A never-ending press junket. An island made of plastic. A doppelgänger made of shower hair. A basement full of replacement fathers.
The characters in I Made This Just for You are perfect avatars of modern life. They work in tech, take designer drugs, assemble IKEA furniture, pursue beauty matching, and rehabilitate their reputations—all while grappling with a perilous sense of unease, held hostage by economic forces beyond their control.
I Made This Just for You lives in weird and flirts with normal. The stories explore the tension between authenticity and performance, as characters navigate the anxieties of modern parenthood, the disorienting nature of loss and memory, and the absurd, often dystopian, intersection of the digital and the real.
This savage, sideways collection asks: How do we measure the distance between two people? How can we thrive within our own ceaseless routines? And how are we still drawn together, in spite of our messy, broken ways of knowing?
PRAISE FOR I MADE THIS JUST FOR YOU
‘Chris Ames fearlessly stares into the uncanny abyss of the hyperreal, creating ultra contemporary tales of terror, satire and digital anxiety. This collection is a mind-bending, timely and empathetic reminder that we have to endure, no matter how many skies have fallen.’ – Chris Flynn, author of Orpheus Nine
‘From corporate drudgery to online hellscapes, Chris Ames writes cleverly and elegantly about the excruciating performance of self. Often surreal, sometimes painful and always brilliant in its examination of a culturally bankrupt age, I loved every page.’ – Sinéad Stubbins, author of Stinkbug
‘Funny, sad and searching, I Made This Just for You has everything you want from a short story collection. Chris Ames is a champion of the form.’ – Briohny Doyle, author of Why We Are Here
‘I Made This Just for You is a glorious collection that teems with the strange artefacts and anxieties of our time. It's a digital-drunk wonderland of stories where dreams become nightmares before you've realised it. A dazzling, kaleidoscopic collection that surprised and delighted me on every page.’ – Rhett Davis, author of Arborescence
‘I Made This Just for You is a searing look at the banality of modern life, but with a pulsing optimism at its core. Chris Ames’ blisteringly funny critique exfoliates what is still beautiful and true in humanity. This book finds love in a hopeless place.’ – Avery Trufelman, podcaster on 99% Invisible
‘smart, funny, uncomfortable and thought provoking’ – Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
‘The stories of I Made This Just for You are wildly inventive and rollicking. I’d follow Chris Ames anywhere.’ – Rita Bullwinkel, author of Headshot
‘The experience of reading I Made This Just for You is an immersive one: you laugh, you become anxious, and, if you’re another writer, you also become envious because the author, Chris Ames, is just so talented. As you turn every page you find yourself thinking, “Oh, I wish I could do that!”’ – Sophie Cunningham, author of This Devastating Fever
‘Hilarious, profound and brilliantly deranged, I Made This Just for You responds to the exponential absurdity of this moment by meeting it with equal force.’ – Josephine Rowe, author of Little World
‘In absurd times, Ames gets to the crux of our contemporary foibles. He does this with bold creativity and biting humour but also heart. The highs and lows of his characters' lives—appified, algorithmised and enshittified—belong to all of us.’ – Suzy Garcia, writer and editor at Kill Your Darlings
‘I feel like Chris Ames has been inside my head, but I don’t know how he got in there. Somehow he knows things I thought only I knew. This book is so swift and funny and—for all its sad, ludicrous perversity—completely charming. Unless he gives you one for free, you should probably buy a copy.’ – Miles Allinson, author of In Moonland
About the Author :
Chris Ames is a writer from California. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, HEAT, The Big Issue, The Saturday Paper, New Australian Fiction, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a Hot Desk Fellowship, the Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Award, and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and children.
