All Friends Are Necessary: A Novel by Tomas Moniz (Hardcover) (PREORDER)

Fiction - Family Life - Friendship - LGBTQ+ - Bisexual - Hispanic & Latino

RELEASE DATE:  6/11/2024 (PREORDERS WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE AND ARRIVE 1-2 DAYS AFTER THE RELEASE DATE)

In this “tender and open-hearted novel," (Nina LaCour, author of Yerba Buena) Tomas Moniz—a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway and Lambda Literary awards—delivers a commanding new story about the power of friendship, community, and the families we create for ourselves.

Efren “Chino” Flores has just moved back to the Bay Area from Seattle, jumping from sublet to sublet. In Washington, he was a beloved middle school biology teacher with a loving wife and a child on the way until a stunning loss changed his life. Now he’s working temp jobs and struggling to put himself back out into the world.

But there to nurture Chino is a coterie of new and old friends and lovers who form a protective web around him. Closest to him are Metal Matt, a red-haired metalhead with a soft spot for Courtney Love and a rangy dog named Sabbath, and Mike and Kay, a couple whose literary edge is matched only by the success of their secret OnlyFans account. As Chino begins to date more men and women—and to open himself up again to love—his bonds with other people grow both rich and profound. Like a fern blooming in the wake of a forest fire, new life comes after even the most devastating upheaval.

With gorgeous, heartrending detail and a seemingly infinite catalogue of tender, unexpected interactions, Tomas Moniz has created a striking mosaic of desire and belonging. An anthem to both queer and platonic love, All Friends Are Necessary evinces the wonder of friendship and the joy of giving yourself up to the essential force of community.

"Vibrant, alive, and absolutely devastating in its beauty, All Friends Are Necessary is like a late-night phone call with your best friend—exuberant, confessional, and above all, honest."—Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot and Madwoman

AUTHOR BIO: 

Tomas Moniz is a Latinx writer living in Oakland, CA. His debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway, the LAMBDA, and the Foreward Indies Awards. He edited the popular Rad Dad and Rad Families anthologies. He is the recipient of the prestigious SF Literary Arts Foundation's 2016 Award and the 2020 Artist Affiliate for Headlands Center for Arts. He currently teaches at Berkeley City College and the Antioch MFA program.

"Tomas Moniz's All Friends are Necessary is a powerful love letter to friendship and community... It is a tender story that demonstrates how nature and friendships are integral parts of surviving in this difficult world. Moniz's novel is the balm we all need. Don't walk, run to grab this gorgeous book."-- Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park

"Moniz writes about friendship, community, and love--all the flavors of it one can experience in a lifetime--with the warmth of a big hug and a wealth of wisdom. More than a novel,All Friends Are Necessaryis a manifesto on how to live more tenderly and authentically, how to open your heart and let life inside."--Christopher Gonzalez, author of I'm Not Hungry but I Could Eat