This review was made possible by Popped receiving an advanced copy of Public Access Afterworld.
Remember that one line from Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma? You know the one.
“There is a hole at the bottom of the lake where the movies come from.”
What about that scene back in I Saw The TV Glow where you finally begin to learn what the hell is going on?
“Will you tell me where you’ve been all these years?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do.
I’ve been there.
Inside the show.
Inside The Pink Opaque.”
For these films, those scenes are the crux they rest upon. And yet, they’re not exactly the point of focus, because what director Jane Schoenbrun ends up delivering with each film is more an emotional tone piece than anything. They may be built with the coolest sci-fi horror hooks you’ve ever seen, but ultimately it’s all to serve films that speak to the heart rather than the mind. Public Access Afterworld, Schoenbrun’s debut novel, looks to break from the pattern, first and foremost giving a riveting and horrifying thrill ride.
What is ‘Public Access Afterworld’ Actually About?
If you are already interested in reading Public Access Afterworld, do yourself a favor: Don’t get spoiled! Go in as blind as you can. Although I’m being incredibly cautious with what I say, I worry I’ve already said too much. So stop here and go give the book a read. But if you’d like at least a basic understanding of what it’s actually about, here goes.
A strange phrase seems to keep cropping up out of nowhere, and with it, comes quite unusual, unnerving events. That phrase? Public Access Afterworld, of course. In 1988, it’s muttered by a weatherman just before he commits suicide on live TV. In 2009, a pirate TV network of the same name is found by high schoolers David Sawyer and Erin Morrison. And in 2017, content moderator Bethany Peters hears the phrase repeated in online videos by a small creator. Don’t worry, this is all just the tip of the iceberg, straight from the synopsis.
Also promised is a story “spanning decades and realities.” This novel has quite the scope and scale. While aspects of it still remain here, Schoenbrun is no longer in intimate drama territory. This is a full-blown conspiracy thriller. It’s not quite Lynchian in the way their films are… a more apt comparison would be Stranger Things. A large cast of characters, each living out their own stories, brought together in a finely woven tapestry. It’s mystery and horrors and car chases and human connection. But all in a very Jane Schoenbrun way.
The “realities” part of the above quote is also certainly exciting, and it’s well worth the wait to learn what that could mean, but it’s the “decades” part that really floored me. These different time periods the book is set in all connect in a phenomenal fashion, from the relationships between characters, to how it unfolds. Public Access Afterworld continuously jumps between times and locations, with each chapter depicting the perspective of one character, so you constantly get a glimpse into the psyche of each one, while slowly unraveling the mystery at its core. It keeps things fresh while being able to pull off reveals in the most satisfying of ways. There are also even more characters and time periods I haven’t mentioned, and we’ll keep it that way, but I have just this to say: There’s a chapter nearly a third of the way through the book that begins with a page that has just a location and year written on it, and my jaw dropped when I read it. It felt like Schoenbrun reached into my brain and ripped out the exact idea I’d want to see explored in a story like this. In an instant I could tell right where this book was heading, and just how massive the scope really is.
‘Public Access Afterworld’ is a Binge-Worthy Book
Now, as I mentioned, Public Access Afterworld strays slightly in its priorities from Jane Schoenbrun’s previous projects, but that doesn’t make it heartless by any means. From the beginning it just feels different. It’s less, “What does that mean?” and more “What happens next?” The manner of storytelling feels different partly because of the medium itself. I’ve always seen Schoenbrun as a visual storyteller more than anything in their filmmaking. They tend to rely on you inferring meaning from what’s in the frame, rather than making it clear what’s happening through dialogue. So admittedly, I was a bit wary about how they’d fare when limited to the page. It turns out they not only survive the jump between mediums, but they absolutely thrive. The page isn’t a limitation in their hands… it actually unlocks the full scope of their imagination, and they excel at balancing exposition with action, pacing the story to make the biggest reveals feel earned.
Schoenbrun channels an evident love for television and sci-fi horror into a heavily plot-driven narrative, one that wants you engrossed in its big questions and reveals, unable to put the book down. As such, I found myself breezing through its nearly 600 pages in a mere matter of days. Like an episode of Lost or the aforementioned Stranger Things, you want to just binge each episode (or chapter) and discover what happens next. That comparison is quite intentional, as the novel was actually born as an idea for a TV show. Just after finishing the screenplay for I Saw The TV Glow, Schoenbrun moved onto writing TV screenplays for a show they were sure would never exist… and about a year later they had completed 1,600 pages of it. That was then adapted into this novel. This is especially relevant information because of the role TV plays in the book, as both subject matter and plot device.
It feels like a true expansion of I Saw The TV Glow’s ideas in that regard, taking every “what if” you could have from it and expounding on it. As such, it delivers on another promise of Schoenbrun’s – that Public Access Afterworld would be the third entry in their “Screen Trilogy,” comprised of We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw The TV Glow. While there may not be a true in-universe connection between the three, there is a heavy thematic through-line of escape and finding identity in the digital age. Bethany Peters serves as a great vessel for this as the main protagonist, experiencing these very struggles as a trans woman working as a content moderator at a YouTube-like company, and channeling that into empathy for others whose pain she can relate to. Schoenbrun seems to be inserting their own experience as a trans person into Bethany, and it shines more than ever, given the level of clarity the medium allows.
Some very specific tropes and settings from Schoenbrun’s films are repeated here, to an uncanny degree, and, I know… that may cause some to groan. But I strongly believe the result is an intricate epic that’s greater than the sum of its parts. I’ve loved all of their films. But – and I mean this as a compliment of the highest regard – they now feel dwarfed in comparison. They’ll always remain deeply emotionally resonant to me, but at the same time they feel like pieces of an outline in preparation for this magnum opus. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’s depiction of unhealthy online behaviors is here. So is I Saw the TV Glow’s idea of realizing and succumbing to your true self. And even the recent Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’s meta nature of performance, infused with a goofy sense of humor, is present.
‘Public Access Afterworld’ Review – Final Thoughts
Public Access Afterworld is Jane Schoenbrun’s biggest swing by a landslide, melding their tastes for sci-fi horror, creepypasta, and meta-narrative into a bold, sweeping conspiracy epic. It perfectly encapsulates and expands upon everything that’s made their films so magnificent up until this point, wrapping up their Screen Trilogy with a propulsive page-turner you won’t want to put down. The characters and relationships only grow in their intrigue as their stories unfold across time and realities, and I cannot wait to see where things go in the upcoming sequel novels. Put simply, Jane Schoenbrun has the sauce. They continue to hook me with every work, proving themselves time and again. This is one of the best pieces of media I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing this year. Do not let it slip by just because it’s not a movie or series. And who knows… maybe the TV screenplay-turned-novel will triumphantly make its way to the screen someday.
Public Access Afterworld releases in Hardcover, Ebook, and Audiobook formats on October 27, 2026. Find out more here.
