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Independent Press Award 

2025 Distinguished Favorite

J.A.Cancelmo

Detroit Unrequited

Tony D'Marino lives a seemingly charmed existence. From immigrant roots to a Harvard MBA, he's amassed a formidable stock portfolio and owns a sprawling Soho loft with Hudson River views. But images of post-apocalyptic Detroit have triggered a traumatic memory from his college years in the '70s-memories he can't live with or without. He's desperate to reconnect with parts of himself left unfinished when his best friend Roman was left dead by his side. Tony's return to an officially bankrupt, dystopian Detroit begins with a series of uncanny experiences, with old and new relationships. He's driven to answer essential questions about the murder and face conflicts around race, maleness, and sexuality left unresolved. Detroit Unrequited is part psychological mystery and part historical reflection. It is a tale of lives derailed by trauma and attempts at resolution and reinvention for the characters and the post-apocalyptic city.

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