Been getting questions about the alien protagonist in my upcoming novel. Time to introduce you properly to Noé Wade.
Twenty-two years old (by appearance), coal-black hair that never sits right, porcelain skin that looks almost too perfect. Always wears those yellow-tinted glasses – partly disguise, partly protection. His movements are slightly delayed, like he’s calculating each gesture.
He arrives on Earth as an emotional tourist. His species achieved everything technological, but lost the ability to feel along the way. Now he’s here to study human emotions for his home planet, treating us like fascinating specimens.
Starts a blog documenting his observations. Early entries are coldly analytical: “Humans leak salt water when experiencing both distress and joy. Highly inefficient system.”
But here’s the thing about studying emotions – you can’t observe them without beginning to experience them yourself.
Noé thinks he’s writing research reports. He doesn’t realise he’s writing his own transformation.
The surname Wade comes from Old English “to go through water.” Fitting for someone learning to navigate the flood of human feeling.
His flatmate Zoe calls him “the observer.” But what happens when the observer becomes the observed? When the student becomes the subject?
Coming July. Hope you’re ready to fall in love with someone learning to love for the first time.
Daria Ryzhikova Writer