PS Conway is the author of the new book Life Sucks: Memories and Introspections During the Great Covid Lockdown. He also has written the poetry collection Echoes Lost in Stars.
Q: You’ve called Life Sucks “a time capsule of chaos”--can you say more about that?
A: I wrote the initial material during COVID lockdown. Every week I would post my darkly nostalgic and satirical essays online to entertain a cadre of friends, family, and coworkers who were struggling with the fear and anxiety so prevalent during lockdown.
The thought was that if I could provide them with 10-15 minutes each week of laughter and escape from the chaos inundating them 24/7 on cable news, it might provide even the briefest respite for all the horror.
Interestingly, when I re-read the material in 2024, I witnessed much of the same absurdity, stupidity, and selfishness re-presenting itself – I felt the time was right to update the work and create a book where the same satirical social commentary (absent lockdown) was frighteningly prescient.
And what should have been “lessons learned” from 2020 may have even worsened in 2024. Make America Suck Worse was considered as a title too.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: My weekly blog in 2020 was entitled Life Sucks. Laugh Here. That name came pretty forthrightly because the domain was only $4.99, and I was doing all this writing for free entertainment purposes. Plus COVID life was starting to suck really bad in early 2020.
The subtitle, Memories and Introspections During the Great Covid Lockdown, developed from a dialogue between my publisher, Jack Rochester, and me.
We were in the middle of cover design, trying to come up with something that rivaled The New Yorker’s brilliant covers during lockdown, and we got each other laughing… what if such a crass title had some documentary-styled, authoritative (sounding) subtitle? Et voilà, our droll, sarcastic brains arrived at what you see today.
Q: What inspired you to write these essays?
A: The inspiration to write these essays came from boredom (almost ennui), fear, and anxiety. Lockdown provided hours of free time, I was VP of Sales at a start-up healthcare IT company that called on US-based health systems, who were, as you may recall, a little inundated at the time. Plus, I had not written much more than some journaling since I earned my BA in English over 25 years before.
After the first few weeks of Life Sucks. Laugh Here, I realized my Muses had been loosed, never to be caged again… the closet in which my skeletons were stored turned out to be more like the wardrobe to Narnia. And I have not stopped writing since.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: In the spirit of the new subgenre I have created with this book – Literary Comedic Nihilism – I hope three things.
(1) It makes the reader think a little more. Read a smart book some time - even though big words are hard. Question their entrenched beliefs. As I say in the book, “those timid herds of Sames will always be there, lowing in the fields of conformity, awaiting their return if independent thought becomes too daunting.”
(2) It makes them laugh a little. A guffaw and knee slap are fine. It’s probably not too cocky to say that a few parts of the book should warrant that or a good snort-laugh. But I’d prefer the cringe laugh. When something shockingly dark or sarcastic is said that makes you question should I laugh at that? then I feel my primary role as satirist has been achieved.
(3) It makes them realize after reading the book, he said in the most ferociously sarcastic tone possible, that none of it really mattered anyway. Forget about lockdown’s lessons. Move on with your life free of the guilt that your selfish, ignorant behaviors may actually have killed people who didn’t need to die. And given today’s trends in 2025, I would be far more worried about the imminent arrival of something worse than The Handmaid’s Tale. The incredible Maragret Atwood should rethink a redux.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am currently working on several things – all poetry related. I have been feverishly writing dozens of poems in my off-hours, seeking publication in major literary journals. Fingers crossed.
Aside from Life Sucks, since 2020, I have had over 60 poems published in over 20 journals and anthologies -- and been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. Those rejected poems, he said while channeling the power of positive thinking, will be published in a future poetry collection that will rival my current poetry collection, Echoes Lost in Stars, for awesomeness.
My major WIP currently is a novel-in-verse that recounts the accidental drowning of my best friend during our senior year of high school. The working title (right now) is Views From the Bottom of a Pool. You can see how the dark wit carries through sometimes… but this book will also be a serious tear-jerker.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Readers should approach Life Sucks with an open mind. As I warn in the book, “If you have a delicate constitution, deeply held religious or political beliefs, a mind that cannot comprehend satirical writings, or are offended by well-placed profanity, then kindly piss off. Walk away now.” Even that was meant to be sarcastic.
I would LOVE the most brain-washed fascists out there to read this book, too. They may hate the political satire. Awesome. But there are plenty of nostalgic and bizarre essays in there that are sure to resonate within the fragile remains of their hive minds. Hehe. Couldn’t resist.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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