Matthew Reilly

Reilly was born on 2 July 1974 in Sydney, Australia, the second son of Ray (an employee at the Department of Corrective Services) and Denise, a mathematics teacher.{{cite news|title=Life of Reilly|newspaper=Herald Sun|first=Blanche|last=Clark|date=28 October 2011}} He grew up with his brother Stephen in Willoughby, an affluent suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Reilly graduated from Sydney's St Aloysius' College{{cite news | url=http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-reilly-matthew.asp | publisher=Bookreporter.com | title=Author Profile: Matthew Reilly | access-date=19 October 2008}}{{cite news | url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/its-a-door-that-shes-gone-through-and-i-cant-follow/news-story/cbc39643cd01e18dbea9ae0b655c5191 | title=It's a door that she's gone through, and I can't follow | work=The Weekend Australian Magazine | publisher=News Corp Australia | last=Overington | first=Caroline |author-link=Caroline Overington | date=23 June 2012 | access-date=30 August 2013}} in Milsons Point, in 1992.Contest – Reilly, Matthew – 2000 paper back edition – An interview with Matthew Reilly – pg 349 Retrieved 10 January 2009 He then studied Law at the University of New South Wales[http://us.macmillan.com/temple Us.macmillan.com/temple – Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710194327/http://us.macmillan.com/temple |date=10 July 2010 }}. Macmillan. Retrieved 7 February 2009 between 1993 and 1997, graduating 31st out of 250 students.{{cite web|title=Guest Speaker, UNSW Law Awards Evening 5 May 2011|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck5nJM0dU6c&feature=player_detailpage#t=318 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/ck5nJM0dU6c |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|website=YouTube| date=6 June 2011 |access-date=26 December 2014}}{{cbignore}} While at university, he was also a contributor to the student law society publication Poetic Justice.{{cite web |url=https://www.bookscool.com/en/Matt-Reilly-Stories-873442/19 |title=Matthew Reilly Interview |author= |website=bookscool.com |publisher=Books Cool |access-date=February 7, 2021}}

Reilly wrote his first book, Contest, at the age of 19, and self-published it in 1996. It was rejected by every major publisher in Australia, leading him to self-publish 1,000 copies using a bank loan. He was discovered when Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor from Pan Macmillan, found a self-published copy of Contest in a bookstore. Pan Macmillan signed Reilly to a two-book deal. He wrote his second book, Ice Station, while studying at the University of New South Wales.Scarecrow – Reilly, Matthew – 2004 paper back edition – Biography – first page – Retrieved 10 January 2009 It was quickly picked up by publishers in the US, UK and Germany. He has since sold over 8 million copies of his books worldwide, in over 20 languages.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-27 |title=Extended interview: Interceptor's Matthew Reilly on writing, film directing, grief and remarrying |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/author-matthew-reilly-on-interceptor-film-grief-writing-advice/103032222 |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=www.abc.net.au |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |title=About – Matthew Reilly |url=https://matthewreilly.com/about/ |access-date=2022-07-07 |language=en-AU}}Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, author biography{{Cite web |date=2015-11-06 |title=Crowdfunding makes a writer's life easier than ever |url=https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/careers/crowdfunding-makes-a-writers-life-easier-than-ever-20151027-gkjrib |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}} Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011.The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 January 2012 Three more of Reilly's books have been the biggest-selling Australian titles of their years of release: Seven Ancient Wonders (2005), The Five Greatest Warriors (2009) and The Tournament (2013).The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 December 2005 and 2 January 2010 A Sydney Morning Herald reviewer praised Reilly's writing for its bold action, but they criticised it for straining credulity and "frequent lapses in logic."{{cite news|last1=Popple|first1=Jeff|title=The Great Zoo of China|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/book-review-the-great-zoo-of-china-by-matthew-reilly-20141115-11dfea.html|access-date=25 June 2015|work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=21 November 2014}}

In 2007, Reilly wrote a half-hour television script titled Literary Superstars. The script was picked up by Darren Star (Sex and the City) and bought by Sony Pictures for the ABC Network. Jenna Elfman signed on to play the lead role. The pilot episode was at the casting stage when the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, paralyzing Hollywood. The pilot was placed on indefinite hiatus before ultimately being dropped by the ABC.{{cite web|url=http://www.matthewreilly.com/filmtv.html |title=Film and television |publisher=MatthewReilly.com |access-date=19 March 2012}}

In 2015, Reilly, in association with Benjamin Maio Mackay's Preachrs Podcast OnLine & OnStage, premiered an audio drama adaptation of Reilly's best-selling novel Ice Station. This was the first adaptation of his works outside of a literary format. Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station Live was performed in the Adelaide Fringe 2016 and piloted the first three episodes of a proposed full audio drama. As of January 2021, no further updates on the project have been announced.{{cite web|title=Matthew Reilly's Ice Station Live - Announcement|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbYoFQbywlM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/vbYoFQbywlM |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|website=Youtube|date=7 July 2015}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|title=Matthew Reilly's Ice Station Live|url=https://www.icestationlive.com/|website=Ice Station Live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028134331/https://www.icestationlive.com/|archive-date=28 October 2016}}

In 2017, he began to write a story that could be filmed on a moderate budget of around $15 million. This became the screenplay for Interceptor, whereby a female US Army captain at a US missile interceptor facility has to stop sixteen nuclear missiles aimed at sixteen American cities. The film uses one large set. Reilly collaborated with screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean, Collateral) whose efforts included partially rewriting but also introducing Reilly’s work to several producers and other film people in Los Angeles. This led, eventually, to Netflix funding the film with Reilly as first-time director, with filming being done in Sydney in early 2021 featuring Elsa Pataky in the lead role, with Australian Luke Bracey playing the villain; Pataky’s husband, actor Chris Hemsworth, is one of the movie's executive producers. The film was released in mid-2022 on Netflix.{{cite news |title=Author Matthew Reilly goes from books to big screen in Interceptor directing debut |work=ABC News Australia |date=10 October 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-11/matthew-reillys-directing-dream-come-true-interceptor/100513242 |access-date=11 October 2021}}

In 2004, Reilly married Natalie Freer. Freer attended a nearby high school, Loreto Kirribilli, and also went to the University of New South Wales, where she studied Psychology. Reilly credits Freer with encouraging him to self-publish his first book. In early December 2011, while Reilly was in South Australia on a book tour promoting Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Natalie, who had suffered from anorexia and depression, died by suicide. Reilly subsequently cancelled his remaining book tours and announced on Facebook his intention to take a break from online communications.{{Cite web |last=Reilly |first=Matthew |title=N/A |url=https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMatthewReilly/posts/dear-alla-few-of-you-have-noticed-that-my-website-facebook-and-twitter-pages-hav/10150436655251339/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/E1qbC |archive-date=8 July 2022 |access-date=6 July 2022 |website=Facebook}}

"My life pretty much fell apart; she was my everything. We did everything together; we’d done everything together for the previous 18 years. And suddenly I’d have days where I’d look at the clock and it’d be quarter past one in the afternoon, and I’d think: I’ve got ten hours ‘til I’m going to go to bed. I cried every day for six months. I howled in my car. I’d take the dog for the longest of walks that she’s ever had in her life."

— Reilly on his wife Natalie's suicide.{{Citation |title=The Other Side |date=2014-10-08 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/austory/the-other-side/5802406 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |language=en-AU |access-date=2022-07-05}}

:* Contest (1996; republished in 2000)

:* Temple (1999)

:* Troll Mountain (2014)The Tournament, interview with author

:* The Great Zoo of China (2014){{cite news|title=January Update (21 January 2012) |url=http://www.matthewreilly.com/|first=Matthew|last=Reilly|work=MatthewReilly.com|date=13 October 2012|access-date=23 October 2012|quote=I have also thrown myself into writing a new book. It's not a Scarecrow novel or a Jack West Jr book. It's got a whole new hero, some of the best scary creatures I've ever written about and it rocks [...] If I get it done by the end of this year, maybe I'll do a double-header and release two books in consecutive years, 2013 and 2014.}}

:* The Secret Runners of New York (2019){{cite web |title=The Secret Runners of New York - Pan Macmillan AU |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760559076/ |website=Pan Macmillan Australia |access-date=27 March 2019 |language=en-AU}}

:* Cobalt Blue (2022){{cite web |title=Cobalt Blue - Pan Macmillan AU |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761261671/ |website=Pan Macmillan Australia |access-date=17 April 2022 |language=en-AU}}

:* Mr Einstein's Secretary (2023){{cite web |title=Mr Einstein's Secretary - Pan Macmillan AU |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761260766/mr-einsteins-secretary/ |website=Pan Macmillan Australia |access-date=23 May 2023 |language=en-AU}}

:See Shane Schofield

1. Ice Station (1998)
2. Area 7 (2001)
3. Scarecrow (2003)
4. Hell Island (2005)
5. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves (2011), re-titled as Scarecrow Returns in the United States.

:See Jack West Jr

1. Seven Ancient Wonders (2005), retitled as 7 Deadly Wonders in the United States and The Seven Ancient Wonders after a re-release in Australia in 2021.{{cite web|last1=Reilly|first1=Matthew|title=THE SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS: A JACK WEST JR NOVEL 1|url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760985660/|website=panmacmillan.com|access-date=1 July 2021}}
2. The Six Sacred Stones (2007)
3. The Five Greatest Warriors (2009)
4. The Four Legendary Kingdoms (2016)
5. The Three Secret Cities (2018)
6. The Two Lost Mountains (2020)
7. The One Impossible Labyrinth (2021)

In addition to the novels, Reilly has written two short stories available on his website:

• "Jack West Jr and the Hero's Helmet" (2016),{{cite web|last1=Reilly|first1=Matthew|title=Jack West Jr & The Hero's Helmet|url=http://matthewreilly.com/wp-content/uploads/the-heros-helmet.pdf|website=matthewreilly.com|access-date=29 January 2018}} set before the novel series
• "Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown" (2020),{{cite web|last1=Reilly|first1=Matthew|title=Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown|url=http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Jack-West-Jr-and-the-Chinese-Splashdown-2020.pdf|website=matthewreilly.com|access-date=8 June 2020}} set before the events of The Four Legendary Kingdoms

• The Tournament (2013), set in the year 1546.

In addition to the novels, Reilly has written two short stories available on his website:{{Cite web|url=http://matthewreilly.com/resources/short-stories/|title = Short Stories – Matthew Reilly}}

• "Roger Ascham and The King's Lost Girl" (2013), a prequel to The Tournament
• "Roger Ascham and the Dead Queen's Command" (2020), a sequel to The Tournament

• Hover Car Racer (2004)

Published as three mini-books in the United States:[http://www.matthewreilly.com/the-novels – The Novels]. MatthewReilly.com. Retrieved 1 February 2013

1. Crash Course (2005)
2. Full Throttle (2006)
3. Photo Finish (2007)

• "Rewind / The Fate of Flight 700" (1999), a screenplay for a short film
• "The Mine" (2000)
• "A Bad Day at Fort Bragg" (2001)
• "Altitude Rush" (2001)
• "The Rock Princess and the Thriller Writer" (2002)
• "Time Tours" (2005)
• "Complex 13" (2007)
• "The Dead Prince" (2007)
• "Roger Ascham and The King’s Lost Girl" (2013)
• "Jack West Jr and the Hero’s Helmet" (2016)
• "Roger Ascham and the Dead Queen’s Command" (2020)
• "Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown" (2020)

All of these short stories are available as free downloadable PDFs on Reilly's website.{{Cite web|url=http://matthewreilly.com/resources/short-stories/|title = Short Stories – Matthew Reilly}}

• Interceptor (2022) – Netflix

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [http://www.matthewreilly.com/ Official website]
• [http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-reilly-matthew.asp An interview of the author regarding HCR]
• [http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?tab=1&pid=502618 Official webpage at Simon & Schuster]
• {{OL author}}
• [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/83714.Matthew_Reilly?from_search=true Matthew Reilly on Goodreads]

{{Matthew Reilly}}

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Category:1974 births

Category:University of New South Wales alumni

Category:Australian male novelists

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from New South Wales

Category:People educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney)