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Douglas Coupland

Personal Information

Born December 30, 1961 (64 years old)
Rheinmünster, Canada
Also known as: Douglas Coupland, DOUGLAS COUPLAND
28 books
3.6 (96)
283 readers

Description

Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and Generation X. He has published thirteen novels, a collection of short stories, seven non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television. A specific feature of Coupland's novels is their synthesis of postmodern religion, Web 2.0 technology, human sexuality, and pop culture. Coupland currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his partner David Weir. He published his twelfth novel Generation A in 2009. He is presently working on a biography of Marshall McLuhan for Penguin's "Extraordinary Canadians" book series, an updated release of City of Glass, and a new television series, Extinction Event. He will also be the presenter of the 2011 Massey Lectures. Thanks to [Jason Michael]for the lovely polaroid portrait! :

Books

Newest First

The gum thief

4.0 (3)
14

Over the course of several months, two retail workers at an office supply superstore--Roger, a divorced, middle aged "aisles associate" at Staples, and his young co-worker, Bethany, an early twenty-something, former Goth--strike up a unique epistolary friendship.

Terry

0.0 (0)
1

Grade level: 6, 7, 8, 9, e, i, s.

Hey Nostradamus!

3.7 (3)
16

In 1988, an episode of teenage violence transforms a suburban community, as parents try to cope with the discovery of their children's underground world and the survivors deal with their painful memories of what happened.

All families are psychotic

3.7 (3)
14

"It is the year 2001 and the Drummond family, reunited for the first time in years, has gathered near Cape Canaveral to watch the launch into space of their beloved daughter and sister, Sarah. Against the Technicolor unreality of Florida's finest tourist attractions, the Drummonds and their intimates manage to stumble into every illicit activity under the tropical sun - kidnapping, blackmail, gunplay, and black market negotiations, to name a few. They can't seem to avoid disaster at every turn, but what could deteriorate into talk-show cacophony in the hands of a different writer becomes the stuff of a modern epic with Coupland. For all their madness, the only real sin binding the Drummonds together is their fallibility.". "Even as the Drummonds' lives spin out of control, Coupland reminds us of their humanity at every turn, hammering out a hilarious masterpiece with the keen eye of a cultural critic and the heart and soul of a gifted storyteller. As he circles back and fills us in on the Drummonds' various pasts, he tells not only the characters' stories but also the story of our times - thalidomide, AIDS, born-again Christianity, drugs, divorce, the Internet - all bound together with the familiar glue of family love and madness."--BOOK JACKET.

Miss Wyoming Uk Edition

3.2 (5)
9

Waking up in an L.A. hospital, John Johnson is amazed that it was the flu and not an overdose of five different drugs mixed with cognac that nearly killed him. As a producer of high-adrenaline action flicks, he's led a decadent and dangerous life, purchasing his way through every conceivable variant of sex. But each variation seems to take him one notch away from a capacity for love, and while movie-making was once a way for him to create worlds of sensation, it now bores him. After his near-death experience, John decides to walk away from his life. Susan Colgate is an unbankable former TV star and child beauty pageant contender. Forced to marry a heavy metal singer in need of a Green Card after her parents squander her sitcom earnings, she becomes the alpha road rat. But when the band's popularity dwindles, the marriage dissolves. Flying back to Los Angeles in Economy, Susan's plane crashes and only she survives. As she walks away from the disaster virtually unscathed, Susan, too, decides to disappear. John and Susan are two souls searching for love across the bizarre, celebrity-obsessed landscape of LA, and are driven, almost fatefully, toward each other. Hilarious, fast-paced and ultimately heart-wrenching, Miss Wyoming is about people who, after throwing off their self-made identities, begin the fearful search for a love that exposes all vulnerabilities.

Girlfriend in a coma

3.3 (7)
24

A New Age novel on a Vancouver woman who falls into a coma which lasts nearly two decades. The novel traces the impact on her family, especially on her boyfriend and a daughter she gave birth to just before the coma. By the author of Life after God.

Lara's Book

0.0 (0)
1

This is a making of, and character retrospective of Lara Croft from the game "Tomb Raider". There are stories about the character, including a new story titled "Air Tibet: A Lara Croft Action/Adventure Comic" concept design, cultural, and annalisis of the games, and the charter. There are many screenshots, digital art work, from various games and promotional materials, as well as tips, and strategies for the games Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider Gold. The original price of the book was $19.99 in the U.S., $25.95 Canada, and £15.99 U.K.

Polaroids from the Dead

3.3 (3)
14

"A wide variety of stories and personal 'postcards' about the pivotal people and places that have defined our modern lives....a skillful combination of stories, fact and fiction--keen outtakes on life in the late twentieth century, exploring the recent past and a society obsessed with celebrity, crime and death."--Jacket.

Microserfs

4.0 (21)
63

Microserfs is an epistolary novel by Douglas Coupland. It first appeared in short story form as the cover article for the January 1994 issue of Wired magazine and was subsequently expanded to full novel length. Set in the early 1990s, it captures the state of the technology industry before Windows 95, and anticipates the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. The novel is presented in the form of diary entries maintained on a PowerBook by the narrator, Daniel. Because of this, as well as its formatting and usage of emoticons, this novel is similar to what emerged a decade later as the blog format.

Shampoo planet

3.8 (5)
18

Despite their differing values, Tyler Johnson, an ambitious hotel management student, tries to console his mother, a former hippie, when Dan, his land-developer stepfather, decides to get a divorce.

Fiorucci

0.0 (0)
0

"Fifty years after its founding by Elio Fiorucci in 1967, the iconic Milanese fashion label is entering a new phase of ingenuity. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the label and the glittering unveiling of its new collection and retail stores, this book is a tribute to the history of a pioneering brand and a celebration of its colorful future. Bright, colorful, sexy, and irreverent, Fiorucci came to define more than any other brand the fashion of the 1980s. Famous for scouring the world to bring vibrant elements of global underground culture into their designs, Fiorucci is responsible for defining the extravagant palette of the post-punk era, with neon and fluorescent tones, iridescent spandex and stretch denim, bringing the influences of pop art and pop culture to bear on fashion for the first time. Now relaunched under the direction of impresarios Janie and Stephen Schaffer, Fiorucci continues to surprise, shock, and impress. In the spirit of Fiorucci itself, this delightful book is a bright and intoxicating tour through everything from the first leopard-print patterns to the new designs defining the future of this iconic brand"--Publisher's description.

City of Glass

2.0 (1)
14

To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight. As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost? Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the third installment of the New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments.

Generation A

3.0 (1)
7

In the near future bees are extinct - until five unconnected individuals, in different parts of the wowrld, are stung. Immediately snatched up by ominous figures in hazmat suits, interrogated searately in neutral Ikea-like chambers, and then released as 15-minute-celebrities into a world driven almost entirely by the internet, these five unforgettable people endure a barrage of unusual and highly 21st-century circumstances. A charismatic scientist with dubious motives eventually brings the quintet together, and their shared experience unites them in a way they could never have imagined.Generation A mirrors the structure of 1991's Generation X as it champions the act of reading and storytelling as one of the few defences we still have against the constant bombardment of the senses in a digital world. Like much of Coupland's writing, it occupies the perplexing hinterland between optimism about the future and everyday, apocalyptic paranoia, and is his most ambitious and entertaining novel to date.

PlayerOne

3.7 (3)
4

Coupland's 2010 Massey Lecture is a real-time, five-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global disaster. Five disparate people are trapped inside: Karen, a single mother waiting for her online date; Rick, the down-on-his-luck airport lounge bartender; Luke, a pastor on the run; Rachel, a cool Hitchcock blonde incapable of true human contact; and finally a mysterious voice known as Player One. Slowly, each reveals the truth about themselves while the world as they know it comes to an end. In the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and J. G. Ballard, Coupland explores the modern crises of time, human identity, society, religion, and the afterlife. The book asks as many questions as it answers, and readers will leave the story with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species -- and that there is no turning back.