1990s 21st-century absurdism absurdity action action-packed addiction adventure ai alien-invasion aliens alternate-history alternate-reality ambition ancient-sumerian artificial-intelligence battle-school betrayal canada canadian-literature career child-prodigy children coding comedy coming-of-age competition 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 counterculture coupland cult cult-classic cults cyberpunk dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-revolution douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society empathy entrepreneurship ethics existentialism fantasy fiction friendship friendships future future-society future-technology futuristic geek geek-culture geeks generation-x genius government government-conspiracy government-control hacker hacker-culture hackers hacking heros-journey hiro-protagonist humor identity identity-crisis information-overload information-warfare innovation intelligence internet internet-boom internet-culture isolation jpod language leadership linguistic linguistic-virus linguistics love loyalty manipulation metafiction metaverse microserfs microsoft military military-strategy millennial millennial-generation mind-altering-drugs mind-bending mind-control mind-games moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality mystery mythology nanotechnology nerd-culture nerds neurolinguistics office-culture office-life office-politics personal-growth philosophical philosophy pop-culture pop-culture-references post-apocalyptic postmodern postmodernism programming psychological psychological-manipulation quirky quirky-characters relationships religion sacrifice samurai satire satirical science-fiction sciencefiction seattle self-discovery sibling-rivalry silicon-valley snow-crash social-commentary social-isolation social-media software software-development space space-exploration space-travel start-up start-up-culture start-ups startup-culture startups strategic-thinking strategy subversion subversive surreal surrealism survival sword-fighting swordfighting tech-industry technology thriller underground-society vancouver video-games virtual-reality virtual-world war work-life-balance workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor world-building young-adult