It's such a personal and specific book that it has universal appeal. If you've never read a single word of Tales of the City, you'll find Logical Family to be a concise and fascinating introduction to Maupin's world. If you've read all of Maupin's Tales of the City series, you'll likely want to read Logical Family. The series, he says, will be set in the present day and will track the lives of his most popular characters more than four decades after the publication date of the first Tales of the City strip in the San Francisco Chronicle. Maupin also revealed that he's working with Netflix to create a television series based on his popular Tales of the City series. We talked about why he decided to write his memoir, Logical Family, now ('I'm 73,' he noted wryly, asking when else he was supposed to publish his memoirs.) We discussed how he feels about his legacy (he seems rightfully proud of what he did to represent gay and trans populations in mass media.) He shared whether he's comfortable with his role in the outing of actor Rock Hudson (yes, although Maupin admitted that he does have dreams where Hudson, a former flame, appears to him and says he's happy with how things worked out.) He talked at length about Barry Manilow and what it means to be a closeted artist.

The last time in the evening that it happened, he said 'I saw the color was coming back into your face, so I decided to do something about that.' Maupin seemed to relish catching me flat-footed.

A few times, those jokes were so quick and so funny that I had nothing to say in response.

Maupin fired off quips about sign language interpreters miming acts of masturbation, about oral sex, about orgies. And every few minutes, he'll say something so fantastically filthy that it'll make you laugh until the wind's knocked out of you. He's kind in his recollections, he's full of explosive anecdotes and hilarious observations. Maupin is a sweet and generous public speaker. I bring this up because last night at Benaroya Hall, Armistead Maupin knocked me on my ass at least three separate times. Dead air in an onstage interview is.well, death. If they tell an anecdote about fox hunting, you've got to find the connective tissue to tie that anecdote to the next question somehow, even if the next question is related to the stock market. No matter what the author throws at you, you have to make it an additive experience. The one thing about hosting author interviews in public spaces is you've got to 'yes, and.' the hell out of them.

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