- His debut novel, Contest, was rejected by every major publishing company in Sydney. This caused Reilly to self-publish 1,000 copies using money borrowed from his family. Unfortunately, some books were stolen from the back of his car and the original Contest books have become such a rarity that they have been known to fetch up to $1200 on Ebay. Matthew went to a bookstore in Sydney and asked if he could place the copies on one of their book shelves. They accepted the offer and placed them up. Very shortly after, the books had sold out and the owner of the bookstore called Reilly to order more books. One copy was read by Cate Paterson, Commissioning Editor for Pan Macmillan, who immediately signed Matthew up to write Ice Station, which became an international best-seller.
- A huge movie fan, he owns an extensive range of movie memorabilia, including a life-sized replica of Han Solo encased in carbonite (from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi); a DeLorean DMC-12 car (from Back to the Future); a very rare Jango Fett replica helmet (from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones); a replica of the Chachapoyan fertility idol (from the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark).
- Does a lot of traveling for research for his books. He has been to Abu Simbel in Egypt, the Three Gorges Dam in China, he has even trekked to the base of Mount Everest!.
- As part of a charity dinner for the NSW Cancer Council in 2002, he offered to name a character in Scarecrow after the highest bidder. The winner was Alec Christie.
- In 2004, he optioned the movie rights to Hover Car Racer to Disney. He had previously optioned the film rights to Ice Station to Paramount Pictures, but that option expired.
- Matthew and his wife Natalie own a dog named Dido. Sadly, Matthew Reilly lost his wife to suicide late December 2011.
- In 2000, he was a delegate at the What Makes a Champion conference in Sydney. Nelson Mandela gave the opening address at the conference, and it featured such luminaries as Edmund Hillary, Richard Butler and Shane Gould.
- Attended St. Aloysius' College from 1984 - 1992 and the University of New South Wales from 1993 - 1997.
- Writing the concluding novel to Six Sacred Stones, to be released Christmas 2009. (April 2008)
- Has played in several celebrity cricket matches and golf days alongside members of INXS, rugby union legend Matthew Burke and a host of other Australian celebrities.
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