1990s 21st-century 90s absurdism absurdity addiction adventure african-american african-american-culture african-american-experience african-american-literature alienation ambiguity ambition american-dream american-history american-identity american-literature artificial-intelligence assimilation betrayal bildungsroman black-comedy black-culture black-experience black-humor black-identity blindness brotherhood canada canadian-author canadian-literature career character-driven civil-rights civil-rights-movement coding comedy coming-of-age computer computer-industry computer-programming computer-science computers conformity consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creativity cultural-assimilation cultural-heritage dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-revolution discrimination disillusionment dot-com-era double-consciousness douglas douglas-coupland dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family entrepreneurship escapism existentialism family family-dynamics fiction freedom friendship friendships gaming geek geek-culture geeks gen-x generation-x generational-divide hacker-culture harlem harlem-renaissance humor humorous identity identity-crisis individualism individuality inequality injustice innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture introspection invisibility invisibility-metaphor invisible invisible-identity invisible-man isolation jazz jazz-music jpod literary-fiction love media metafiction microserfs microsoft millennial millennial-generation modernism nerd nerd-culture nerds novel office-culture office-life office-politics oppression personal-freedom personal-growth pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodern-literature postmodernism power power-dynamics prejudice programmer programmers programming protagonist protest quirky quirky-characters race race-relations racial-discrimination racial-identity racism ralph-ellison relationships satire satirical seattle segregation self-discovery self-referential silicon-valley social-commentary social-criticism social-inequality social-injustice social-isolation social-justice social-media society software software-development software-engineering southern-united-states start-up start-up-culture start-ups startup startup-culture startups stereotypes subversion subversive success surreal surrealism symbolism tech-industry technology underground urban-life vancouver video-game-industry video-games virtual-reality white-supremacy work-culture work-life-balance workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire