Question: Are their plans for a new tour soon?
Matthew Reilly: No plans yet. But I’ll definately tour with the new Schofield book next year. I believe it will be released in hardback in Australia.
Question: Will this be your first hardcover?
Matthew Reilly: In Australia. So far I’ve been released in trade Paperback.
Question: Do you travel to the places you write about?
Matthew Reilly: Sometimes (As I did for Area 7) but usually not. I just read about them mostly.
Question: Has anyone approached you regarding episode 3?
Matthew Reilly: No, no-one’s come forward for Episode 3. Obviously I’m not that widely read yet!
Question: What do you do to relax besides golf and watch cricket matches?
Matthew Reilly: For relaxation, I see lots of movies, read a lot, play touch football, go to the gym, yes, watch cricket (and play for the mighty Full Tossers)
Comment: I think you need to write Sci Fiction Space Novels
Matthew Reilly: Hmmm. Maybe a screenplay. Not a book. Although I do have one idea for a kids book…AJ: There’d be less profanity in a kids novel huh?
Matthew Reilly: Why not? Kids swear.
Juliana: You’d be attacked on the street by angry parents.
Matthew Reilly: If I wrote a Sci-fi novel I could avoid crazy lunatics who gatecrash the MR fansite. I think Harry Potter has opened up the “children’s” market. You could write a pretty sophisticated novel these days and kids (and adults) would enjoy it.
Question: Could a Matthew Reilly-style “Harry Potter” ever appear in the not-too-distant future?
Matthew Reilly: I am certainly interested in writing a MR-style “Harry Potter” book. A big idea. And now that I’m out of contract, something I’d like to get into (Publishers get a bit worried when their thriller writers come in and say, “I’d like to write a kids book”. Better just to write the thing and dazzle them with it!)
Question: Is there any book in particular of yours that you would like to see be turned into a movie or computer game?
Matthew Reilly: I’d love to see Temple made into a film. A really big, epic, twin-story film. But it’s so big. I think I’d have to wait for Ice Station to be a blockbuster.
Question: Would you mind if it was CGI?
Matthew Reilly: I think an animated version of Temple would be sensational! I actually thought once Temple would make a great Bond Movie. But now I hear the latest Bond Movie has some Ice Station moments in it… Hmmmmm.
Question: So Temple is your favourite book?
Matthew Reilly: Temple is not so much my favourite (I don’t really favour one book over the others) I think it’s my cleverest book. And very filmic.
Question: Did you find out about Capoeira during your research into Brasil and if you did what were your thoughts?
Matthew Reilly: No, what is that?Fan: Its a Brazillian Martial art that has elements of dance and acrobatics. I ask because Race mentions “Jinga” which is one of the moves.
Matthew Reilly: Sounds very cool. But none of my books have been set in Brazil, so haven’t looked into it. The “Jinga” was a word from my research, but I understood it to mean, “Cat-like”
Question: Any plans for a Sequel to Temple?
Matthew Reilly: I have an idea for a Temple Sequel, but I’m keen to write a wholly new book now, having just written a second sequel.
Question: Did you base the Rapa’s upon a particular Myth, or did you just think “Giant Panthers would be cool”?
Matthew Reilly: I actually made up the Rapas, but then discovered that there were giant cat myths in South America. The actual giant cats were called “titi” but I thought that name was a bit wussy. So I created the word “Rapa” Actually the giant cat myths were weird because there are no real giant cats in South America.
Question: Rumor has it that you are pouring millions of dollars into genetic research to create a real life Hoodaya, is this true?
Matthew Reilly: What does ROTFLMAO mean?
Roy: Nice dodge of my question.
Matthew Reilly: The hoods would be a great feature of a Contest movie.
Question: Can you see your characters becoming McDonalds happy meal toys?
Matthew Reilly: I would love Ice Station action figures. I would bring them out myself if I could. Unforunately that now rests with Paramount (although they haven’t got A7 yet)
Question: Did you know that Ender’s Game is being made into a movie? and that Orson Scott Card is heavily involved in it? Would you have a lot of control in a movie based on your books?
Matthew Reilly: I’m not surprised. It was a superior work of fiction. I was thinking about it the other day actually.
Question: Where do you get your plot ideas from?
Matthew Reilly: Plot ideas just come from looking at the world and asking “What if you did this…” I read a lot of non-ficiton and I just try to skew it a little and create interesting scenarios.
Question: Matthew, did you take the Theme Park rights out on your books??
Matthew Reilly: I’m not sure if I sold them. I’ll have to check the contract — it’s almost longer than the book!
Question: Is Mother Black or White?
Matthew Reilly: Does it matter? She’s gonna buy it in S3. I actually pictured her as white, but since I never actually described her skin colour, I will never settle the issue.
Question: Are you a big comic book fan?
Matthew Reilly: Not really. Have read two: A death in the family, and The Killing Joke. Both Batman comics. the first was the one in which they killed off Robin (maybe that had an influence on me!) Very Dark. It’s funny, while I don’t read the comic books, I keep tabs on all the stories — killing off Robin, Bane breaking Batman’s back, that weirdo stuff that happened to Superman (when they had all those imposters later)
Question: Do you chart out the action scenes beforehand, or just do it on the fly?
Matthew Reilly: I chart out the action scenes in detail. I never do it on the fly. It all has to go somewhere.
Question: When you first thought up the plot to Ice Station, did you deliberately make Schofields’ past include him being a pilot, just so he could fly the Silhouette at the end?
Matthew Reilly: Yep. Schofield’s pilot skills were made solely so he could fly the Silhouette!
Question: Will he be flying at all in S3?
Matthew Reilly: There’s alot of flying in S3. Want a teaser — you’ll find the Sukhoi-37 in S3.
Question: Speaking of Schofield’s past, do you reveal any more of it in S3?
Matthew Reilly: Oh yes. You get more.
Question: Any developments in the relationship between Schofield and Gant?
Matthew Reilly: Yes, Schofield and Gant’s relationship moves even further!
Matthew Reilly: I have a WW2 idea. But perhaps I’d do it like Temple, as a split story, so I could keep my modern gadgets. Oh, and speaking of the Maghook, it makes a BIG return in Schofield 3 — but for the first time, it may not work! And I’ve come up with the mini-maghook for The Mine screenplay!
The Maghook not working?
Matthew Reilly: Tragic deaths abound in S3. As I said before, everybody dies!
Question: You have an ideas Drawer… if there’s a fire, which ideas do you save?
Matthew Reilly: The one about the Nazi’s building a time machine just before the Soviets take Berlin.
Matthew Reilly: Listen guys, I fear I have to go. I have to get to touch football! Thank you for a wonderful chat. I hope I haven’t been too evasive on the new book. But all will be revealed in good time. Bye now.
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About the Author
Matthew John Reilly was born on 2 July 1974 in Sydney, Australia.
He is an action thriller writer whose novels are noted for their fast pace, twisting plots and intense action.
After graduating from Sydney's St Aloysius' College in 1992, Reilly studied Law at the University
of New South Wales, where he was also a contributor to the student law society publication "Poetic Justice".
Reilly wrote his first book Contest while just 19 and self-published it in 1996. It was rejected by every major publishing company in Sydney, leading Reilly to self-publish 1,000 copies using money borrowed from his family.
His dedication paid off, and was discovered by Pan Macmillan's then commissioning editor Cate Paterson. His first industry-produced novel, Ice Station, proved so monumentally popular, that it had to be reprinted six times in its first two years.
The continued success of his novels has been attributed to not only the accessible, 'storyteller' style of writing, but also the highly charged and kinetic action sequences that take place throughout his works, deliberately making use of his 'unlimited budget' of imagination to create scenes 'too big for Hollywood'.
Reilly's second book, Ice Station was also written whilst a student at the University of NSW.
Matthew's novels have also - unexpectedly - become a major tool in the fight to get teenagers into reading. While written for a mature readership, Matthew's novels have become very popular with reluctant male readers. This may stem from Matthew's own childhood experience, citing his dislike for set reading projects in high-school as his main inspiration to 'do it better'.
Reilly owns several movie prop reproductions including a life-size statue of Han Solo frozen in carbonite (Star Wars), a golden idol (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and a working DeLorean DMC-12 (Back to the Future). A big fan of Hollywood blockbusters, Reilly hopes to direct one of his own books as movies someday.
Outside of the entertainment industry, Matthew has also partaken in several charity, celebrity and publicity based events. As part of a charity dinner for the NSW Cancer Council in 2002, he offered to name a character in Scarecrow after the highest bidder. The winner was Alec Christie. Look for his name in Scarecrow! Matthew has played in several celebrity cricket matches and golf days alongside members of INXS, rugby union legend Matthew Burke and a host of other Australian celebrities.
He regularly attends writer's festivals around Australia as a speaker or panelist.
In 2000, Matthew was a delegate at the What Makes a Champion conference in Sydney. Nelson Mandela gave the opening address at the conference, and it featured such luminaries as Edmund Hillary, Richard Butler and Shane Gould.
On January 1st, 2001, Matthew walked in the Australian Centenary of Federation Parade as a representative of Australian Literature.as appeared on the Big Breakfast television show in Britain.
In 2001 and 2002, Matthew was a special ambassador for National Youth Week, an initiative designed to get young people to chase their dreams.
In 2003, he is one of the faces of the Australian government's National Literacy and Numeracy Week.
In August, 2003, his book, Ice Station, will be one of six books sold at less than half price as part of a special literacy-driven project called Books Alive.
Matthew Reilly has trekked to the base of Mount Everest.
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About this eBook
I created this eBook from a collection of short stories converted from .pdf, HTML and .txt files I had archived from a few years ago; or in the case of Hell Island, that I downloaded from the internet. I have taken these files, converted, re-formatted them and adjusted them to better suit an eBook reader.
I “test” my final epubs on a Nook Color and an iPad2 to ensure the best possible reading experience; however, not all eReaders are the same and don’t always display epubs in the same way as others. This is especially true when it comes to the Table of Contents (ToC), images within the epub and the display of the book cover.
If you find errors, or run into any difficulty with this (or any other of my epubs), please feel free to contact me through Bolt.
Finally, it is my sincerest wish that you have the best possible reading experience with this or any epub I have created.
Flyboy707
October, 2011
Matt Reilly Stories Page 19
