21st-century 21st-century-society absurd absurdism absurdist absurdist-fiction absurdity addiction adventure advertising alternative-lifestyles american-west art artificial-intelligence black-comedy black-humor boredom bureaucracy bus-ride business canada canadian canadian-author canadian-authors canadian-fiction canadian-literature character-driven comedy coming-of-age comingofage computer-programmers computer-programming computers consumer-culture consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature contemporary-society corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creative-writing creativity cubicle-life cultural-commentary cultural-critique culturalheritage cyberspace cynicism d dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-culture disillusionment douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunction dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dysfunctional-relationships dystopian eccentric-characters entertainment-industry escapade 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 generational-satire globalization historical historical-fiction humor humorous identity identity-crisis indie-culture indie-music individualism internet internet-culture irony isolation journey jpod lessons-learned literary-fiction literature media metafiction mid-life-crisis middle-grade-fiction millennial millennial-culture millennial-generation millennials misfit-protagonists modern-life modern-society montana nerd-culture nerds nerdy nihilism nostalgia novel offbeat office office-culture office-drama office-dynamics office-life office-politics orphan pastiche pop-culture pop-culture-references post-modernism postmodern postmodern-fiction postmodern-literature postmodernism programming protagonist quirky reality-tv rebellion relationships road-trip satire satirical self-aware self-awareness self-deprecating-humor self-discovery self-identity self-reference self-referential self-reflection self-reflexivity slacker slacker-culture smart-comedy social-commentary social-criticism social-critique social-satire software-development storytelling subculture subversion subversive surreal surrealism tech-industry technology television two-medicine-country unconventional unconventional-narrative unique-characters urban-life vancouver video-game video-game-development video-game-industry video-games western wit work work-culture workplace workplace-comedy workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire young-adult