21st-century absurd absurdism absurdist absurdist-fiction absurdity action addiction advanced-technology adventure alien-invasion aliens artificial-intelligence battle battle-school betrayal black-comedy black-humor brotherhood bullying canada canadian-author canadian-literature child-prodigy children colonization comedy coming-of-age compassion competition computer-programming computers consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature contemporary-society corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creativity cultural-critique dark-comedy dark-humor deception destiny digital-age douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunction dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society eccentric-characters empathy ender-wiggin ethical-dilemmas ethics existential existentialism family family-dynamics family-relationships fear fiction friendship future future-society futuristic futuristic-society futuristic-technology games gaming gaming-industry geek-culture gen-x generation-x generational-divide genetic-engineering genius genocide government government-conspiracy government-control government-manipulation heroism humanity humor humorous identity identity-crisis intelligence intergalactic-war internet internet-culture interstellar-travel interstellar-war irony isolation jpod leadership literary-fiction loyalty manipulation media metafiction military military-academy military-strategy military-tactics military-training millennial millennial-generation millennials mind-games moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality nerd-culture nerds nerdy novel office-culture office-life office-politics outer-space pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodern-literature postmodernism programming psychological psychological-manipulation psychological-warfare psychology quirky quirky-characters relationships sacrifice satire satirical school science-fiction self-awareness self-discovery self-referential self-reflection sibling-dynamics sibling-relationships sibling-rivalry social-commentary social-criticism space space-battle space-battles space-exploration space-travel space-warfare strategic-thinking strategy subversion subversive surreal surrealism survival tactical-genius tech-industry technology telepathy training trust unconventional vancouver video-game-industry video-games violence virtual-reality war war-games wit work-culture workplace workplace-comedy workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire xenocide xenophobia young-adult