ARMISTEAD MAUPIN

The Days of Anna Madrigal, the suspenseful, comic, and touching ninth novel in Armistead Maupin's bestselling "Tales of the City" series, follows one of modern literature's most unforgettable and enduring 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 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.

The internationally bestselling author of "Tales of the City" revisits his gay Everyman from the series, allowing the 55-year-old Michael Tolliver to tell his story in his own voice. Brimming with gentle insights about the human condition, this is a novel about the act of growing older joyfully.

Michael Tolliver, the sweet-spirited Southerner in Armistead Maupin''s classic "Tales of the City" series, is arguably the most beloved gay character in 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 Maupin insists that this book is not, strictly speaking, a continuation of "Tales of the City", 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.

This official illustrated companion book features oral histories, archival photographs, behind-the-scenes stills, and the story of the new Focus Features film directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho), starring Academy Award(r) winner Sean Penn (Mystic River, Dead Man Walking) as gay-rights icon Harvey Milk. His life changed history. His courage changed lives. In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans. Part I, "The History," covering Milk's life in New York pre-1973 through his death in San Francisco in 1978, features: * a brief history of Harvey Milk * 90 historical photos * and recollections from Milk's many activist friends in his Castro Street neighborhood, campaigns and eventual victory, Prop 6 protests, the Gay Freedom Day Parade, and Harvey Milk's enduring legacy. Part II, "The Movie," details the making of the film, and includes: * commentary by screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who was on the set every day * movie stills, side-by-side with the historical photos they re-create * and behind-the-scene shots of the real historical characters who consulted on or appeared in the film.

A lovely and poignant novel filled with insight and dry wit The painful funny struggles of the women in this book mothers daughters sisters neighbours doctors patients will resonate with readers everywhere KATHERINE HEINY author of GAMES AND RITUALS Goodbye Birdie Greenwing is one of those books that lingers I laughed cried and felt more compassionate for reading it A triumph JENNIE GODFREY author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS Oh the exquisite tender misfits in Goodbye Birdie Greenwing I love them all I love the way loneliness is gathered up into such a delightfully odd community I love the entire book CATHERINE NEWMAN author of WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS Great friends are hard to find difficult to leave and impossible to forget Birdie Greenwing has been at a loose end ever since her beloved twin sister and husband passed away Too proud and stubborn to admit she is lonely Birdie s world has shrunk But then some new neighbours move in to the house next door Jane has come to Brighton for a fresh start away from her ferociously protective mother Min While Jane finds it hard to stand up for herself her daughter Frankie has no problem telling people what she does and doesn t want Ada Kowalski has come to England

Muchas cosas han pasado desde que Mary Ann Singleton, una secretaria de Cleveland con una vida tan rectilínea que parecía trazada con escuadra, llegó a la ciudad. No se puede decir que aquello fuera un llego, vio y vencio, pero despues de alquilar uno de los apartamentos de la excentrica y encantadora señora Madrigal, la joven descubrio las virtudes de la amistad, de la marihuana, y de vivir en una ciudad sin tabues. Claro que a pesar de tantas gozosas peripecias, el principe soñado, el unico, el definitivo, aun no ha aparecido en su vida, y tras un breve seminoviazgo con un detective privado que resulto ser un pornografo infantil, Mary Ann ha decidido gastarse los cinco mil dolares que le lego su difunto jefe, el inefable señor Halcyon, en un crucero a Mexico. La acompañara Mouse, su amigo del alma. El romantico Mouse, tras incansables busquedas, si habia encontrado a su principe, un guapisimo ginecologo de la alta sociedad, pero lo perdio por participar en un desaforado concurso en calzoncillos en una discoteca gay... Entretanto, Mona Ramsey, la chica para quien la cocaina era casi tan cotidiana como la Coca-cola, sigue buscandose a si misma, y ha emprendido un viaje que acabara en un burdel de Nevada; Brian, el ardiente seductor y conquistador incansable, se ha enamorado de una desconocida a la que espia cada noche con sus prismaticos, y Anna Madrigal, la inefable casera que trata a sus inquilinos como a sus hijos y cuando sufren les consuela con porros recien liados, tendra que revelar muy pronto su increible secreto... He aqui una nueva entrega de la divertida, torrencial, conmovedora y adictiva saga de San Francisco, esa comedia tan divinamente humana en la que finalmente todos encuentran lo que buscan, o al menos lo que se merecen.

Cuando la inocente Mary Ann Singleton llegó a San Francisco, en los años setenta, y cayó para siempre bajo el hechizo de la ciudad más libre del mundo, tenía veinticinco años. Pero ya estamos en los ochenta y la chica ha recorrido un largo camino. Continua viviendo en uno de los paradisiacos apartamentos de la inefable, encantadora señora Madrigal, pero ahora puede pagarse muebles de diseño y ha llegado a ser una estrella menor de television.

Mary Ann Singleton tenía veinticinco años y era una secretaria de Cleveland con la vida más cuadriculada que un tablero de ajedrez cuando fue por primera vez a San Francisco. Y lo que iban a ser unas vacaciones de ocho dias, tras tomar tres cafes irlandeses se convirtieron en una declaracion de independencia de su familia y en la firme decision de quedarse a vivir en aquel peculiar paraiso. Mary Ann no sabia aun que habia llegado a la ciudad sin tabues, al nuevo territorio libre de America, al paraiso de los años sesenta, donde al menos una revolucion la sexual ya habia sido hecha, y solo cabia disfrutarla. Pero tras alquilar uno de los apartamentos de la señora Madrigal, una encantadora excentrica que daba la bienvenida a sus inquilinos con porros y poemas de Tennyson, conoceria a sus futuros compañeros de vida en la ciudad donde cualquier cosa podia suceder: Mona, con crisis de identidad diversas, que cuando invitaba con coca a sus amigos no estaba ofreciendo precisamente una bebida gaseosa; Michael, o Mouse, homosexual y romantico, que buscaba a traves de infinitos encuentros a su hombre soñado; Brian, el guapo chico de al lado, que habia convertido la pasion politica de otras epocas en ardor sexual... Esta apasionante, divertida y adictiva saga de San Francisco comenzo a aparecer en 1976 en las paginas de un periodico; conocio un exito inmediato, y los lectores esperaban cada dia las nuevas aventuras de estos habitantes de un nuevo mundo casi siempre feliz, donde las barreras sexuales y sociales parecian haber sido derribadas. En esta coleccion se han publicado tambien "Nuevas historias de San Francisco" y "Mas historias de San Francisco", que se han convertido internacionalmente en libros de culto.

Una magnífica novela de suspense con un excelente tratamiento de las relaciones humanas y los sentimientos. A sus 54 años Gabriel Noone, guionista de un programa de radio seguido con mucho interés por la comunidad homosexual, atraviesa una profunda crisis debida a la separacion de su pareja Jess, un hombre quince años mas joven y aquejado de sida.. Pero la repentina aparicion en su vida de un admirador de 13 años que le envia un manuscrito dara un vuelco completo a su existencia.