Audiobooks by Douglas Coupland

Microserfs & Girlfriend in a Coma: Two Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisations

Coupland's iconic novels brought to life in two full-cast adaptations Bursting onto the literary scene in 1991 with his debut Generation X, Douglas Coupland's novels swiftly established themselves as modern classics and brought the term 'Gen X' into the mainstream. His work still has resonance in today's world, with his vivid explorations of identity and creativity in the post-Baby Boomer generations. These pitch perfect adaptions probe our modern popular culture, with the author's signature wry twists and unsettling revelations. In this brand new adaptation by Theo Toksvig-Stewart, Douglas Coupland's brilliantly funny novel Microserfs takes a microscope to working culture in the early days of the tech boom. Dan is a Microsoft employee in desperate need of 'a life'. His world can be summed up as eat, sleep, code, repeat, and he's not quite feeling himself. So when the chance comes along for him and his friends to leave Microsoft to form a Silicon Valley start-up called OOP!, will they take the risk and leap into the unknown? In an unflinching and hilarious story, Dan and the other Microserfs try to find purpose, love and identity in the real world. Perhaps one of Coupland's most iconic novels, Girlfriend in a Coma begins in December 1979 when 17-year-old Karen unexpectedly falls into a deep coma after a teen house party. Frighteningly, she'd predicted the end of the world in a letter sent to her boyfriend before she collapsed. Fifteen years later, Karen wakes up. The world in 1997 is a very different and confusing place. Her friends have grown up and their reality bears little resemblance to the hopes and dreams they shared in their youth. There are questions that need to be answered, time is running out and Karen must act. Available as a double bill for the first time, these stunning adaptations are a fantastic listen. Performed by a full cast with production by Sony award-winning producer Dan Rebellato, these stories make for a stellar audio experience not to be missed. Cast and credits Microserfs Written by Douglas Coupland Dramatised by Theo Toksvig-Stewart Directed by Anne Isger Production Co-ordination by Luke MacGregor Sound by Cal Knightley, Pete Ringrose, David Gregory, Billy Godfrey Dan - Will Merrick Karla - Samantha Dakin Bug - Matthew Needham Michael - Freddie Meredith Todd - Chris Lew Kum Hoi Susan - Chloë Sommer Abe - Hughie O'Donnell Ethan - Tom Kiteley Dan's Mum - Joanna Monro Dan's Dad - Roger Ringrose Dusty - Fiona Skinner Amy - Grace Saif First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 November 2022 Girlfriend in a Coma Written by Douglas Coupland Dramatised by Dan Rebellato Produced by Polly Thomas Music by Alice Trueman Sound Design by Steve Brooke Jared - Florian Hutter Karen - Rayisa Kondracki Wendy - Maggie Blake Richard - Jason Durran Hamilton - Simon Lee Phillips Pamela - Heather Dann Doctor - Peter Marinker Megan - Julia Summer Gloria - Buffy Davis First Broadcast BBC Radio 3, 24 February 2008 ©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Douglas Coupland (Author), Florian Hutter, Full Cast, Jason Durran, Matthew Needham, Rayisa Kondracki, Samantha Dakin, Will Merrick (Narrator)

Audiobook

Microserfs

They are Microserfs-six code-crunching computer whizzes who spend upward of sixteen hours a day 'coding' and eating 'flat' foods (food which, like Kraft singles, can be passed underneath closed doors) as they fearfully scan company e-mail to learn whether the great Bill is going to 'flame' one of them. But now there's a chance to become innovators instead of cogs in the gargantuan Microsoft machine. The intrepid Microserfs are striking out on their own-living together in a shared digital flophouse as they desperately try to cultivate well-rounded lives and find love amid the dislocated, subhuman whir and buzz of their computer-driven world.

Douglas Coupland (Author), Graham Rowat (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bit Rot: stories + essays

A thought-provoking, binge-worthy new collection of essays, stories, and musings from Douglas Coupland, Bit Rot explores the different ways in which twentieth-century notions of the future are being shredded, and it is a literary gem of the digital age "Bit rot" is a term used in digital archiving to describe the way digital files can spontaneously and quickly decompose. As Douglas Coupland writes, "Bit rot also describes the way my brain has been feeling since 2000, as I shed older and weaker neurons and connections and enhance new and unexpected ones." Bit Rot the book is a fascinating meditation on the ways in which humanity tries to make sense of our shifting consciousness. Coupland, just like the Internet, mixes forms to achieve his ends. Short fiction is interspersed with essays on all aspects of modern life. The result is addictively satisfying for Coupland's established fanbase hungry for his observations about our world, and a revelation to new readers of his work. For almost three decades, his unique pattern recognition has powered his fiction, his phrase-making, and his visual art. Every page of Bit Rot is full of wit, surprise, and delight. Reading Bit Rot feels a lot like bingeing on Netflix.you can't stop with just one.

Douglas Coupland (Author), Graham Rowat (Narrator)

Audiobook

Worst. Person. Ever.

Raymond Gunt likes to think of himself as a pretty decent guy—he believes in karma, and helping his fellow man, and all that other good stuff. Sure, he can be foulmouthed, occasionally misogynistic, and can just generally rub people the wrong way—through no fault of his own! So with all the positive energy he’s creating, it’s a little perplexing to consider the recent downward spiral his life has taken. . . . Could the universe be trying to tell him something? A B-unit cameraman with no immediate employment prospects, Gunt decides to accept his ex-wife Fiona’s offer to shoot a Survivor-style reality show on an obscure island in the Pacific. With his upwardly failing sidekick, Neal, in tow, Gunt somehow suffers multiple comas and unjust imprisonment, is forced to reenact the “Angry Dance” from the movie Billy Elliot, and finds himself at the center of a nuclear war—among other tribulations and humiliations. A razor-sharp portrait of a morally bankrupt and gleefully wicked modern man, Worst. Person. Ever. is a side-splittingly funny and gloriously filthy new novel from acclaimed author Douglas Coupland. A deeply unworthy audiobook about a dreadful human being with absolutely no redeeming social value, it’s guaranteed to brighten up your day.

Douglas Coupland (Author), James Langton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Worst. Person. Ever.

A razor-sharp portrait of a morally bankrupt and gleefully wicked modern man, Worst. Person. Ever. is Douglas Coupland's gloriously filthy, side-splittingly funny and unforgettable novel. Meet Raymond Gunt. A decent chap who tries to do the right thing. Or, to put it another way, the worst person ever: a foul-mouthed, misanthropic cameraman, trailing creditors, ex-wives and unhappy homeless people in his wake. Men dislike him, women flee from him. Worst. Person. Ever. is a deeply unworthy book about a dreadful human being with absolutely no redeeming social value. Gunt, in the words of the author, 'is a living, walking, talking, hot steaming pile of pure id.' He's a B-unit cameraman who enters an amusing downward failure spiral that takes him from London to Los Angeles and then on to an obscure island in the Pacific where a major American TV network is shooting a Survivor-style reality show. Along the way, Gunt suffers multiple comas and unjust imprisonment, is forced to re-enact the 'Angry Dance' from the movie Billy Elliot and finds himself at the centre of a nuclear war. We also meet Raymond's upwardly failing sidekick, Neal, as well as Raymond's ex-wife, Fiona, herself 'an atomic bomb of pain'. Even though he really puts the 'anti' in anti-hero, you may find Raymond Gunt an oddly likeable character.

Douglas Coupland (Author), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Narrator)

Audiobook

Miss Wyoming

She is a former child beauty pageant contender. He is a hard-living movie producer. She walks away from a plane crash without so much as a scratch. He comes away from a near-death experience with a unique, vivid plan. She, refusing to spend one more day peddling herself for cheesy TV sitcom parts, disappears. He turns his back on a hedonistic life making blockbuster action flicks with names like Mega Force. Shedding their self-made identities, each sets out on an uncharted course across the Gap-clogged, strip-mall landscape of Los Angeles, searching for the one thing, love, that neither has ever really known, but that they now think they just might, actually, desperately want. How could they not find each other?

Douglas Coupland (Author), Aaron Fryc, Sharon Williams (Narrator)

Audiobook

JPod

Very evil…very funny A lethal joyride into today’s new breed of technogeeks, Douglas Coupland’s new novel updates Microserfs for the age of Google. Ethan Jarlewski and five co-workers are bureaucratically marooned in JPod, a no-escape architectural limbo on the fringes of a massive Vancouver video game design company. The six jPodders wage daily battle against the demands of a bone-headed marketing staff, who daily torture employees with idiotic changes to already idiotic games. Meanwhile, Ethan’s personal life is shaped (or twisted) by phenomena as disparate as Hollywood, marijuana grow-ops, people-smuggling, ballroom dancing, and the rise of China. JPod’s universe is amoral and shameless–and dizzyingly fast-paced. The characters are products of their era even as they’re creating it. Everybody in Ethan’s life inhabits a moral gray zone. Nobody is exempt, not even his seemingly straitlaced parents or Coupland himself. Full of word games, visual jokes, and sideways jabs, this book throws a sharp, pointed lawn dart into the heart of contemporary life. JPOD is Douglas Coupland at the top of his game.

Douglas Coupland (Author), Marc Cashman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hey Nostradamus!

In 1988, a catastrophic episode of teen violence shatters a suburban community. Hey Nostradamus follows the aftermath in various voices across two decades: the teenage victims whose ordinary preoccupations with sex and spirituality will never evolve past that moment; the parents whose exposure to their children's underground world threatens their deepest convictions; and those who come to know the survivors only later in life, unable to fully realize what really transpired. Hey Nostradamus wrestles with religion and nihilism, sorrow and acceptance. It will take you to a place you didn't know existed.

Douglas Coupland (Author), David LeDoux, David Ledoux, Jenna Lamia, Jillian Crane, John Randolph Jones (Narrator)

Audiobook