There are countless approaches to depicting the subject of a memoir. Tweakerworld by Jason Yamas turns a portrait of the writer into eye-catching pop art.
Tweakerworld follows Yamas as he becomes the top meth dealer in the Bay Area before entering recovery and comes out March 7, 2023 via Unnamed Press. Debutiful is pleased to reveal the striking cover of the book now!
“When I was in the depths of meth-induced psychosis, I encountered the phenomena of wholeheartedly believing things I simultaneously knew were not and could not be true. I wanted the book’s cover to convey that feeling. Tweakerworld examines the layers of one’s identity. Our identities consist of what we do as much as our intentions, no matter how much the two may be in conflict,” Yamas said of the cover designed by Jaya Nicely.
The writer adds, “We, as humans, have the innate ability to compartmentalize in order to keep ourselves safe. That’s a running theme for the protagonist. The fragmented multitudes of expression come together and invite the reader to follow this guy as our tour guide, but that doesn’t mean we should always trust him. I wanted the colors to be very gay and vibrant. So much current queer storytelling is whitewashed to fit what’s digestible to the masses, and some huge and vivid truths within our community are being lost and remaining untold. This book unapologetically peers into all the grimy nooks to unearth the forms addiction takes and the reasons it manifests (spoiler alert: it’s almost always shame.) But the story—tragic as it is at times—is also meant to be fun!”
How exactly did they land on putting his own face on the cover? Yamas reveals, “I wanted to play with the cliché of putting well-known people’s faces on the cover of their memoirs. I am not well known, but the character believes he’s the protagonist in a film that’s being written as he lives it, so by putting a demented version of my face(s) on the cover, it’s a little nod to narcissism—both that of the character and anyone who’d ever write a whole damn book about themselves.”
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