Tomas Moniz is a Latinx writer living in East Oakland, CA. His debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the Lambda Literary Award. He teaches at Berkeley City College and the Antioch University’s Master of Fine Arts program. He has stuff on the internet but loves pen pals: PO Box 3555, Berkeley CA 94703. He promises to write back. His new novel, All Friends Are Necessary was named a finalist for the California Golden Poppy Award.
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Tomas Moniz
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All Friends Are Necessary
Efren “Chino” Flores has just moved back to the Bay Area from Seattle, jumping from sublet to sublet. In Washington, he was an adored middle school biology teacher with a loving wife, and a child on the way—that is, until a stunning loss upended his life. Now he’s working temp jobs, terrified of commitment, 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 those around him 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.
