The Official Matthew Reilly Homepage

Well hey there,

Sorry it's been a while, but I did an outrageous amount of touring around Australia for Seven Ancient Wonders in the final months of 2005.

And look at the results!

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday December 3, 2005

This was the Herald 's list of bestselling Australian novels for the whole year (although, in my heart of hearts, I actually think Bryce Courtenay will just outsell me: his book had only been out for a few weeks when this list was compiled).

Actually, if you want to see a more interesting list, check out this one from the same newspaper:

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday December 3, 2005

For me, this list is far more informative, as it shows Seven Ancient Wonders competing against all fiction books, including the big-hitting publishing phenomenons, Harry Potter and Dan Brown. Considering the company, to have made it onto this list is really something.

So, what's been on my mind.

MY FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2005: "KISS KISS, BANG BANG", "DOWNFALL", "SERENITY"

As many have observed, it was a pretty lame year at the cinema. Lots of rubbish that should never have been made, let alone unleashed on the general public (yes, I mean you, Bewitched ). But even so, these were some I liked:

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was a noir thriller by my favourite Hollywood screenwriter, Shane Black. Black wrote Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight , and is pretty much the funniest writer in the world.

The thing was, his funniest lines in those scripts were in the "stage directions". But with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (which he also directed) those gags got onscreen, via Robert Downey Jr's awesome narration. While the movie's plot goes a bit off the rails towards the end, this movie has the best narration I have ever heard. Grab it on DVD.

Downfall was the German-language film detailing the last days in Hitler's bunker in Berlin in 1945. Even though the whole film is in (subtitled) German, it is still utterly riveting. I've never experienced a foreign-language film go by so quickly-it is two-and-a-half hours long, but it just flew by. Up there with Schindler's List .

And you heard last time about my thoughts on Serenity and its predecessor TV series, Firefly , so I won't go into that again. Suffice to say: both are awesome. Go see them!

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO:

1. SEVEN DEADLY WONDERS IS OUT NOW (IN THE U.S.A.)!

Yep, it's out in America - Seven Deadly Wonders , as Seven Ancient Wonders is being called there (someone on the Net cheekily said the title change was because American publishers felt that American readers couldn't handle difficult words like "Ancient" and "Philosopher"!).

It's also out in the UK this week (as Seven Ancient Wonders ) where I saw it at No.16 on Amazon. Not a bad start!

The response to the book in Australia was just fantastic-with Aussie readers really loving the ancient Egyptian elements in the story and the Australian lead character, Jack West Jr. Hope the rest of the world thinks the same!

2. HELL ISLAND IN THE U.K.

I recently saw Hell Island on amazon.co.uk, and just wanted to say something about it to avoid any confusion.

The UK edition of Hell Island is a special version of the novella (called "Quick Reads"). This means the entire books was rewritten by educators so that it would be accessible to readers of very low literacy levels. This is a wonderful program and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. It might even entail a visit by me to London in March for the launch. But it means the book has been greatly simplified.

So, UK readers, please don't buy the book and email me and say, "It was kinda basic." This is very deliberate. The book is for those people who don't read very much, and indeed, might be intimidated by the density of novels generally.

If you want the full-blown edition of Hell Island , go to Ebay and grab one of the Australian "Books Alive" editions or, even, wait until the end of this year when.

3. A MATTHEW REILLY SHORT STORY COLLECTION?

.we might release a collection of my short stories!

It's funny, when I started writing, I never expected to write short stories. But then invitations came, and from various sources: in 2000, The Sydney Morning Herald asked me to do a four-part serial. The Bulletin magazine in Australia has asked me to contribute to their "Summer Fiction" issue several times. I was even invited to contribute to Girls' Night In 2: Gentlemen by Invitation . And of course, there is Hell Island .

And since all of these shorts were only published in Australia (especially Hell Island ), my international fans missed out on reading them.

So, as the years have gone by, this little collection has grown. And so, late last year, I discussed with Cate Paterson at Pan Macmillan the possibility of releasing my short stories in a collection in late 2006 (since my next novel won't be released till 2007, it'd be nice to give readers something this year). We're still working out the details, so more news on this as it happens, but I am thinking of doing a couple of new short stories, one featuring Aloysius Knight from Scarecrow , just to spice it up!

Well, that's it. I'm off now to research and prepare my next book.

Take care,