1990s 21st-century 90s absurdism absurdity action action-adventure action-packed addiction adventure ai alternate-history alternate-reality ambition ancient-civilizations ancient-sumer ancient-sumerian ancient-sumerian-mythology artificial-intelligence augmented-reality avatars canada canadian-literature capitalism career coding comedy coming-of-age 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 creativity cult cult-classic cults cultural-critique cyber-terrorism cyberpunk dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-revolution dot-com-era douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society entrepreneurship existentialism family family-dynamics fast-paced fiction friendship friendships future future-society future-technology futurism futuristic gaming geek geek-culture geeks gen-x generation-x hacker hacker-culture hackers hacking hero heros-journey hiro-protagonist humor humorous identity identity-crisis information-overload information-warfare innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture japanese-culture jpod language linguistic linguistic-virus linguistics literary-fiction love memetics metafiction metaverse microserfs microsoft millennial millennial-generation mind-altering-drugs mind-bending mind-control mystery mythology nanotechnology neal-stephenson nerd nerd-culture nerds neurolinguistic-programming neurolinguistics novel office-culture office-life office-politics personal-growth philosophical philosophy pizza-delivery pop-culture pop-culture-references post-apocalyptic postmodern postmodernism programmer programmers programming quirky quirky-characters relationships religion samurai satire satirical science-fiction seattle self-discovery self-referential silicon-valley snow-crash social-commentary social-dynamics social-isolation social-media society software software-development start-up start-up-culture start-ups startup startup-culture startups subversion subversive success surreal surrealism sword-fighting swordfighting tech-industry technology thriller underground-society vancouver video-games virtual-reality virtual-world virus work-culture work-life-balance workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire world-building