I Could Be Famous: 'A terrific debut: fresh, original and surprising' George Saunders

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"... I Could Be Famous is sharp, darkly funny, and, in the words of the reality TV star from my favourite story, "very anthropological" - Anna Dorn, author of Perfume and PainShot through with a crystalline wit and mordant surprise, I Could Be Famous is outstanding... the characters at once shocked and delighted me. With the same insatiable desire that animates Rende's prose, I devoured these stories - Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, author of Every Drop Is a Man's NightmareA 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 SaundersSydney 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 The Privileges