As many people would guess, I like to picture my heroes in terms of the actors who might play them in movie versions of my books. Schofield was always written with Tom Cruise in mind for the role (he's even described in the book as being five-foot-ten with spiky black hair!). William Race, on the other hand, was always Brad Pitt—Brad Pitt with glasses and an unloseable New York Yankees cap.
By making Race an ordinary man, however, I found I could have a lot of fun with his fear. He is not a hero. He is just a guy. He gets frightened, even when he is doing the most death-defying stuff imaginable (lowering himself under speeding riverboats, leaping from one moving aeroplane to another…). At one point in Temple, he sees a skeleton in the temple which he thinks belongs to Renco—who most certainly is a hero—and he thinks: that's what happens to heroes.
But, like Alberto Santiago, the monk in the manuscript story, he discovers that being a hero is really about one simple 'thing—doing what is right, whatever the circumstance.
How did Temple come about?
The genesis of Temple was a little different to that of Ice Station.
With Temple, I asked myself: What if I could write a book that switched between two stories set in different times? But on top of that I asked: What if those two stories had twists that affected each other?
In other words, I wanted to write a book that was set in two different time periods, but in which twists in Story 1 would actually affect Story 2 (for example, the mangled skeleton in the present day story found by Race suggests to the reader that Renco has met a grisly end in the past; conversely, in the past story, Alberto learns about the quenko underneath Vilcafor, but it is Race who uses this information for his benefit in the present).
The added bonus was with two stories I could get double the action!!!
Ad besides, I have always had a fascination with the Incas. So I figured I could write a no-holds-barred swash buckling adventure set in 1535 at the same time as I wrote an explosive high-tech modern-day thriller like Ice Station.
Sure, at times I felt like my head was about to explode, what with all those characters running around in it, but it was worth it.
Will William Race make another appearance?
Barring any unforeseen creative detours (such as George Lucas calling me up and asking me to write Episodes II and
III for him—it could happen… George, are you reading this?), yes, William Race will definitely be returning in a new adventure.
In fact, I recently dreamed up a new story for Race to be a story that will involve him having to translate another manuscript, thereby giving us a new split story to get into.
Although, given my desire to write a new Schofield book, I might have to alternate between Schofield and Race books in the future.
Since writing Ice Station, you've been featured in the media somewhat, do you have any stand-out memories of your adventures with the media?
Being in Cleo and Cosmo as an eligible bachelor and a successful person under 30 was a highlight. What was most flattering was when a friend of mine told me that in one of the following issues of Cleo, a reader wrote in to the letters page asking where she could get my phone number!
Apart from that, there was the time I told a reporter something embarrassing about my mother's carpet, only to see it included in the subsequent article, which, I should add, appeared in the weekend magazine of a national newspaper!
Where do you want to be in ten years, Matthew?
I have several goals in life, nearly all of which are pretty much based on the acts of the two creative people I admire the most, Michael Crichton and George Lucas.
I want to write novels, I want to write and direct feature films, and I want to create TV shows. So in ten years time, I'd like to:
have had modest success with my novels worldwide;
• have had at least one Hollywood film made from my books (just because you sell the film rights doesn't actu ally mean your film will get made, or made well for that matter, just ask Stephen King); and
• have directed at least one feature film.
In any case, I always aim high, since I subscribe to the maxim, 'If you aim for the stars, you might reach the moon'.
And besides, you only live once, so I figure I might as well do it all.
Any final words?
Yes. To everyone reading this, I just hope you enjoyed the book.
October, 1999
