Public Access Afterworld is a profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel. A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static.
Yay LitStackers! Get ready to add another title to your “TBR” list! Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun is in presale and generating serious buzz. This science fiction novel from Hogarth | Penguin Random House set for publication Oct. 27, 2026, has early readers buzzing. We’re here to show you what’s on the book cover, from the publisher’s official description to the early reviews that suggest this book is one you want to pre-order today.
Here we go!
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In This Spotlight On Public Access Afterworld
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About Public Access Afterworld
Find the receiver. Make it real.
At 5:35pm on September 3rd, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray “Can You Say Sunshine” Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger.
On June 12th, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin’s basement to watch TV’s analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld and their lives are changed forever.
Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld.
But what is Public Access Afterworld?
Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds, especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times, Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive. A mesmerizing mashup of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, it marks the arrival of a major new force in contemporary fiction by a groundbreaking filmmaker who’s been compared to David Lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson.
Praise for Public Access Afterworld
“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, author of Alchemised
“The mastermind behind I Saw the TV Glow is releasing their debut novel [Public Access Afterworld], and I couldn’t be more excited. This is one to pre-order without even reading the publicity copy to hype you up.”—Debutiful
Public Access Afterworld is “Psychedelic horror of the first order.”—Grady Hendrix, author of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
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 it when you look up—you read the novel and the world glints with secrets anew.”—Torrey Peters, author of Stag Dance and Detransition, Baby
“A thriller unlike any other . . . strange, urgent, utterly . . . hypnotic—once you start reading Public Access Afterworld, you won’t stop.”—Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians
Public Access Afterworld is “A riot in novel form by an author with an utterly singular, original vision . . . will leave you breathless and desperate for a sequel.”—Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time
“Thrilling, heart-wrenching, hilarious, visionary, and so damned smart, this novel [Public Access Afterworld] is a major work from a major talent.”—Paul Tremblay, author of Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Public Access Afterworld is “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
About Jane Schoenbrun, Author of Public Access Afterworld
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 debut novel.
You can learn more about Jane Schoenbrun at Penguin Random House, and connect with them on Instagram.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Hogarth | Penguin Random House
ISBN Hardcover 9780593978382
Pub Date Oct 27, 2026
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As an affiliate of Bookshop.org, Malaprop’s, Books-A-Million, Audiobooks.com, Chirp, 2nd & Charles, Amazon, NameHero, Envato, and Place-It, LitStack may earn a commission—at no cost to you—when you purchase through our affiliate links. We appreciate the brands we work with, and also appreciate that using our affiliate links may help you find your next great read, a book or two or more, in whatever form, while simultaneously supporting LitStack. When you use our affiliate links, you help keep LitStack running—and for that, we thank you.
As a Bookshop, Malaprop’s, BAM, Barnes & Noble, Audiobooks.com, Amazon, and Envato affiliate, LitStack may earn a commission at no cost to you when you purchase products through our affiliate links.
