Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!
Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun
Publication: October 27th, 2026
Hogarth
Hardcover. 608 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon
From Goodreads:
"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
Find the receiver. Make it real.
At 5:35 p.m. on September 3, 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 12, 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 mash-up 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.
“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)"
This book has been absolutely calling out to me and I cannot wait to dive into it! It has so many aspects that are right up my alley and I really have high hopes for this one.
Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova
Publication: October 13th, 2026
Ballantine Books
Hardcover. 592 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon
From Goodreads:
"The last living member of a family of historians who has been hunted by dark forces associated with Dracula finds himself in peril at the hands of a new threat in this thrilling novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Historian.
After his beloved mother passes away suddenly, Jay Turner finds himself at a crossroads. She was always secretive, and when he returns to their Boston home to clear out her possessions, he finds an unusual item: a partially burned scrap of newspaper bearing the name “Gael Brogan.” Soon after, a deliveryman leaves behind a package containing a small antique volume bound in leather—and two bloody footprints.
The sight of the volume is chilling. As a young scholar, his mother had been given the medieval book—one of a set commissioned by Vlad Țepeș, otherwise known as Dracula, just before his death in 1477. She'd always warned Jay of the dangers associated with it, and had donated it to a museum before she died . . . yet here it is, back in his possession.
Jay sets out to learn more about Gael Brogan, a prominent nineteenth-century actor whose last and most famous role was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As Jay begins to dig deeper—with the help of a mysterious woman named Rhiannon—he uncovers the frightening story of a young actress who fell under Brogan's sway long ago. Before long, Jay and Rhiannon realize that something similarly implacable is pursuing them.
In this epic and riveting tale, Elizabeth Kostova takes us deep into the Gilded Age of the theater and across the Atlantic in pursuit of an ancient evil and its dramatic followers.”
I've been a fan of Elizabeth Kostova's writing since I read The Historian close to two decades ago (that feels insane to type!), so I'm always curious to see what intricate new work she has coming out next.
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