The Official Matthew Reilly Homepage

Frederic Raphael was the screenwriter of EYES WIDE SHUT, Stanley Kubrick's last film. This book recounts his bizarre experiences with Kubrick during the writing process of the movie. It is full of interesting anecdotes about the genesis of EYES WIDE SHUT, the movie industry as a whole and, at least for me, it also contained some genuine pearls of wisdom. Concepts of genius ("genius simplifies" Raphael writes), and fame ("my wife is never impressed by the opinions of famous people") are addressed. Even this corker of a comment on "serious" works of fiction or moviemaking: "Solemn souls may regard lightheartedness as a kind of blasphemy, but solemnity is not always a characteristic of worthwhile work..." A must-read for movie buffs and observers of the eternal clash between art and commerce.

Last week heralded the staging of the Sydney Writers' Festival, and yours truly was a small part of it. Some highlights for me included:

Yes, folks, I did it! At my 'reading session' on Thursday morning, in addition to reading a scene from CONTEST, I read a small section from AREA 7. Now, when I do a reading, it can look kind of funny, because I really get into it. I read fast - really really fast - and I wave my arms around, describing the action. Since the scene from A7 that I read was a rather explosive one, I was at my manic best! I received emails about it that night.

Although reading from AREA 7 was fun, the highlight of my week at the Sydney Writers' Festival was without a doubt visiting the Campbelltown Art Gallery and doing a talk-and-Q&A session there with an audience of about 60. It was just awesome. Great people (including my fellow speaker, Sue Gough, author of THE NETHER REGIONS), marvellous atmosphere, and just a darn good night. Many members of the audience brought books for me to sign - including two young guys who brought rare original editions of CONTEST! I would do it again in a second.

I was having lunch at the festival on Thursday, when a publisher from Macmillan came up to me and said, "Matthew, you'll never guess what just happened. A little boy has just told everybody at the Harry Potter session that he loves all your books, and that all young people who are looking for the next step after Harry Potter should try reading Matthew Reilly's books." The funny thing is, as a Harry Potter fan myself, I had intended to sit in on that session (hiding at the back of the auditorium as I do), but was ultimately unable to. I wish I had now!

As an author, the best thing about writers' festivals is that they give you the chance to meet other authors (writing being "a rat race in which you never get to meet the other rats"). At this festival, I had the good fortune to meet and chat at some length with the respected Ugandan author, Moses Isegawa (THE ABBYSINIAN CHRONICLES). It was wonderful to talk with someone who loves storytelling (both in novel and in movie form) as much as I do. Good on you, Moses!

Well, that's about it for this week. I considered saying more about the "popular fiction v literary fiction" debate (which I referred to last week), but I have decided that, in the end, I'm going to let that issue be resolved elsewhere. Having seen some people mention it at the writers' festival, I've realised just what a red herring of an issue it really is. My energies are better spent writing kick-ass blockbuster action novels!!

P.S. SPECIAL NOTE FOR MELBOURNE FANS: there will be a chance for those readers who live in Melbourne to get a sneak preview of AREA 7 next month - I was asked by the good folk at Pan Macmillan if I would be prepared to read an extract from A7 at a function at the new Borders Bookstore at Chadstone on Friday 29 June, and I said I'd love to. So if you can get there on the 29th of June, please come along!

P.P.S. A special hello to Les and Lee, who were at the Campbelltown Art Gallery function on Thursday night. Les and Lee came to one of the very first speaking engagements I ever did, and on Thursday they brought along their signed first edition of ICE STATION to prove it. And since they told me that they read the Thoughts of the Week page every week, I thought it was only fair that they received a honourable mention in it this week! Thank you so much for your support.