The Official Matthew Reilly Homepage

Okay, okay, I know! I'm a few days late with this Thoughts section, but I honestly have a really good excuse this time. I've been on holiday in Europe for a month, which means I've been doing a lot of sightseeing, research and reading, which I'll tell you all about below. Not only that, but I'm now coming to you from my new site!

So...

Let's cut to the chase. This is perhaps the best thriller I've read in the last ten years. If you haven't already read it, go out, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, and buy it. If you like my stuff, you'll love this.

The basic plot: the supersmart curator of the Louvre is murdered (this is page 1) and we subsequently find out that he was a member of a secret society that guards an earth-shattering secret. Leonardo Da Vinci had connections with this secret society, and it seems that clues in his artwork refer to the big secret. To say any more would ruin it.

In short, this is filled with non-stop (intrigue-based) cliffhangers in every chapter, dotted with really informative stuff on Leonardo D Vinci's art, the peculiar architecture of Paris, and one of the best conspiracy theories I've read in recent times.

The best part for me was that I was reading it in Paris (most of the story is set there) and I can vouch for Mr Brown's research: everything he mentions is right there for all to see, including the very bizarre St Sulpice Cathedral - inside it is a very strange embedded brass line stretching diagonally across the floor at a really weird angle. This brass line ends at an Egyptian obelisk tucked into a corner of this Catholic cathedral. What an Egyptian obelisk is doing in a Catholic church is beyond me (if you know, please email me with the subject heading "Obelisk"; I noticed the obelisk-church link in Rome too).

A great, great read. I'll be first in line to get his next book!

The new site went up on the 12th. My high-and-wild short story Altitude Rush maskes an appearance, as will many more new features.

A lot of my friends did the European Thing in their early 20's, but I spent that time writing novels, so until now I had not been to continental Europe.

I spent my time in France, Switzerland and Italy and in short, I saw everything! Roved around Paris (chasing the architecture and artwork mentioned in The Da Vinci Code), saw the D-Day beaches and the amazing Mont-St-Michel - which is a gigantic cathedral/fortress built on an offshore island off the coast of Normandy. That'll get into a book someday.

Went up the Jungfrau in Switzerland (having read about the very cool railway tunnel built inside the mountain in The Day After Tomorrow). Then into Italy: saw The Last Supper on its wall in Milan (amazing), checked out Venice and loved it, saw the galleries of Florence, and then finally did Rome (both the ancient and modern parts).

In the end, I got a hell of a lot of story ideas! And really just had a bit of a rest - these next six months are going to be helter-skelter with promotional work: looks like I'll be touring around Australia (in August and November), and Hong Kong and England in October. Now bring on Scarecrow!

Apologies to all the British readers out there reading this, but on my trip I only just discovered the amazing Isembard Brunel. I know he's a household name in Britain, but I had honestly never heard of him till last month.

What a dead-set legend! As the documentary I saw put it: in the 1800s this guy practically built industrial Britain, and since industrial Britain built the modern industrial world, Brunel built the modern world. Imagine James Cameron, the filmmaker, building real railways and tunnel and bridges and steamships on a giant scale in the 1800s and you've got Brunel. Stunning fellow.

For those of you who are regular visitors to this site and the Presidian site, check out the cover design credit when the Australian edition of Scarecrow comes out: you will find the name "Roy Govier" there! Roy, the webmaster of MR.com, helped out with some amazing cover design work on the book, and soon it will be there for all to see. Scamper into the Book Covers section to check it out early!

Oh, and I saw some mock-ups of the UK cover for Scarecrow while I was in London: it's awesome! Gosh, it's almost out... only a few more months to go.

Thank you to all those out there who wished me a happy birthday for 2 July! Another year older, and after my trip, I reckon that this year I can certainly say that I'm a little wiser, too!