Garth Jones grew up in Broken Hill in the 1990s and left for the big smoke in 1997 to study graphic design at the University of Western Sydney.
Described as a transgressive fiction writer, as he believes his grittier style does not interest traditional Australian publishing circles, Garth started his own publishing imprint and has taken his broad range of skills developed throughout his career from illustrating books, advertising, working in television, journalism, and even drawing a few comics for Van Halen’s David Lee Roth, and applying them all to this project.
The book – Home Brewed Vampire Bullets, Vol One – draws on elements of the last 20 years of the author’s life experience and has been in development for the last seven years.
The book’s name was lifted directly from the headline in a vintage gun magazine that Garth was leafing through in a Melbourne bookshop a decade ago.
As it happens, there are no vampires in the book.
Within the pages of the book there are elements of graphic design and latest technology interactive QR codes that draw the reader into a totally immersive experience.
Garth said that the QR codes take the reader to the soundtrack of the book, which has been penned by his good friend Seattle-based Half Majesty.
“The landscape really inspired me a lot, growing up pre-internet and the road narrative of the book ties in all the experiences that come from long night drives where you think you see the min min lights and hearing the stories about bunyips and all those sorts of things.
“Tying all the mythos into something that definitely has an outlaw literature bent.
“I remember sneaking into pubs and seeing bands like Potbelly Burning out there and all the classic old pub rockers, and so all that stuff has seeped in as well.
“As things have progressed, I have been around the music and comedy scenes in Melbourne and around the traps, and that developed as a part of the narrative as well.
“An all-girl band from the future and an undead pub rocker are dragged into an inter-dimensional war when they discover their headlining gig is more than it seems.
“We all need to get a good laugh out of the Apocalypse, right? Let’s go!” says Garth.
Publicity surrounding the release says that his work lampoons the Australian cultural canon, layering in political satire, Bizarro, the New Weird, straight-up body horror, semi-autobiographical detours and a lifelong fixation on the iconography of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll.
Home Brewed Vampire Bullets, Vol One is available for purchase in print and digital editions from www.passtheamyl.com on Halloween, October 31, and pre orders for the book are available from today.
Volumes Two and Three will be released quarterly, in January 2023 and April 2023.
