Public Access Afterworld.jpg
Public Access Afterworld.jpg

Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun

from $13.20
Hardcover:

A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

“Beautiful, funny, and scathing . . . I stayed up all night binge-reading.”—SenLinYu
“Gave me a vertiginous thrill I haven’t encountered since David Mitchell.”—Torrey Peters
“Psychedelic horror of the first order.”—Grady Hendrix
“Heart-wrenching, hilarious, visionary, and so damned smart, this novel is a major work by a major writer.”—Paul Tremblay
“Utterly hypnotic.”—Lev Grossman
“Dazzling and politically acute, Schoenbrun’s debut announces a major literary voice.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A dazzling story . . . a great American novel.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“One of the best novels of the year.”—Booklist (starred review)
One of Publishers Weekly’s 10 Most Anticipated Books • One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review Podcast, The Boston Globe, Time, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Lit Hub, AV Club, The Chicago Review of Books, The Bookseller, Reactor, Book Riot, Crime Reads, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Debutiful

Find the receiver. Make it real.

Jane Schoenbrun's first novel imagines a strange realm lurking beneath television and the internet, one that pulls people in and holds them in its static. The story moves across three eras, from a 1988 on-air tragedy to a group of suburban teenagers in 2009 to a trans content moderator, Bethany Peters, in the present day.

Bethany's work exposes her to troubling signals, and she becomes the unlikely figure who must try to save others, and herself, from whatever is on the other side of the screen.

Public Access Afterworld blends speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, with themes of outcasts, identity, and the pull of media on lonely people.

Schoenbrun is the filmmaker behind I Saw the TV Glow and We're All Going to the World's Fair, and the novel carries that same interest in screens, adolescence, and belonging onto a much larger canvas at 608 pages.

It suits readers who want ambitious, genre-bending fiction that treats media nostalgia as both comfort and trap.

A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

“Beautiful, funny, and scathing . . . I stayed up all night binge-reading.”—SenLinYu
“Gave me a vertiginous thrill I haven’t encountered since David Mitchell.”—Torrey Peters
“Psychedelic horror of the first order.”—Grady Hendrix
“Heart-wrenching, hilarious, visionary, and so damned smart, this novel is a major work by a major writer.”—Paul Tremblay
“Utterly hypnotic.”—Lev Grossman
“Dazzling and politically acute, Schoenbrun’s debut announces a major literary voice.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A dazzling story . . . a great American novel.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“One of the best novels of the year.”—Booklist (starred review)
One of Publishers Weekly’s 10 Most Anticipated Books • One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review Podcast, The Boston Globe, Time, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Lit Hub, AV Club, The Chicago Review of Books, The Bookseller, Reactor, Book Riot, Crime Reads, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Debutiful

Find the receiver. Make it real.

Jane Schoenbrun's first novel imagines a strange realm lurking beneath television and the internet, one that pulls people in and holds them in its static. The story moves across three eras, from a 1988 on-air tragedy to a group of suburban teenagers in 2009 to a trans content moderator, Bethany Peters, in the present day.

Bethany's work exposes her to troubling signals, and she becomes the unlikely figure who must try to save others, and herself, from whatever is on the other side of the screen.

Public Access Afterworld blends speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, with themes of outcasts, identity, and the pull of media on lonely people.

Schoenbrun is the filmmaker behind I Saw the TV Glow and We're All Going to the World's Fair, and the novel carries that same interest in screens, adolescence, and belonging onto a much larger canvas at 608 pages.

It suits readers who want ambitious, genre-bending fiction that treats media nostalgia as both comfort and trap.

  • Publisher: Hogarth

    Title: Public Access Afterworld

    Author: Jane Schoenbrun

    On Sale Date: October 27, 2026

    ISBN 13: 978-0-593-97838-2

    ISBN 10: 0593978382

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $33.00

    Page Count: 608

    Dimensions: 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

  • Jane Schoenbrun is a filmmaker whose work includes We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, and whose forthcoming film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma stars Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder. Public Access Afterworld is their first novel.

  • Pre-release readers are calling it dazzling, hypnotic, and visionary:

    • Publishers Weekly gave the novel a starred review and called it a dazzling story.

    • Kirkus Reviews described the debut as dazzling and politically acute, and said it announces a major new literary voice.

    • Torrey Peters said it gave her a vertiginous thrill she had not felt since reading David Mitchell.

    • Grady Hendrix called it psychedelic horror of the first order, and Lev Grossman called it utterly hypnotic.

This book is for you if

  • You loved Jane Schoenbrun's films, including I Saw the TV Glow, and want to see their vision at novel length.

  • You're drawn to psychedelic horror and speculative fiction built around television, pirate broadcasts, and the early internet.

  • You enjoy stories that span several decades, from a 1988 broadcast to 2009 to the present day.

  • You're interested in fiction about outcasts, queer and trans identity, and the transformative power of connection.

  • You're looking for a big, ambitious debut novel that blends horror, conspiracy, and sharp social commentary.

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