1990s 21st-century 21st-century-society absurd absurd-humor absurdism absurdist absurdist-fiction absurdity addiction adventure advertising alternative-lifestyles anti-hero art art-and-design artificial-intelligence avant-garde bizarre black-comedy black-humor boredom canada canadian canadian-author canadian-authors canadian-fiction canadian-literature chaos character-driven collegesuccess comedy coming-of-age computer-programmers computer-programming computers consumer-culture consumerism contemporary contemporary-culture contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature contemporary-society corporate corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creative-writing creativity cultural-commentary cultural-critique cultural-references cyberspace cynicism dark-comedy dark-humor digiorno-pizza digital-age digital-culture digital-media disconnection disillusionment douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunction dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dysfunctional-relationships dystopian eccentric-characters entertainment-industry escapism existential existential-crisis existentialism family family-dynamics family-relationships fiction friendship gaming gaming-culture gaming-industry geek geek-culture geeks gen-x general generation-x generational-divide globalization humor humorous identity identity-crisis indie-culture individualism individuality internet internet-culture irony isolation jpod literary-fiction literature media media-satire media-saturation metafiction microserfs mid-life-crisis midlife-crisis millennial millennial-culture millennial-generation millennials modern-life modern-society nerd-culture nerds nerdy nihilism novel obsession offbeat office office-culture office-dynamics office-life office-politics personal-identity pop-culture pop-culture-references post-modernism postmodern postmodern-fiction postmodern-literature postmodernism programming protagonist quirkiness quirky quirky-characters reality-tv rebellion relationships sarcastic satire satirical self-aware self-awareness self-deprecating-humor self-discovery self-identity self-reference self-referential self-reflection self-reflexivity sitcom slacker slacker-culture social-commentary social-criticism social-critique social-satire software-development subculture suburban-life subversion subversive surreal surrealism tech-industry technology technology-addiction television tr unconventional unconventional-narrative urban-life vancouver video-game video-game-development video-game-industry video-games wit work work-culture workplace workplace-comedy workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire young-adult