Scala Radio Book Club: Aurora by David Koepp
Last updated 17th Aug 2022
On Thursday 16th June, Mark Forrest invited American screenwriter and author David Koepp, into the Scala Radio Book Club, to discuss his brand-new novel Aurora.
Most known as the screenwriter behind such blockbusters as Jurassic Park, Spider-Man and Mission Impossible, David Koepp’s suspenseful new novel indulges into a dystopian world.
When the lights go out no one is safe...
A planet without power.
When a solar storm hits the earth, the lights go out across the planet. But this time the blackout won't be over soon - it could last for years. Aubrey and her stepson now face the biggest challenge of their lives.
A society without rules.
Soon they hear rumours of riots, the struggle for food becomes real, and even within their small communities, the rule of law is collapsing. Aubrey's estranged brother Thom, a self-made billionaire who abandoned her years ago, retreats to a gilded desert bunker where he can ride out the crisis in perfect luxury.
A race to build a better world...
But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of a personal reckoning long overdue...
Mark wanted to know more about the lead characters in the novel. ‘The siblings Aubrey and her brother, Tom, have very different lives, quite estranged lives, and they react very differently to the disaster.’
‘Yes, they do. I wanted to see someone who was a bit like me, and like many of us, in that Aubrey's character is in no way prepared for this event, despite Covid,’ said David. ‘You would think a lot of us would have stocked up on supplies or, in some way prepared for the next crisis. But it's not human nature. We prefer to stick our head in the sand and pretend that that's not going to happen. So, I wanted to see someone whose life is in disarray, who's done nothing to prepare and see if there was inner strength that she could develop.
Conversely, I wanted her brother, who was quite wealthy, to have taken every possible precaution and be completely ready for this situation. Then I wanted to see can that life then fall apart, because, of course, unexpected things happen. So I wanted to take up a pair of siblings and see their paths cross, despite their different approaches.’
Mark asked, ‘You've been writing screenplays for thirty years. I'm guessing we're already quite a long way down the line with a film version. I've read Kathryn Bigelow's name and Netflix being mentioned. Where are we with Aurora?’
‘It's moving right along,’ said David. ‘I'm writing a draft with Kathryn as we speak, and it's going along very nicely. It is Netflix, and she hopes to be shooting in the spring. This is June, which means I'd better hurry up!
It's fun to continue working on the story, but it's also fun to do it with a new perspective. Of course, Kathryn’s brilliant, and is sort of uniquely gifted at creating tension.’
Mark asked, ‘You’ve had huge success as a screenwriter. How much was being a successful novelist, an itch that needed scratching?’
‘It was funny how it started,’ said David ‘I thought for a long time, “Oh, I'd like to write a book” or, to be honest, “I should write a book”. I write sentences for a living. Even though many of them are partial sentences because it's a screenplay, I thought it would be nice to see if I can write something in prose, which I had done a lot in my twenties. I'd written short stories before I wrote scripts, but I'd never written a book, and I wanted to do something of greater length than a screenplay. I wanted something large. I wanted to tackle something that consumed me for a longer period of time.’
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