The Official Matthew Reilly Homepage

Hey there everyone,

I really meant to write this 'From the desk of.' a little sooner, but I've been super-busy launching Hell Island and, of course, preparing the final pages of Seven Ancient Wonders .

I hoped you liked the pictures from the Contest movie shoot that I put up in May.

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING: FREAKONOMICS by STEVEN D. LEVITT AND STEPHEN J. DUBNER

This book is doing huge business on Amazon at the moment, and I was given it for my birthday in early July.

It's absolutely awesome. It's by an economist named Steven Levitt (writing with New York Times journalist, Dubner) who looks at the data in a kind of off-kilter way. And he comes up with some amazing results: his most famous - or infamous - was the one about the effect of abortions in the 1970s on the crime rate in the 1990s.

Other standout sections for me were his deductions (again, all based on the numbers) on whether or not sumo wrestlers cheat, whether some school teachers cheat, and why drug dealers still live with their mothers!!!

A great read that teaches you a lot about the value of lateral thinking

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO:

1. HELL ISLAND IS OUT !

Yes, Hell Island has been released, but in Australia only! However, if you buy off the booklist from participating online retailers (just email them to ask) your free Hell Island will be shipped internationally. Just make sure to correspond with the retailer first so you're not caught out!

Here's what it looks like:

It's a huge action adventure even though it's only 110 pages long, and yes, it features Scarecrow and Mother, going on a little side-adventure (one that takes Mother away from watching her collection of David Hasselhoff DVDs). It actually takes place soon after the events in Scarecrow, so a feature of the story is whether Schofield is psychologically up to tackling this new mission.

I really like this story. It's short but it's big . It has a cast of thousands (literally), but they may not all be human! What I wanted to achieve with it was:

(1) I wanted to write a story that non-readers would enjoy;
(2) But it also had to be a story that my existing fans would also enjoy; and
(3) The commission from the Federal Government was to write a "short novel" with a maximum length of 128 pages, so I wanted to see how much action I could pack into a story of that length! I wanted it to be large in scale .

And I reckon I've achieved all these aims.

In any case, the early word from those who have read it is that they love it. So I'm pleased! I hope you like it!

2. AND IT CONTAINS A SURPRISE...

Yes, hidden away in the back of Hell Island is a short 10-page teaser from Seven Ancient Wonders !

This was a very well kept secret - so I hope those fans of mine who get Hell Island receive a pleasant surprise! You'll also get to see the cover of Seven Ancient Wonders hidden inside, too.

3. SOME MORE PHOTOS FROM THE CONTEST MOVIE...

Having shown you some of the "making of" photos from the Contest pilot last time, I thought I'd put up some stills from the actual film - especially now it has come to light that I not only directed the movie, but acted in it as well!

It's an unusual thing for an author to direct a film version of his own book, but I think it's a great opportunity - because it provides a rare glimpse of what was actually in the author's mind when he or she wrote their book. Except for the Karanadon (for which I gave my creature designer pretty much free rein; I loved what he came up with) this is actually how I pictured Contest . So, here we go:

Holly and Swain about to be teleported.

The thief, Fraser, runs down the subway tunnel.

The two cops in the library, with the "alien text" over them.

Hawkins (female in the movie; she was a guy in the novel) and Parker (who was a woman in the novel), played by Christina Davis and Warren Blood. They very much fitted my mental image of how these characters looked. The text over this bit actually counts down over their conversation.

The security guard and the Karanadon.

Another angle on the Karanadon saying hello to the thief and the guard.

And Selexin.

This is a character freeze frame that I used in the film to identify each contestant. When we meet Swain, we freeze on him and get all this information, including - importantly - his ranking to win the contest. Later, the other creatures get their own information sheets when they make their big entrances.

I wanted the movie of Contest to be brimming with information, with viewers having to keep up and watch every corner of the screen, reading text, absorbing plot stuff. I find too many movies these days are just too slow at conveying information.

Well, I'm off on tour with Hell Island now, travelling around Australia (the cities and dates are in the Appearances section), starting with Byron Bay , Brisbane and Darwin this coming week. If I'm in your town, come along!

Beyond that, as always, take care,

PS: To everyone at thepresidian.net, I saw the cartoon of my birthday. Very, very funny. I never really thought about it, but that's probably exactly how Natalie and I would look driving across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a DeLorean!