I Could Be Famous
On sale
8th January 2026
Price: £18.99
‘A terrific debut: fresh, original, and surprising’ GEORGE SAUNDERS
‘Rende’s genius for the absurd is underpinned by her great comic timing’ DANA SPIOTTA
‘Outstanding… shot through with a crystalline wit and mordant surprise’ MEGAN KAMALEI KAKIMOTO
‘Rende’s funny, sweet, stinging voice is made for this moment’ JONATHAN DEE
This is the story of ten ambitious women – and one male superstar fallen from grace – as they stumble through the delusional pursuit of fame
A struggling actress goes method to land the role of High School Junkie Girlfriend.
A college freshman gives the world’s longest blowjob to a boy whose name she’s forgotten.
An assistant helping to film celebrity homes develops a taste for kleptomania.
And linking them all is Arlo Banks, a hotshot actor facing downfall when he’s accused of cannibalism.
From the dazzling to the mundane, Sydney Rende’s unnerving and darkly funny stories hold a mirror to our obsession with self-image and the idea that we could – someday, somehow – be famous.
‘Rende’s genius for the absurd is underpinned by her great comic timing’ DANA SPIOTTA
‘Outstanding… shot through with a crystalline wit and mordant surprise’ MEGAN KAMALEI KAKIMOTO
‘Rende’s funny, sweet, stinging voice is made for this moment’ JONATHAN DEE
This is the story of ten ambitious women – and one male superstar fallen from grace – as they stumble through the delusional pursuit of fame
A struggling actress goes method to land the role of High School Junkie Girlfriend.
A college freshman gives the world’s longest blowjob to a boy whose name she’s forgotten.
An assistant helping to film celebrity homes develops a taste for kleptomania.
And linking them all is Arlo Banks, a hotshot actor facing downfall when he’s accused of cannibalism.
From the dazzling to the mundane, Sydney Rende’s unnerving and darkly funny stories hold a mirror to our obsession with self-image and the idea that we could – someday, somehow – be famous.
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Reviews
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
Shot 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
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
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
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"