1980s 21st-century a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity action action-adventure action-packed addiction adventure ai alternate-history alternate-reality ancient-sumer ancient-sumerian ancient-sumerian-mythology artificial-intelligence atmospheric avatars canada canadian-literature capitalism chase comedy coming-of-age computer-hacking computer-programming computer-virus computer-viruses conspiracy conspiracy-theories conspiracy-theory contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-control corporate-culture corporate-power corporate-world counterculture coupland cult cult-classic cults cultural-critique cyber-terrorism cyberpunk dark-comedy dark-humor destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story digital-age douglas douglas-coupland dream-like dreamlike dreams drugs dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society eccentric-characters enigmatic existential existentialism family-dynamics fantasy fate fiction folklore friendship future future-society future-technology futuristic gaming geek-culture general generation-x hacker hacker-culture hackers hacking haruki-murakami hero heros-journey hiro-protagonist humor identity identity-crisis individuality information-overload information-warfare internet internet-culture introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey jpod language linguistic linguistic-virus linguistics literary-fiction literature loneliness love love-story magic-realism magical-realism memetics metafiction metaphysical metaphysics metaverse millennial-generation mind-altering-drugs mind-bending mind-control modern-classic modern-fiction murakami mystery mythology nanotechnology neal-stephenson nerd-culture nerds neurolinguistic-programming neurolinguistics nostalgia novel obsession office-culture office-life office-politics parallel-universe parallel-worlds philosophical philosophy pizza-delivery pop-culture pop-culture-references post-apocalyptic postmodern postmodernism psychological quest quirky quirky-characters religion romance samurai satire satirical science-fiction self-discovery self-referential sheep sheep-man snow-crash social-commentary society subversion subversive supernatural surreal surrealism suspense sword-fighting swordfighting symbolic symbolism techno-thriller technology thriller tokyo transformation unconventional underground-society urban urban-fantasy vancouver video-games virtual-reality virtual-world workplace workplace-humor world-building