Matthew Reilly (writer)
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| Matthew Reilly | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 July 1974 |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Genres | Action/Thriller |
Matthew John Reilly (born 2 July 1974 in Sydney) is an Australian action/thriller writer. His novels are often praised for their fast pace, plot convolutions and intense action. His work is often compared to that of Dan Brown, John Birmingham or Jack Heath.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
After graduating from Mt. Austin High School in 1988 and Sydney's St. Aloysius' College in 1992, Reilly wrote his first book Contest in 1994 whilst attending the University of New South Wales. It was rejected by every major publishing company in Sydney on the basis that his story concept was unoriginal and full of clichés and tired synonyms. This caused Reilly to self-publish 1,000 copies using money borrowed from his family. Unfortunately, some books were stolen from the back of his car and the original Contest books have become such a rarity that they have been known to fetch up to $300.
Reilly went to a bookstore in Sydney and asked if he could place the copies on one of their book shelves. They accepted the offer and placed them up. Very shortly after, the books had sold out and the owner of the bookstore called Reilly to order more books.
One copy was read by Cate Patterson, Commissioning Editor for Pan Macmillan, who immediately signed Reilly up to write Ice Station, which became an international best-seller.
In the years to come, he wrote Temple, Area 7, and Scarecrow, which have since been published in over fifteen countries, including Norway, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, South Africa, Japan and China (notably he has not been published in France, maybe because the French have been antagonists in all of their appearances in his novels).
Reilly is well known for his style of writing, which focuses entirely on Hollywood-style action scenes, relegating drama and character development to second priority. Many critics condemn this, and point out that Reilly unashamedly writes his books to read like movies, with improbability following improbability; however, Reilly's fans argue that his writing style is what makes the books unique and exciting.
Reilly's main influences include Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and possibly Art Bell. His latest work is a novel called The Six Sacred Stones, the sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders.
Matthew Reilly has completed an eleven minute trailer that depicts the beginning sequences of his book Contest. This trailer will form the basis of promotions in Hollywood to help secure funding/distribution for a full length film of Contest directed by himself.
In August 2005, as part of the Australian Books Alive Promotion, Reilly penned the novella Hell Island, a close-to-100-page short story following on from Scarecrow.
Reilly owns and drives a De Lorean, modified to have the driver's seat on the right side, one of only a few in Australia. He also has a life-size replica of Han Solo encased in carbonite.[2]
[edit] Heroes
A common feature of all of Reilly's major books are their central characters - strong, capable men with distinguishing features, three of them acquired during a previous life-defining experience; the exception, William Race, the hero of Temple, has a triangular birthmark on his cheek just under his left eye. Shane Schofield, nicknamed "Scarecrow", the hero of Ice Station and its sequels Area 7, Hell Island and Scarecrow, bears two scars across his eyes from when he was captured and tortured. Stephen Swain, the main character of Contest, has a scar on his upper lip from when he confronted a gunman in the hospital where he worked. The Australian hero of Seven Ancient Wonders, Jack West Jr, has a bionic arm from when he was forced to plunge his hand through a wall of lava to escape a room. There is only one exception to this rule - Jason Chaser, the 14-year-old child from Hover Car Racer. All of Reilly's heroes are adept at finding solutions to the many problems they encounter, even if farfetched.
[edit] Books
[edit] Stand alone novels
- 1996 Contest (Self-published in 1996; published by Pan Macmillan in 2000)
- 1999 Temple (appears to be set in the same universe as Reilly's other novels, is referred to in passing in both Area 7 and Scarecrow. Is the temple mentioned in Ice station)
[edit] The Shane Schofield series
- See Shane Schofield
- 1998 Ice Station
- 2001 Area 7
- 2003 Scarecrow
- 2005 Hell Island (Novella which was an Australian "Books Alive" exclusive; reworked version for people with reading difficulties, released for the "Quick Reads" program in UK, now on amazon.co.uk)
[edit] The Jack West Jr series
- 2005 Seven Ancient Wonders (Also known as Seven Deadly Wonders in the U.S.)
- 2007 The Six Sacred Stones (Sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders)
- 2008/9 TBA (announced by Reilly as "The Five...") (Continuation of The Six Sacred Stones)
[edit] Hover Car Racer
- 2004 Hover Car Racer (released online at www.hovercarracer.com; published by Pan Mac same year)Printed version illustrated by Roy Govier
- 2005 Crash Course (US release only; 1st third of Hover Car Racer novel, illustrated by Pablo Raimondi)
- 2006 Full Throttle (US release only; 2nd third of Hover Car Racer novel, illustrated by Pablo Raimondi)
- 2007 Photo Finish (US release only; final third of Hover Car Racer novel, illustrated by Pablo Raimondi)
[edit] References
- ^ "ABC Interview with Jack Heath". abc.net.au. Retrieved April 23, 2008
- ^ "60 Minutes, Matthew Reilly feature". sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au. Aired 2006.
