He was instrumental in the development of The Shared Heart, which presents the portraits and coming out stories of 40 gay and lesbian teenagers. The Shared Heart won the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Book Award in the nonfiction category in 1998. It was also on ALA’s Best Books for Young Adults list in 1999. Happily married, Michael lives on Cape Cod with his husband, Moe, and cat, Jack. His new memoir, The Sea is Quiet Tonight, recounts the early years of the AIDS epidemic in Boston.