Welcome Jo Szewczyk to my blog to be interviewed about the literary fiction book, written very much based on experience, so is also semi-autobiographical about “Surviving Gen X” in the 1990’s. We talked about culture, technology then and now, Gen X and Gen Z and positive takeaways from the 1990’s. Some of the interview is searing and other parts have words of wisdom.
First, let’s take a look at the blurb and then the Q&A style interview.
Dive into the kaleidoscopic streets of 1990s Las Vegas with “Surviving GenX.”
Amidst the flickering neon lights and the haunting echoes of slot machines, we follow an unnamed protagonist and a battered housewife, both seeking an escape from their tormented pasts. As they wade through the city’s seedy underbelly, they find an unexpected refuge in one another—a bond forged in the fires of a metropolis hell-bent on their ruin.
A potent tapestry of humor, heartbreak, and raw human resilience, this narrative unfolds with the surreal quality of a fever dream. Oscillating between the chaos of a city that never sleeps and the quiet moments of vulnerability shared between its two protagonists, “Surviving GenX” isn’t just a story—it’s an experience. An experience that delves into the desolation of a generation caught amidst the disintegration of societal norms, searching for meaning in a world that seems to have forgotten them.
Join this evocative journey through a decade marked by upheaval and transformation and discover a tale that is once a testament to the indomitable spirit of Generation X and a haunting reflection on the universal human quest for connection.
Now we know a bit about the book, let’s begin with the interview
- The book is set in the 1990’s. It was globally, a time of change, culturally and technologically, what did you like most about this decade?
I liked that everything was possible. We were not yet at war with the world—just with ourselves. We crawled out of the ‘Just Say No’ sludge and explored a new technology that was like a little sibling trying to figure out its place not just with us, but with itself within the world. Close your eyes. You can almost make out the spectral hum of dial-up that promised to bring the planet together. Too bad it turned out to be little sibling stunted with a mind of a child and armed with a bazooka.
2. Surviving Gen X is a potent, evocative title. What made you choose this as a title?
A Ouija board. I had to take that name or Pazuzu would unleash all hell on me. I had already upset that vampire trying to sell me Amway. Autumn mauve my butt.
3. What piqued your interest about exploring universal and timeless themes, such as human connections, love, loss etc within the backdrop of the 90’s?
Truth be told, I have no idea any of those themes were in the book until people pointed them out. I just wrote from experience to create this literary biography, which is, I believe just term 3,982 for ‘Creative Non-Fiction’.
4. What positive ‘takeaways’ do you feel different generations can take away from reading your book?
Our generation was the last to do really dumb stuff and not video tape it for the world to see. I think if the newer generations can see that it is okay to be dumb, just no need to televise it, then they can all learn something. Baby Boomers can learn just how f’d up they made us. Gen Z can hopefully learn not to leave permanent reminders of their worst days for the world to see forever on memetic loop.
5. You talk about the “indomitable spirit of Gen X”, do you still feel some of that resilience and spirit to keep going and truly living life, not just existing, all these decades later and how important do you think that is?
How many Gen X singers can you name who are still alive? I guess we all lose in the end, but until that end comes, we keep trying to survive one moment at a time. Our parent’s generation saw a president assassinated on tv, civil rights protests, and the Vietnam war. We saw the space shuttle explode, AIDS, Crack, and Techno (I think that last part is a song, eh?). We saw walls come down and gated communities go up. I think because of this we saw the value and shortness of life. We knew we weren’t invincible. I think we all knew we were very vincible.
6. You’ve chosen now to tell a bit of the Gen X story from how Las Vegas is, how important do you think it is for other generations, globally, to look and understand, acknowledge different times and not dismiss them, or see them in isolation of each other?
I think the current trend of judging history by the lens of today is the obvious yet unavoidable flaw of the politically correct culture that Gen X tried to fight (and lost horribly). I remember when Social Justice (Warriors) were derogatory terms and now they are college courses and degrees. When people get offended by a joke written before they were born—yet miss the point of the artist who makes it—it makes me pause and wonder just how badly we (Gen X) lost that war against PC. Is the take away that other generations will be mindless yumps bouncing between protest slacktivism de jour? Are they aware the more they do this the less power they have and the more power they give away to the very people they think they are protesting? Is it too late for them? Will they be able to see something with a critical lens that wasn’t handed to them via tik tok? Will Google save them all? Does AI tell them how to think n feel? Is Insta the end of thought? I’m not sure. If anything, I hope the new generations can allow themselves to be wrong—allow themselves to think for themselves. Maybe they’ll get the right answer—maybe not. Maybe they’ll find out there isn’t a right answer. If other generations can review history (contemporary and other), in some sort of common field with each other, the world might be a better place.
7. What positive ‘takeaways’ do you feel different generations can take away from reading your book?
Our generation was the last to do really dumb stuff and not video tape it for the world to see. I think if the newer generations can see that it is okay to be dumb, just no need to televise it, then they can all learn something. Baby Boomers can learn just how f’d up they made us. Gen Z can hopefully learn not to leave permanent reminders of their worst days for the world to see forever on memetic loop.
8. Do you celebrate the publication day of a book, if so, what do you do?
I would have liked to—but I was so busy with everything else I didn’t get a chance to really give it its proper due. Heck, we hit #1 and I still have the cake on ice, so to speak. I guess it’s a bit like martial arts—people tend to focus on the publication as a big grand event (and it is), much like earning a black belt….only to find out that it’s really the things you do once you earn that black belt (or get the book out) that really becomes the full journey.
I guess David Lee Roth said it best: The problem with dreams is, by the time they come true, you’re already someone else.
9. What are you reading just now?
I’m reading three books ‘the old fashion way’ and one through audible. My audible is the ‘last’ Witcher book: The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski. My physical/ebook readings, currently, are Jaimee Wriston Colbert’s How Not to Drown; Nicole C Luttrell’s Nova; and Weis and Hickman’s newest Dragonlance series. If we expand that to gaming, I’d have to add Free League’s Pirate Borg gaming book and some other RPG-centric material that I’m using for my next book.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 