I couldn’t be more excited about this.

(As much as I love the Tales of the City books – especially the later ones, especially SURE OF YOU, whose epigraph makes me cry –my favorite Maupin book is THE NIGHT LISTENER, one of the best books I’ve ever read about our need to know what’s true, and our willingness to reject that truth once we’ve established it. Actually, just one of the best novels, ever.)

I discovered Maupin in the mid-80s, in San Antonio's Half-Price Books, a wonderful store that backed up to the wonderfully named Avenue B, which was the eastern border of the city's Brackenridge Park. On a hot day -- and San Antonio had no shortage of those -- Half Price Books was a wonderful retreat, cool and musty smelling, full of discoveries. Of course I yearned to imitate Maupin -- write a serial novel for a newspaper. A colleague and I even pitched the idea to our bosses. Thank god they said no. That's one less embarrassment to live down.

Any other Maupin fans here?