1950s 21st-century a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure aerial-combat aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft alternate-reality ambition american-literature atmospheric aviation aviators betrayal bravery brotherhood camaraderie canada canadian-literature character-driven chase combat comedy coming-of-age competition computer-programming comradeship contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-world counterculture coupland courage danger dark-comedy dark-humor death destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story determination douglas douglas-coupland drama dream-like dreamlike dreams duty dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family emotional enigmatic exhilarating existential existentialism fantasy fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying folklore friendship gaming geek-culture generation-x grief gripping haruki-murakami heroism honor humor hunters identity identity-crisis intense intensity internet internet-culture introspection introspective isolation james james-salter japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey jpod korean-war literary literary-fiction literature loneliness loss love love-affairs love-story love-triangle loyalty magic-realism magical-realism masculinity metafiction metaphysical military military-fiction mind-bending modern-classic mortality murakami mystery mythology nerd-culture nerds nostalgia novel obsession office-culture office-life office-politics parallel-universe parallel-worlds passion perseverance philosophical philosophy pilots pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism psychological pursuit quest quirky quirky-characters redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalry romance sacrifice salter satire satirical self-discovery sheep sheep-man social-commentary struggle subversion subversive supernatural surreal surrealism survival suspense suspenseful symbolic symbolism technology tension the-hunters thrill thriller thrilling tokyo tragedy transformation trauma triumph unconventional urban urban-fantasy vancouver victory video-games vietnam vietnam-war war workplace workplace-humor world-war-ii