Public Access Afterworld

A riot in novel form by an author with an utterly singular, original vision. Public Access Afterworld will leave you breathless and desperate for a sequel – Kaliane Bradley, author of THE MINISTRY OF TIME
Read this. It’s a delirious, reality-warping fever dream of a novel, just the way we like them – Josh Silver, author of FRUIT FLY
Jane Schoenbrun has the literary voice I’ve been famished for. Public Access Afterworld gave me a vertiginous thrill I haven’t encountered since David Mitchell; the kind of epic book that doesn’t just warp reality on the page but goes on warping when you look up - you read it and the world glints with secrets anew. – Torrey Peters, author of STAG DANCE and DETRANSITION, BABY
Public Access Afterworld is an immersive and chilling journey that I stayed up all night binge-reading. Schoenbrun’s skill and confidence as a storyteller are made clear by the deft way they play with both genre and form as the book bends and warps across time and mediums. Adroitly beautiful, funny, and scathing, Public Access Afterworld is a book from a talented storyteller with much to say, who’s not afraid to say it – SenLinYu, #1 New York Times bestselling author of ALCHEMISED
In Jane Schoenbrun’s electric Public Access Afterworld the American dream is refracted through the lens of the history of television to show its true nightmare self. Thrilling, heart-wrenching, hilarious, visionary, and so damned smart, this novel is a major work from a major talent – Paul Tremblay, author of A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS and DEAD BUT DREAMING OF ELECTRIC SHEEP
Constantly yanking the magical carpet out from under the reader’s feet, this epic quest for the source of all television is psychedelic horror of the first order – Grady Hendrix, author of WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS
An epic TV show wrapped inside a novel wrapped inside our reality and maybe every other reality there ever was, Public Access Afterworld is a 600 page shot of sheer adrenaline, as exhilarating as it is addictive… Jane Schoenbrun is one of modern horror’s most distinctive, confident voices and the fact that they’re as adept at bringing their vision to the page as they are to the screen is both dazzling and infuriating – Will Maclean, author of SOLACE HOUSE
A thriller unlike any other. Strange, urgent, utterly hypnotic - once you start reading Public Access Afterworld, you won’t stop – Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE MAGICIANS
Such a compulsive read. Dark and glittering and full of static. Huzzah. Neon sign: So, so much fun – Helen Macdonald, author of H IS FOR HAWK
David Lynch-y … [Public Access Afterworld] is weird and creepy and unsettling … Rife with questions about trans identity and how pop culture plays into how you think about yourself and see yourself in the world – Fall Book Preview * New York Times Book Review podcast *
No synopsis can possibly convey the weird, full-hearted wonder of Jane Schoenbrun’s electrifying first novel, but one must try … Schoenbrun has written a doozy of a debut that reimagines the Orpheus myth for our hypermediated age … Schoenbrun has an almost preternatural talent for rendering characters … “Find the receiver. Make it real,” the novel urges. An entire generation may have found a receiver in this revelation of a book. Schoenbrun has called together the dreams and tribulations of a dimension of peoples - long erased, long maligned, too often brutalized, heroically resisting - and made them real. * New York Times *
An action-packed, immensely readable sci-fi epic with a serrated edge … essential reading for fans of any of [Schoenbrun’s] films . . . It’s a gift seeing Schoenbrun’s work in a specifically novelistic format, as text requires more candour and exposition than film. The novel is their most explicitly trans and political work, but it’s also just their widest-reaching … It offers a rare chance to see them at their highest level of creative control. * DAZED *
This genre-bending epic about transition and connection has a cultish appeal sure to garner devoted fans. Think Stranger Things, Cloud Atlas or A Visit to the Good Squad … [a] startlingly inventive fiction debut * The Bookseller *
Dazzling and politically acute, Schoenbrun’s debut announces a major literary voice – starred review * Kirkus *
Of all their work to this point, Public Access Afterworld feels like the most unfettered, freed up to be as far-reaching as they’d like without any thought to what it would cost to stage everything for the camera (though they’d still like to make a screen version someday). The novel is Schoenbrun turned loose to remix and run wild … Public Access Afterworld asks whether the systems we’re so resigned to living under are worth saving when they can only exist by grinding up the vulnerable. * Vulture *
Public Access Afterworld is a fever dream-esque love letter to television, the internet, science fiction, and nerds * Reactor *
Paying homage to classic horror movies and late-night television, filmmaker Schoenbrun debuts with a dazzling story about a mysterious TV channel that might be broadcasting from another dimension … Throughout, Schoenbrun tackles big ideas with feather-light humor, and they perfectly channel their characters’ obsession with the small screen … It’s a great American novel of the 20th century’s digital echoes – starred review * Publishers Weekly *
The mastermind behind I Saw the TV Glow is releasing their debut novel, and I couldn’t be more excited. This is one to pre-order without even reading the publicity copy to hype you up * Debutiful *
Following two basement teens who experience an extra-strange analog-to-digital transition - care of the pirate TV network that gives the novel its name - this one looks thrillingly original * Literary Hub *
A debut that’s bound to make a splash … A blend of sci-fi, queer coming of age, and literary horror, this is cinematic writing at its best – Autumn Reading Picks * The Cold *
The writer/director behind one of the year’s most acclaimed films is poised to captivate readers as well with this electric, eerie, positively Schoenbrunian first novel * Boston Globe *
Is there anything that Jane Schoenbrun can’t do?? Three spectacular major motion pictures … and now a debut novel that reads like a David Mitchell fever dream imagined by somebody working the last Blockbuster on the planet … It is an ode to movies and moviemaking and the ineffable places from which story comes … But it is also a Lynchian fever dream about the dangers of our subconscious, about the raptures of discovering your self, and about how you should never ever trust a suit in matters of art. It’s also just fucking fun – 34 Books You Need to Read This Fall * Literary Hub *
The first novel from I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma director Jane Schoenbrun explores the same themes of self discovery and weird television as their films. The genre-bending book spans three timelines and multiple realities as a group of outcasts try to uncover the mysteries of Public Access Afterworld – 10 most anticipated sci-fi and fantasy books of fall 2026 * Polygon *
A cult classic in the making – 10 Titles Not to Miss in 2026 * The Bookseller *
[A] harrowing mystery – Biggest Books of Fall 2026 * Barnes and Noble *
Schoenbrun’s debut is a psychedelic work of genius – Fall Fiction Preview * Newsday *
A trip – Six Big (Lit) Hitters for Autumn * Grazia *
Filmmaker Schoenbrun makes their print debut with one of the best novels of the year … [An] existentially terrifying, David Lynchian horror – starred review * Booklist *
Triumphant … This deeply layered and captivating novel follows two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who become entranced by the mystery of a TV network called Public Access Afterworld … Part fever dream and part love letter to the stories that forever change us, Public Access Afterworld is everything you could ever want from the immensely talented Schoenbrun – 12 Must-Read Books of October * Chicago Review of Books *

Jane Schoenbrun’s mind-bending fiction debut screams ‘instant cult classic’… Schoenbrun revels in horror and speculative elements, writing a multimedia mashup that reflects our destabilized world

Praise for I Saw the TV Glow, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun

‘Jane Schoenbrun was born to make cult classics’ GQ
‘An atmosphere so intoxicating, it feels less like the creation of a movie and more that of an entire world’ Guardian
‘What’s most effective, and staggering, is Schoenbrun’s storytelling’ New York Times

Jane Schoenbrun is an award-winning filmmaker and writer. Their films include I Saw the TV Glow, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder. Public Access Afterworld is their first novel.

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