1990s 21st-century 90s 90s-culture 90s-nostalgia absurdism absurdity addiction advanced-technology adventure alien-invasion aliens ambition artificial-intelligence battle-school betrayal black-comedy bullying canada canadian-literature career character-driven child-prodigy children coding colonization comedy coming-of-age competition computer computer-industry computer-programming computer-science computers consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creativity dark-comedy dark-humor deception digital-age digital-revolution dot-com-era douglas douglas-coupland dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society empathy ender-wiggin entrepreneurship escapism ethical-dilemmas ethics existentialism exploration family family-dynamics fiction friendship friendships future futuristic gaming geek geek-culture geeks gen-x generation-x generational-divide genius genocide government government-conspiracy government-control government-manipulation hacker-culture humor humorous identity identity-crisis innovation intelligence internet internet-boom internet-culture introspection isolation jpod leadership literary-fiction love loyalty manipulation media metafiction microserfs microsoft military military-strategy millennial millennial-generation mind-games modern-life moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality nerd nerd-culture nerds novel office-culture office-life office-politics outer-space personal-growth pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism programmer programmers programming psychological psychological-manipulation psychological-warfare psychology quirky quirky-characters relationships sacrifice satire satirical science-fiction seattle self-discovery self-referential sibling-rivalry silicon-valley social-commentary social-dynamics social-isolation social-media software software-development software-engineering software-engineers space space-battles space-exploration space-travel space-warfare start-up start-up-culture start-ups startup startup-culture startups strategic-thinking strategy subversion subversive success surreal surrealism survival tech-industry technology telepathy training trust vancouver video-game-industry video-games virtual-reality war war-games work-culture work-life-balance workaholic workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire xenocide xenophobia young-adult