Player One
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| Author | Douglas Coupland |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Publisher | House of Anansi Press |
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Publication date
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October 2010 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback), Audio |
| Pages | 246 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 555627715 |
| Preceded by | Generation A |
| Followed by | Worst. Person. Ever. |
Player One: What Is to Become of Us is a novel written by Douglas Coupland for the 2010 Massey Lectures. Each of the book's five chapters was delivered as a one-hour lecture in a different Canadian city: Vancouver on October 12, Regina on October 14, Charlottetown on October 19, Ottawa on October 25 and ending in Toronto on October 29. The lectures were broadcast on CBC Radio One's Ideas, November 8–12. The book was published by House of Anansi Press.
The plot follows four characters, Karen, Rick, Luke, and Rachel, as they arrive in the lounge of an airport bar, as they interact with one another, and as they cope with chaos that erupts as cataclysmic events occur. The story addresses their motivations and perceptions, as well as their thoughts on certain themes. There are several minor characters and a fifth main character, Player One, who retells the events that the four main characters experience but from the perspective of an outside observer, like someone exploring a video game environment.
In 2009 a panel of representatives, including Sarah MacLachlan of House of Anansi Press, John Fraser of Massey College and Ideas executive producer Bernie Lucht, selected Douglas Coupland to deliver the 2010 Massey Lectures. Coupland, a West Vancouver resident who would be 48 years old during the lectures, was best known for his previous novels Generation X (1991), jPod (2006), and Generation A (2009), but also had written non-fiction works and screenplays. Coupland did not immediately agree but after some thought, accepted the panel's offer. He was given the creative freedom to select how the lecture would be delivered, and chose to write a novel. While previous novelists, such as Margaret Atwood and Thomas King, had delivered traditional academic lectures, Coupland felt that "a narrative seemed like the most efficient and accessible way of putting forth a large number of propositions about life in the year 2010."
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