The original novels, mostly drawn from a serial first published in San Francisco newspapers, were written in third person and consisted of linked vignettes. The Tales series included six books, but Michael Tolliver Lives isn’t quite number seven. Not just the ones that moved to San Francisco, but also the ones who left home to find themselves.” “In recording that experience, it turned out that I was recording the experience of thousands of people. This notion of “logical” versus “biological” families was born during an age when Maupin saw gay people routinely shunned by their relatives, forcing them to reinvent their lives. But Maupin and Mouse are a pretty good match: both are Southern transplants from rigid families who have found familial love beyond their own flesh and blood.ĭecades before TV shows like Friends made the idea of a “chosen” family part of mainstream culture, Maupin created the fictional residents of Barbary Lane, who shared lives in a quirky San Francisco apartment building. “I’ve always been all of the characters in one way or another,” Maupin admits. “I knew it would be a rich source of material,” he says, “and I wanted to celebrate my happiness.”įollowers of Tales will know the character of Tolliver, the gay man nicknamed Mouse, who many believe Maupin modeled after himself. Intergenerational love figures prominently in Michael Tolliver Lives (HarperCollins).

Michael tolliver lives