Vancouver author Douglas Coupland has narrated a series of viral videos for YouTube to promote his latest novel, The Gum Thief.

Coupland reads excerpts from the book, which is written in journal entry form, to accompany images inside an office superstore or with animated segments.

The Gum Thief, released Sept. 25 by Random House, streams the thoughts of a down-on-his-luck Staples employee, Roger, includes excerpts from a novel he is trying to write and also follows the story of one of Roger's co-workers, Bethany.

"I was once young and fresh and dumb, and I was going to write a novel — it was going to be called Glove Pond," Coupland reads in one of the videos, while the camera focuses on signs in a Staples store.

Coupland, who popularized the term Generation X, has attempted to aim his books at younger readers with new formats and frequent references to the internet and mass culture.

He has written a TV series based on his novel, JPod, and the film script for Everything's Gone Green.

Random House worked with marketer Crush Toronto to produce the nine viral shorts, which they hope will attract people to Coupland who don't usually read fiction.

The videos were released to YouTube in three series of three over the last few weeks.