1980s 21st-century a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity addiction adventure africa african-safari airplanes alternate-reality atmospheric author autobiography aviation biography boarding-school bravery british british-author british-empire british-literature canada canadian-literature chase childhood childhood-memories comedy coming-of-age computer-programming conspiracy contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-world counterculture coupland courage creativity cult-classic dark-comedy dark-humor destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story determination douglas douglas-coupland dream-like dreamlike dreams dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian east-africa eccentric-characters england enigma enigmatic escapades escape existential existentialism exploration family family-dynamics fantasy fate fiction fighter-pilot flying folklore friendship gaming geek-culture generation-x haruki-murakami humor humorous identity identity-crisis imagination independence individuality internet internet-culture introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey jpod kenya literary-fiction literature loneliness love love-story magic-realism magical-realism memoir metafiction metaphysical middle-east military military-service millennial-generation mind-bending mischief modern-classic modern-fiction murakami mysterious mystery mythology nerd-culture nerds non-fiction nonfiction norway norwegian nostalgia novel obsession office-culture office-life office-politics parallel-universe parallel-worlds perseverance personal-growth philosophical philosophy pilot pilots planes pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism psychological quest quirky quirky-characters raf resilience roald-dahl romance royal-air-force satire satirical self-discovery self-referential sheep sheep-man social-commentary solitude spy storytelling subversion subversive supernatural surreal surrealism survival suspense symbolic symbolism tanzania tech-industry technology thriller tokyo transformation travel triumph true-story unconventional urban urban-fantasy vancouver video-games war war-stories wartime wartime-experiences workplace workplace-humor world-war-ii writer writing young-adult