Matthew Reilly

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Matthew Reilly
Born Matthew John Reilly
(1974-07-02) 2 July 1974 (age 38)
Sydney, Australia
Occupation Novelist
Genres Action/thriller
www.matthewreilly.com

Matthew John Reilly (born 2 July 1974)[1] is an Australian action thriller writer. His novels are noted for their fast pace, twisting plots and intense action.

Contents

Early life[edit]

After graduating from Sydney's St Aloysius' College[2] in 1992,[3] Reilly studied Law at the University of New South Wales,[4] where he was also a contributor to the student law society publication "Poetic Justice".[citation needed]

Career[edit]

Reilly wrote his first book, Contest, at the age of 19 and self-published it in 1996.[1] It was rejected by every major publisher in Australia, leading Reilly to self-publish 1000 copies using a bank loan. Reilly was discovered when a publisher from Pan Macmillan found a self-published copy of Contest in a bookstore. Reilly wrote his second book, Ice Station, while studying at the University of NSW.[5] It was quickly picked up by publishers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. He has since sold over 4 million copies of his books worldwide, in over 20 languages.[6] Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011.[7] Two more of Reilly's books have been the biggest-selling Australian titles of their years of release: Seven Ancient Wonders (2005) and The Five Greatest Warriors (2009).[8]

In 2007, Reilly wrote a half-hour television script titled Literary Superstars. The script was picked up by Darren Star (Sex and the City) and bought by Sony Pictures for the ABC Network. Jenna Elfman signed on to play the lead role. The pilot episode was at the casting stage when the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, paralyzing Hollywood. The pilot was placed on indefinite hiatus before ultimately being dropped by the ABC.[9]

Personal life[edit]

Reilly owns several movie prop reproductions such as a life-size statue of Han Solo frozen in carbonite from Star Wars, a golden idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a DeLorean DMC-12 from Back to the Future.[1] A big fan of Hollywood blockbusters, Reilly hopes to one day direct a movie adapted from one of his own books.

On 2 January 2012, Reilly posted on his website and Facebook page that his wife Natalie had died in early December 2011. He cancelled the remaining book tours for Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and announced his intention to take a break from online communications for a while.[10][11]

Bibliography[edit]

Stand-alone novels[edit]

Shane Schofield[edit]

See Shane Schofield
  1. Ice Station (1998)
  2. Area 7 (2001)
  3. Scarecrow (2003)
  4. Hell Island (2005)
  5. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves (2011), re-titled as Scarecrow Returns in the United States.

Jack West Jr[edit]

See Jack West Jr
  1. Seven Ancient Wonders (2005), retitled as 7 Deadly Wonders in the United States.
  2. The Six Sacred Stones (2007)
  3. The Five Greatest Warriors (2009)[15]

Hover Car Racer[edit]

  1. Hover Car Racer (2004)

Published as three mini-books in the United States:[16]

  1. Crash Course (2005)
  2. Full Throttle (2006)
  3. Photo Finish (2007)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "matthewreilly.com Author Biography". Retrieved 10 January 2009
  2. ^ "Author Profile: Matthew Reilly". Bookreporter.com. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  3. ^ Contest - Reilly, Matthew - 2000 paper back edition - An interview with Matthew Reilly - pg 349 Retrieved 10 January 2009
  4. ^ Us.macmillan.com/temple - Biography. Macmillan. Retrieved 7 February 2009
  5. ^ Scarecrow - Reilly, Matthew - 2004 paper back edition - Biography - first page - Retrieved 10 January 2009
  6. ^ Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, author biography
  7. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 January 2012
  8. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 December 2005 and 2 January 2010
  9. ^ "Film and Television". MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 2012-03-19. 
  10. ^ "Latest News". Matthew Reilly. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  11. ^ "Official Matthew Reilly Facebook Page". Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  12. ^ Reilly, Matthew (13 October 2012). "October Update (13 October 2012)". MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 23 October 2012. "I’m very sorry for the delay between updates! The reason: I’ve been lying low, busily doing revisions on my 1500s novel. I’m really pleased with it – it absolutely rockets along and the mystery-thriller plot is a cracker. That book is set to be released in October 2013." 
  13. ^ Reilly, Matthew (13 October 2012). "January Update (21 January 2012)". MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 23 October 2012. "First, in October, there will be the release of my new novel, the one I have mentioned before that is set in 1546. It has a title but I can’t reveal that just yet." 
  14. ^ Reilly, Matthew (13 October 2012). "January Update (21 January 2012)". MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 23 October 2012. "I have also thrown myself into writing a new book. It’s not a Scarecrow novel or a Jack West Jr book. It’s got a whole new hero, some of the best scary creatures I’ve ever written about and it rocks [...] If I get it done by the end of this year, maybe I’ll do a double-header and release two books in consecutive years, 2013 and 2014." 
  15. ^ Reilly, Matthew (17 March 2009). "Five Greatest Warriors Release Date & Cover, Movies Books & TV". Retrieved 19 November 2009. 
  16. ^ - The Novels. MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 1 February 2013

External links[edit]

Authority control
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