1990s 21st-century 90s 90s-culture 90s-nostalgia absurd absurdism absurdist absurdist-fiction absurdity addiction adventure ambition artificial-intelligence bill-gates black-comedy black-humor canada canadian-author canadian-literature career character-driven code coding comedy coming-of-age competition computer computer-culture computer-engineers computer-industry computer-programmers computer-programming computer-science computers consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature contemporary-society corporate corporate-culture corporate-environment corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creative-writing creativity cultural-critique dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-media digital-revolution dot-com-boom dot-com-era douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunction dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopian eccentric-characters employees engineering entrepreneurial-spirit entrepreneurialism entrepreneurship escapism existential existential-crisis existentialism exploration family family-dynamics family-relationships fiction friendship friendships gaming gaming-industry geek geek-culture geeks gen-x generation-x generational-divide hacker-culture humor humorous identity identity-crisis innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture internet-revolution introspection irony isolation jpod literary-fiction love media mental-health metafiction microserfs microsoft mid-life-crisis millennial millennial-culture millennial-generation millennials modern-life modern-society nerd nerd-culture nerds nerdy novel offbeat office-culture office-dynamics office-life office-politics personal-computers personal-growth personal-relationships pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodern-literature postmodernism programmer programmers programming quirky quirky-characters rebellion relationship relationships romance satire satirical search-for-meaning seattle self-awareness self-discovery self-identity self-referential self-reflection silicon-valley social-commentary social-criticism social-dynamics social-isolation social-media social-networking software software-development software-engineering software-engineers software-industry start-up start-up-company start-up-culture start-ups startup startup-culture startups storytelling subversion subversive success surreal surrealism tech-industry technology technology-addiction technology-industry unconventional vancouver video-game-industry video-games virtual-reality wit work-culture work-life-balance workaholic workplace workplace-comedy workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire young-adult