“Sydney Rende’s debut collection spoke to me from the first line, where a receptionist cold-messages a celebrity to say they’d be a “good match.” In these propulsive stories, the tattoo of a dead mom comes to life, a woman contemplates dumping her boyfriend after he gives her a kidney, and an infomercial actress is desperate to land the role of an unnamed junkie girlfriend. Lurking throughout is a disgraced leading man accused of cannibalism and up for the role of Dracula, a twisted thread linking them all. I Could Be Famous issharp, darkly funny, and, in the words of the reality TV star from my favorite story, ‘very anthropological.’” — Anna Dorn, author of LA Times Book Prize Finalist Exalted
"Shot through with a crystalline wit and mordant surprise, I Could Be Famous is an outstanding work of short fiction by one of my new favorite writers. Whether navigating the precipitous stakes of reality television or the stark ambitions of social media influencing, the characters in Rende’s fiction at once shocked and delighted me. With the same insatiable desire that animates Rende’s prose, I devoured these stories." — Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, USA Today bestselling author of Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare
"A terrific debut: fresh, original, and surprising. Eleven fast, sharp, funny stories laced with a deep understanding of the corrosive effect our fame-hungry attention economy has on real connection between people. Rende is such a witty, engaging writer, with an intuitive understanding that the short story is in the world to delight, engage, and enlarge the reader." — George Saunders
“Sydney Rende's genius for the absurd is underpinned by her great comic timing. Even in her characters' darkest moments, salvation is found through an ever-present wit. Her sharply funny and fearless stories deftly satirize our too online, celebrity-obsessed cultural abyss. And if you cock your head and look closely, there is something so tender (and lonely) at the heart of them. I Could Be Famous is a wonderful debut.” —Dana Spiotta, author of National Book Award Finalist Eat the Document
"Sydney Rende’s funny, sweet, stinging voice is made for this moment, and for those coming of age within it. An important debut and an invaluable tip-sheet to the way we live now, I Could Be Famous captures perfectly the hazards of young womanhood in a world where everyone is desperate to be looked at, but wary of being seen.” —Jonathan Dee, author of Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Privileges
"Rende succeeds emphatically at stirring up the cringy recesses of internet and celebrity culture. Through a host of characters these short stories acutely and hilariously depict the most ridiculous facets of living our lives both online and in reality. They will have you wrangling with your place in contemporary society, hoping and praying you don’t see yourself reflected back from its pages." —Richard Dixon, The Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore, MD
"In I Could Be Famous by Sydney Rende we meet influencers, the celebrity obsessed, bad boyfriends and the women who love them. These are people searching for love, companionship, and hungry for their fifteen minutes of fame. I loved this very funny debut short story collection!" —Caitlin Baker, Island Books, Mercer Island, WA
