Kiddo,
Talk to people. I promise you there is absolutely nothing more worth doing.
Yours,
Norman
P.S. Watch the skies.
Acknowledgments
The notion of extraordinary global events that deprive us of power—in ways both literal and figurative—is something I’ve explored in the past. But it was fascinating to shift my focus from the global to the hyperlocal, and the ways in which tiny communities might come together or split apart during hardship.
For any insights or inspirations I might have had along those lines, I want to thank the residents of the Street Where I Live, in Amagansett, New York. Lucy and Joe Kazickas, Tracy and Matt McQuade, and all your delightful kids, both full-grown and teeny-tiny, you were the best pandemic neighbors we could have possibly hoped for during those frightening, isolating months of 2020 and 2021. When I think about a safe place to shelter in a storm, I think of our street.
The science in the book regarding the sun and power grid is, for the most part, accurate. I’m grateful to Professor Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College of London, and Dr. Sara Seager of MIT, who were enormously helpful in that regard. Anything I got right was with their help; anything that’s wrong is entirely my fault.
Likewise, everything good I know about sibling relationships I learned from my brothers, Steve and Jeff, and my sister, Cathy. Everything bad I made up out of whole cloth. Sibs—I love you.
Thank you also to my invaluable early readers—Howard Franklin, the tirelessly supportive Gavin Polone （“Why don’t you write fifty pages and see how you feel then?”）， Susan Lehman, Brian DePalma, Andrew Waller, the enigmatic John Kamps, and, of course, my immortal beloved, Melissa Thomas, without whom our whole traveling circus would fall apart.
In matters of business, I am forever grateful to my brilliant agents, Mollie Glick, Brian Kend, and Richard Lovett of CAA, and the ever-savvy and levelheaded problem solver David Fox, the best attorney a boy could ask for. The writer Will Reichel, who moonlights as my assistant, is unflappable and constant. If we were a football team, Will would be the kicker who makes the fifty-six-yard field goal, even after they ice him. My editor, Noah Eaker of HarperCollins, was consistently insightful and encouraging, and, Noah, I thank you for shepherding movie boy through the world of novel writing. Also, continuing thanks to Zachary Wagman, without whom I likely wouldn’t be typing these words at all.
Like Don Corleone, I am sentimental about my children. Unlike him, I have never introduced them to a life of crime. Ben, Nick, Henry, and Grace, thank you for enriching my life in all ways. You have, each of you, been my greatest adventures.
About the Author
DAVID KOEPP is a celebrated American screenwriter who has written more than two dozen feature films in a wide variety of genres, including the first two Jurassic Park films, Death Becomes Her, Carlito’s Way, The Paper, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, Panic Room, War of the Worlds, Angels and Demons, Inferno, and Kimi. Some of the films he has both written and directed are Stir of Echoes, Secret Window, Ghost Town, and Premium Rush, the latter two cowritten with John Kamps. Koepp is also the author of the novel Cold Storage.
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