some members of Anna’s family are bound for the otherworldly landscape of Burning Man, the art community in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where 60,000 revelers gather to construct a city designed to last only one week. Anna herself has another destination in mind: a lonely stretch of road outside of Winnemucca where the 16-year-old boy she once was ran away from the whorehouse he called home. With Brian and his beat-up RV, she journeys into the dusty troubled heart of her Depression childhood to unearth a lifetime of secrets and dreams and attend to unfinished business she has long avoided.

Episode 6: Three Men at the Tubs It''s Christmas at Barbary Lane where DeDe''s happiness is short lived, Mrs Madrigal says goodbye to a friend and Mary Ann makes a shocking discovery about her neighbour. Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael ''Mouse'' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal. Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.

Episode 4: The Anniversary Tango In which Mary Anna volunteers at the Crisis Switchboard whilst Mouse has a crisis of his own. DeDe visits a fat farm and Mona makes a surprising discovery about Barbary Lane. Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael ''Mouse'' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal. Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.

Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City The fifth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga. Tranquillity reigns in the ancient redwood forest until a women-only music festival sets up camp downriver from an all-male retreat for the ruling class. Among those entangled in the ensuing mayhem are a lovesick nurseryman, a panic-stricken philanderer, and the world’s most beautiful fat woman. Significant Others is Armistead Maupin’s cunningly observed meditation on marriage, friendship, and sexual nostalgia.

"Remarkable. . . delectable, addictive." —New York Times Book Review The second novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s bestselling San Francisco saga. The tenants of 28 Barbary Lane have fled their cozy nest for adventures far afield. Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with a forgetful stranger, Mona Ramsey discovers her doppelgänger in a desert whorehouse, and Michael Tolliver bumps into his favorite gynecologist in a Mexican bar. Meanwhile, their venerable landlady takes the biggest journey of all—without ever leaving home.

Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City The third novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga. The calamity-prone residents of 28 Barbary Lane are at it again in this deliciously dark novel of romance and betrayal. While Anna Madrigal imprisons an anchorwoman in her basement, Michael Tolliver looks for love at the National Gay Rodeo, DeDe Halcyon Day and Mary Ann Singleton track a charismatic psychopath across Alaska, and society columnist Prue Giroux loses her heart to a derelict living in a San Francisco park.

Pour notre plus grand plaisir, Armistead Maupin ajoute un tome de plus à sa célèbre saga en renouant avec un des personnages charismatiques des Chroniques : Mary Ann Singleton. Après vingt ans d’exil à New York, Mary Ann revient sur les lieux de sa jeunesse à San Francisco. Trompée par son mari, atteinte d’un cancer, elle a décidé de se battre pour changer de vie. Elle est hébergée par son ami de toujours, Michael « Mouse » Tolliver, et retrouve la légende du 28, Barbary Lane, Anna Madrigal, qui n’a perdu ni sa vivacité d’esprit ni son énergie malgré ses 80 ans. En 2008, Michael Tolliver est vivant marquait le retour de Maupin. Il portait sur les années 2000 un regard lucide, ne taisant rien des désillusions ni des changements majeurs qui ont bouleversé les moeurs. Mary Ann en automne continue d’explorer ce nouvel ordre amoureux. Michael a épousé Ben mais il reste un séducteur à peine assagi qui observe les évolutions initiées par Facebook ou l’émergence des blogs. Avec ce roman émouvant, plein de charme, Maupin prouve qu’il est toujours le meilleur chroniqueur de notre époque.

Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City The eighth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga. Following the success of his New York Times bestseller Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin’s Mary Ann in Autumn is a touching portrait of friendship, family, and fresh starts, as the City by the Bay welcomes back Mary Ann Singleton, the beloved Tales of the City heroine who started it all. A new chapter begins in the lives of both Mary Ann and Michael “Mouse” Tolliver when she returns to San Francisco to rejoin her oldest friend after years in New York City… the reunion that fans of Maupin’s beloved Tales of the City series have been awaiting for years.

Maybe the Moon, Armistead Maupin''s first novel since ending his bestselling Tales of the City series, is the audaciously original chronicle of Cadence Roth -- Hollywood actress, singer, iconoclast and former Guiness Book record holder as the world''s shortest woman. All of 31 inches tall, Cady is a true survivor in a town where -- as she says -- "you can die of encouragement." Her early starring role as a lovable elf in an immensely popular American film proved a major disappointment, since moviegoers never saw the face behind the stifling rubber suit she was required to wear. Now, after a decade of hollow promises from the Industry, she is reduced to performing at birthday parties and bat mitzvahs as she waits for the miracle that will finally make her a star. In a series of mordantly funny journal entries, Maupin tracks his spunky heroine across the saffron-hazed wasteland of Los Angeles -- from her all-too-infrequent meetings with agents and studio moguls to her regular harrowing encounters with small children, large dogs and human ignorance. Then one day a lanky piano player saunters into Cady''s life, unleashing heady new emotions, and she finds herself going for broke, shooting the moon with a scheme so harebrained and daring that it just might succeed. Her accomplice in the venture is her best friend, Jeff, a gay waiter who sees Cady''s struggle for visibility as a natural extension of his own war against the Hollywood Closet. As clear-eyed as it is charming, Maybe the Moon is a modern parable about the mythology of the movies and the toll it exacts from it participants on both sides of the screen. It is a work that speaks to the resilience of the human spirit from a perspective rarely found in literature.

"A quietly understated masterpiece." —USA Today The sixth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s bestselling San Francisco saga. A fiercely ambitious TV talk show host finds she must choose between national stardom in New York and a husband and child in San Francisco. Caught in the middle is their longtime friend, a gay man whose own future is even more uncertain. Wistful and compassionate yet subversively funny, Sure of You is a pitch-perfect novel in Maupin’s legendary series.

Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times.

Michael Tolliver, the sweet-spirited Southerner in Armistead Maupin''s classic Tales of the City series, is arguably one of the most widely loved characters in contemporary fiction. Now, almost twenty years after ending his groundbreaking saga of San Francisco life, Maupin revisits his all-too-human hero, letting the 55-year-old gardener tell his story in his own voice. Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times. Michael Tolliver Lives follows its protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally reaffirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady. While Michael Tolliver Lives is a stand alone novel, accessible to old and new readers alike, a reassuring number of familiar faces appear along the way. As usual, the author''s mordant wit and ear for pitch-perfect dialogue serve every aspect of the story—from the bawdy to the bittersweet. Michael Tolliver Lives is a novel about the act of growing older joyfully and the everyday miracles that somehow make that possible.

"I''m a fabulist by trade," warns Gabriel Noone, a late-night radio storyteller, as he begins to untangle the skeins of his tumultuous life: his crumbling ten-year love affair, his disaffection from his Southern father, his longtime weakness for ignoring reality. Gabriel''s most sympathetic listener is Pete Lomax, a thirteen-year-old fan in Wisconsin whose own horrific past has left him wise and generous beyond his years. But when this virtual father-son relationship is rocked by doubt, a desperate search for the truth ensues. Welcome to the complex, vertiginous world of The Night Listener.