Matthew Reilly

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Matthew Reilly
Born Matthew John Reilly
(1974-07-02) 2 July 1974 (age 49)
Sydney
Occupation Novelist
Genre Action/thriller
Website
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.

Early life

Reilly was born on 2 July 1974 in Sydney, the second son of Ray and Denise. He grew up in Willoughby, an affluent suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Reilly graduated from Sydney's St Aloysius' College[2][3] in Milsons Point, in 1992.[4] Reilly then studied Law at the University of New South Wales[5] between 1993 and 1997, graduating 31st out of 250 students.[6] While at university he was also a contributor to the student law society publication "Poetic Justice".[citation needed]

Career

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 Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor from Pan Macmillan found a self-published copy of Contest in a bookstore.[3] Pan Macmillan signed Reilly to a two-book deal. Reilly wrote his second book, Ice Station, while studying at the University of NSW.[7] It was quickly picked up by publishers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. He has since sold over 7 million copies of his books worldwide, in over 20 languages.[8] Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011.[9] Three more of Reilly's books have been the biggest-selling Australian titles of their years of release: Seven Ancient Wonders (2005), The Five Greatest Warriors (2009) and The Tournament (2013).[10] A Sydney Morning Herald reviewer praised Reilly's writing for its bold action, but criticized it for straining credulity and "frequent lapses in logic."[11]

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.[12]

In 2015 Reilly alongside Benjamin Maio Mackay's Preachrs Podcast OnLine & OnStage announced an audio drama adaptation of Reilly's best-selling novel Ice Station. A live version will be performed early in 2016. "Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station Live" will be performed in the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2016 and the live show will pilot the first 3 episodes of the audio drama. Details of the project can be found at www.icestationlive.com or in a video published on the site. [13] [14][15]

Personal life

In 2004 Reilly married Natalie Freer. Freer attended a nearby high school, Loreto Kirribilli, and also went to the University of New South Wales, where she studied Psychology. Reilly credits Freer with encouraging him to self-publish his first book. In early December 2011, while Reilly was in South Australia on a book tour promoting Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Natalie, who had suffered from anorexia and depression, committed suicide.[3] Reilly subsequently cancelled his remaining book tours and announced his intention to take a break from online communications.[16][17]

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][3] A big fan of Hollywood blockbusters, Reilly hopes to one day direct a movie adapted from one of his own books.[citation needed]

He currently lives in Los Angeles, USA.

Bibliography

Stand-alone novels

Shane Schofield

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

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)[22]
  4. The Four Legendary Kingdoms (2016)

Hover Car Racer

  1. Hover Car Racer (2004)

Published as three mini-books in the United States:[23]

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

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "matthewreilly.com Author Biography". Retrieved 10 January 2009
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  4. Contest – Reilly, Matthew – 2000 paper back edition – An interview with Matthew Reilly – pg 349 Retrieved 10 January 2009
  5. Us.macmillan.com/temple – Biography. Macmillan. Retrieved 7 February 2009
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  7. Scarecrow – Reilly, Matthew – 2004 paper back edition – Biography – first page – Retrieved 10 January 2009
  8. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, author biography
  9. The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 January 2012
  10. The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 December 2005 and 2 January 2010
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  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbYoFQbywlM&feature=youtu.be
  14. https://www.icestationlive.com
  15. https://www.preachrspodcast.net
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  20. The Tournament, interview with author
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  23. – The Novels. MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 1 February 2013

External links