The Official Matthew Reilly Homepage

Hi there everyone! Apologies for not doing a Thoughts section November, but I've had a very busy month: a month which included going to Hollywood, speaking at the SEE graduation in Sydney, and even playing golf in aid of the Autism Association of NSW.

So, to tell you what's been happening in my world:

I was told about this kick-ass French action movie back in February by the Hollywood producer making Ice Station. It's amazing, people in Hollywood watch everything, not just American movies. They watch short movies, Australian movies, and French movies like this one.

In short, it's great. A giant wolf-like creature is killing women and children in rural France in 1764. So the King sends one of his men, a worldly man of science (plus his American-Indian sidekick), to investigate. If you like Matrix-style action, superb sound effects, very cool costuming and an excellent "Hound of the Baskervilles"/"Sleepy Hollow" storyline, then I'd really encourage you to see this.

Well-made, well shot, very well done.

I have done a new short story for this month's Bulletin magazine (for international readers, it's our biggest newsmagazine here in Australia). While I don't do them often, I enjoy doing the odd short story -- they allow me to experiment with new techniques, new genres, or just write a story that I know won't have enough in it to make an entire book.

The one that will appear in this month's Bulletin is called The Rock Princess and the Thriller Writer. It's partially based on my experiences touring in the US earlier this year. If you read it, I hope you like it!

One of the reasons for my trip to Hollywood this past month was to meet with the good folk at the William Morris Agency. Believe it or not, but until now, I have never had a literary agent!

But having met with the people from William Morris' London, New York and Los Angeles offices (including Suzanne Gluck, Eugenie Furniss and Alicia Gordon, not to mention the pretty amazing David Wirschafter and Jim Wiatt) I have decided to sign with them for all my book and movie work.

I've always wanted to be multi-faceted writer -- someone who does screenplays as well as books, and I'm pretty sure that the William Morris Agency will help me out in this regard!

With that in mind, now that I have finished Schofield III (tentatively titled Scarecrow), I am often asked, "So what are you working on now?" The answer is: apart from just resting my mind, I like to work on screenplays in the time I have between books.

And funnily enough, one of the immediate upshots of my trip to LA was the opportunity to adapt one of my short stories, Altitude Rush, into a full-length feature screenplay. Altitude Rush appeared in the short story anthology Girls' Night In 2: Gentlemen by Invitation (the Australian Edition, not the British one). I don't normally like to adapt my own novels into scripts, but my short stories are different. Being shorter, I always feel that there's more room to play with them in movie form. And, hey, I've always thought Altitude Rush was special and could be adapted into a cracking Speed-esque screenplay!

A recent phenomenon: for a while now, I have been receiving requests from other authors or their publishers seeking cover quotes for upcoming novels. Some write to me via email, others come through my publishers.

To date, I have not done a cover quote for another book. It's not because I don't like such quotes or because I haven't liked the books that came to me. It's mainly because I haven't had the time to read them (and get back to the author/publisher in time!). But to those who have sent me a manuscript or a galley proof, no promises, but if I can get to your book, I will.

The world is certainly becoming a dangerous place. September 11. Yemen. Bali. Just the other day, terrorists in Kenya fired a shoulder-launched missile at an Israeli airliner as it took off.

So far as I know, terrorism today (and especially Islamist terrorism) is the result of many complex causes -- from old European imperialism, Cold War politics, old-world schisms within Islam itself, global disparities of wealth, the maintenance of US troops on the Arabian peninsula, even the geographic location of the world's oil resources. I believe, however, that we could be witnessing a new contributing cause: media hysteria.

Hysteria sells newspapers. Everybody knows that. If it's not a crime wave, it's an influenza epidemic, or an education crisis. Now, I don't mind if the newspaper or TV news show is reporting genuine hysteria, but one must question whether today's media outlets are creating hysteria vis-à-vis global terrorism.

What worries me as an Australian are the bizarre efforts of the Australian media to make Australia a significant terrorist target. Example. A while ago, back when the Taliban existed, an ABC reporter (to the laughter of the assembled press conference) practically badgered the Taliban Foreign spokesman, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeff, into admitting that Australia was a target in the Taliban's jihad. This reporter harassed Zaeff to the point that the Taliban spokesman eventually exclaimed in exasperation: "Yes, yes, yes. This is clear...the Jihad is clear for any person which [sic] wants to accomplish the purpose of the Americans."

The reporter had his headline. And thus hysteria was not reported but created. The disgustingly cowardly Bali bombings have only intensified this kind of reporting in Australia.

Well, time's up. Have a great Christmas, and if I don't get back to you before then, I'll see you all in the New Year!

P.S. On a lighter note, I also recently watched the extended DVD edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It's a big call, but I reckon if Peter Jackson had released the extended version in the cinemas, he would have won Best Picture. It is infinitely superior to the theatrical version. If you liked the movie, go and see this version. You'll love it!