From This World

"I don't want to talk about these aliens anymore. When I think about them too much I get a headache, as if a tight band is being wrapped around my head. I begin perspiring, and my breaking picks up," says Vikram Jani, the central character of From this World. Born in Miramichi, New Brunswick, Vikram is ethnically East Indian and a citizen of Canada. And while he has always been an outsider, reading books on his own, studying Indian history at his leisure, Vikram's tendency to isolate himself from others soars after moving away from home. As a student at New Brunswick's largest university, he ends up in a world eroded by alien visitors. Though nearly everyone else finds these aliens enticing, Vikram hides in his apartment, locks his door, and watches the news carefully, his thumb hovering over the power button. Only after most of the city has disappeared does he dare wander around. Armed with a voice recorder, he tries to maintain his sanity by talking to himself, occupying himself with his own romantic tale.