an almost-sequel to the Tales of the City book series

[The8re phan]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:31am

FINALLY!!!!

The long-rumored new book from Armistead Maupin, Michael Tolliver Lives, is being released on 6/1/07. Thou they are not billing it as book 7 in the beloved Tales of the City series, word is the story will take place in the present day world of Michael Tolliver and will feature other characters from TOFC and updates on others.

available for pre-order from amazon.com

[DG]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:36am

When we saw Ian McKellen's A KNIGHT OUT last year in LA, Mr. Maupin allowed him to read the opening pages of this new book in public for the first time. It is indeed a first-person account of Michael's life now in middle age - and it is VERY funny! I can't wait to get a copy.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:41am

Very exciting news indeed! I can't wait to hear was Michael has been up to.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:43am

I have mixed feelings about this. What does he mean that it is not a sequel? Same characters later in life? Updates? How is it not a "sequel"? Maupin's writing of late has left a LOT to be desired, so although part of me is looking forward to this there is a small part that also thinks I would rather avoid it and have my fond memories of TofC.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 12:19pm

He's made it a habit of telling people what things AREN'T more than what they are.

When he first announced the project he explained it would be a day in Michael's life and that if Michael crossed paths with characters we'd love, we'd see them. I guess the point was we can't expect to find out everything that happened to everybody.

Kind of like when a character or two would pop up in the subsequent novels to let us know that the universes of the books overlapped.

BTW, Maupin is mentioned by name twice in the movie Zodiac, for what it's worth.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 12:57pm

He is a Taurus!

This sounds like it might be a "Mrs. Dalloway" for Michael.

[DAME]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 12:59pm

How wonderful. I am looking forward to this.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 1:04pm

And just in time for Pride month.

[DAME]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 1:06pm

If the book is in real time.. would Michael Tolliver be middle aged or in his 70's?

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:30pm

Adding to my decade long "Mouse" complex, this is being released on my birthday.

Hint, bitches. HINT!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:33pm

Maybe Mrs. Madrigal will send you something lovely from her garden!

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:35pm

One wishes!

Wasn't Mouse in his mid-twenties in the first TotC? So that would make him mid-fifties now, no?

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 2:42pm

If the book is in real time.. would Michael Tolliver be middle aged or in his 70's?

I think he'd be in his late fifties.

I guess it's safe to assume the television adaptations are dead in the water, right? For a while it looked like there was gonna be a Babycakes but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. The movies that were made - particularly the first two - were extraordinary in both their quality and how faithful they were to the books.

Once, while visiting San Francisco, I partook of some of Mrs. Madrigal's favorite plant and visited Macondray Lane, the real life Barbary Lane. It was almost a religious experience.

I'll totally be reading this book, because any extra glimpse into the lives of those characters is worth it.

Edited to add:


Wasn't Mouse in his mid-twenties in the first TotC? So that would make him mid-fifties now, no?

I could be wrong here, so someone please correct me if I am. I think Mary Ann was twenty-five in the first book and that the first book began in 1976. I think Michael was just a little older than Mary Ann, so he would have been twenty-six or twenty-seven in the first book.

Updated On: 3/10/07 at 02:42 PM

[mlsheehan]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:03pm

I just started to re-read the first book and Michael is 26.

[DAME]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:15pm

Well..l think I will start re-reading all of them this afternoon.

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:24pm

i loved the first movie
i LOVED LOVED LOVED the second movie
i hated the third movie

i wonder what the progress is on the musical?

[mlsheehan]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:24pm

I love this series so much.

I re-read it every couple of years. It never gets old (more dated, yes, but I perfer to think of it as a period piece).

I have to say the first two and Significant Others are my favorites.

I'm excited about the new book.

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:35pm

Why didn't you like the third movie, n69n? The only major problem I had with it was that it was two hours shorter than the other movies.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:49pm

I have the collection in two hardback covers back in Tennessee. My mother was supposed to ship them to me months ago. She says she will ship it Monday. I am really looking forward to reading them again. I have only read them around 10 times each.

I look forward to the new book, even if it just deals with Mouse.

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 3:54pm

Oh...I LOVED the third movie. The third book is probably my second favorite (SURE OF YOU absolutely broke my heart...it's my favorite of the series), because I love all the Jim Jones stuff. And how could you go wrong with Mary Kay Place's Proux Giroux (sp?? my books are being held captive in Jersey).

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:04pm

i felt the third movie (ive only read the first two books, so i dont know if its an accurate reflection of the book) was too slapsticky & "wacky", whereas the first two were so earnest.

maybe because they tried to tell the whole story in a shorter time?

the long-form was definitley a part of me loving the first two; they had the time to create a whole world with lots of details & character development.

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:06pm

Three might be my favorite book because I loved DeDe so much. I loved her in the books and I loved Barbara Garrick's portrayal in the movies.

"Mother, I am a gay Cuban refugee."

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:12pm

i love that Barbara Garrick!

do you remember her as psycho Alison Perkins on ONE LIFE TO LIVE?
she was a scream!!!!

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:50pm

I never watched that, but I knew she was on it. Was she good? I thought she was just terrific as DeDe. It was so well-cast, especially the first movie. I am one of the few, I think, who preferred the second Mouse, Paul Hopkins, to the original, Marcus D'Amico.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:02pm

I love my Mouse any way I can get him.