Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, known for "I Saw the TV Glow" and "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," has published a first novel, "Public Access Afterworld." The fantasy book spans decades and alternate realities.
The story opens in 2009 with two high school students who watch strange broadcasts through the static on their television. The broadcasts seem to come from a pirate TV station called Public Access Afterworld. The novel later moves to the present day and follows Bethany Peters, a trans woman who lives in Austin and works as a content moderator for a company called globalville.com. A section is also set in Harlingen.
In an interview with Texas Standard, Schoenbrun said the story began as an idea for television. They later wrote a second feature film, "I Saw the TV Glow," before turning the idea into a novel.