San Francisco – Stretched out on a sofa next to his Australian shepherd, Sophie, Armistead Maupin says he never intended to write another installment of his popular “Tales of the City” series.
But for fans worldwide, Maupin’s newest book, “Michael Tolliver Lives,” revisits many of the same larger-than-
life characters that propelled “Tales” from a weekly San Francisco Chronicle column to six books and a Showtime mini-soap-opera.
The book debuted Tuesday, when Maupin kicked off a tour and Mayor Gavin Newsom declared “Michael Tolliver Day” in San Francisco.
The book – which would certainly earn the literary equivalent of an R rating – centers on Michael Tolliver, the endearing Southern gay man who came to San Francisco in 1971 and lived at 28 Barbary Lane. Now Michael is in his mid-50s, a mildly arthritic and HIV-positive landscape architect married to Ben, a handsome furniture designer and yogi 21 years younger.
“I wanted to tell the story of a gay man getting older – especially one who thought death was imminent and is now confronting normal mortality,” said Maupin.
The biggest difference between “Michael Tolliver” and earlier installments is Maupin’s emphasis on politics. Several chapters take place near Orlando, Fla., where Michael visits his dying mother and introduces Ben to his born-again Christian relatives.
Michael bristles at Dick Cheney, the War on Terror, the radical right’s influence in Washington. His relatives – racists and homophobes who live in a mansion and drive SUVs and a gas-guzzling boat – pray that he’ll pick a straight “lifestyle” and repent before he goes to hell.
Maupin says the novel’s political edge mirrors the polarization between red and blue America. It’s also the result of Michael’s maturity, he says.
“By the time you’ve reached my age, you’re a lot less tolerant of B.S from your family, even though the bonds still connect you and you still want to please,” Maupin said.
“We’ve made progress from utter invisibility 30 years ago to prominence in the cultural scene, but with that prominence has come a more rampant form of homophobia. My hope is that we’re close to the time that homophobia takes on the status of racism today – normal, mainstream people don’t accept it.”
