1990s a-wild-sheep-chase absurdist absurdity action action-adventure action-packed adventure ai alternate-history alternate-reality ambition ancient-sumer ancient-sumerian ancient-sumerian-mythology artificial-intelligence atmospheric avatars capitalism career christiansaints churchhistory coding comedy coming-of-age computer computer-hacking computer-industry computer-programming computer-science computer-virus computer-viruses computers conspiracy conspiracy-theories conspiracy-theory contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-control corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-power corporate-world coupland cult-classic cults cyber-terrorism cyberpunk dark-comedy dark-humor destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story digital-age digital-revolution douglas dream-like dreamlike dreams dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society enigmatic entrepreneurship existential existentialism fantasy fate fiction folklore friendship friendships future future-society future-technology futuristic geek geek-culture geeks generation-x hacker hacker-culture hackers hacking haruki-murakami heros-journey hiro-protagonist history humor identity identity-crisis information-overload information-warfare innovation internet internet-boom introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey language linguistic linguistic-virus linguistics literary-fiction literature loneliness love love-story magical-realism memetics metafiction metaphysical metaphysics metaverse microserfs microsoft mind-altering-drugs mind-bending mind-control murakami mystery mythology nanotechnology neal-stephenson nerd-culture nerds neurolinguistic-programming neurolinguistics novel obsession office-culture office-life office-politics parallel-universe parallel-worlds personal-growth philosophical philosophy pop-culture post-apocalyptic postmodern postmodernism programming psychological quest relationships religion religiouslifeandcustoms romance samurai satire satirical science-fiction seattle self-discovery sheep silicon-valley snow-crash social-commentary social-isolation social-media society software software-development start-up start-up-culture start-ups startup-culture startups supernatural surreal surrealism suspense sword-fighting swordfighting symbolic symbolism tech-industry technology thriller tokyo transformation unconventional underground-society urban urban-fantasy virtual-reality virtual-world work-life-balance workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics world-building