All Friends Are Necessary: A Novel

Written by Tomas Moniz

Narrated by Andrew Joseph Perez

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Jun 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9781668639030

Tomas Moniz

Tomas Moniz is the founder, editor, and writer for the award winning Rad Dad which produced two literary anthologies: Rad Dad and Rad Families: A Celebration (2017). His novella Bellies and Buffalos is a tender, chaotic road trip about friendship, family and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. He's the recipient of the SF Literary Arts Foundation's 2016 Mary Tanenbaum Award, the 2016 International Can Serrat Artist Residency, the 2017 Caldera International Artist Residency and the 2017 LPP+Residency in San Francisco. His first novel, King Pleasure, will be released summer 2018 by Hawthorne Books