Official blog of Martin Turnbull, author of the Hollywood's Garden of Allah novels

Book 1 – The Garden on Sunset
Book 2 – The Trouble with Scarlett
Book 3 – Citizen Hollywood
Book 4 – Searchlights and Shadows
Book 5 – Reds in the Beds
Book 6 – Twisted Boulevard
Book 7 – Tinseltown Confidential
Book 8 – City of Myths
Book 9 – Closing Credits

Chasing Salomé: a novel of 1920s Hollywood

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy:
Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

~oOo~

Grab your free books now (limited time offer)

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Pinterest

Instagram

~oOo~

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Announcing details of Martin Turnbull’s upcoming historical novel of golden-era Hollywood

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Martin Turnbull

Depending on how you measure it, Hollywood’s golden era lasted between 30 and 40 years. Personally, I believe it ran from the 1927 release of Warner Bros.’ The Jazz Singer to 1959, when the studios treated us to some of their let’s-go-out-with-a-bang blockbusters: Ben-Hur, Some Like it Hot, and North by Northwest. (Coincidentally (or not-so-coincidentally) those are the same years the Garden of Allah Hotel was open.) But during that time, there was a particular year when everything came together, when the most talented people were at the top of their game and putting out their best work.

And that year was 1939.

In the space of those twelve short months, moviegoers were treated to some of the most timeless movies to come out of the studio system. Here is just a short list:

Gunga Din (RKO)
Beau Geste (Paramount)
The Women (MGM)
Drums Along the Mohawk (20th Century-Fox)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (RKO)
Union Pacific (Paramount)
The Wizard of Oz (MGM)
Stagecoach (United Artists)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Columbia)
Ninotchka (MGM)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (20th Century-Fox)
Of Mice and Men (United Artists)

And, of course, the big kahuna:

Gone With the Wind (Selznick International Pictures)

For a while now, my author mind has been whispering in my ear, “There’s got to be a story worth telling in there somewhere.” Over time, the whisper became louder and more insistent until it grew into a nagging shrew I couldn’t ignore. And so when I finished You Must Remember This, book 3 in my WWII-era trilogy, I turned my attention to 1939.

I first read Mark A. Vieira’s Majestic Hollywood: The Greatest Films of 1939, then went onto 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year by Thomas S. Hischak. Soon, the “What Ifs?” were swirling in my head.

What if…a character from outside Los Angeles lands in town?
What if…she arrives as Hollywood is gearing up to have its greatest year?
What if…she finds herself in the eye of a hurricane that nobody knows is happening?

These days, we have the benefit of 21^st century hindsight. We can look back and wisely nod as we tell each other, “Yes, oh, yes, 1939 was the year when Hollywood reached pinnacle moviemaking, and there would never be another quite like it.” But back then, did those people know it? Highly unlikely, I think, but gosh, wouldn’t it be fun to look back with hindsight?

Yes, I decided, it would.

And so now I’m ready to reveal to you a few details of my next novel.

Selznick’s Girl Friday
by
Martin Turnbull

Book 1 in the Hollywood’s Greatest Year trilogy

As with my Hollywood’s Home Front trilogy, what started out as a stand-alone novel fairly quickly showed me there was more story to tell in just one volume. So, yes, Selznick’s Girl Friday kicks off a new trilogy.

And here is the book description:

~oOo~

Polly Maddox lives under the sheltering wing of Santa Catalina Island, her world as small and idyllic as the isolated cove where her father ran a not-so-secret moonshine operation during Prohibition. But when he’s accused of a startling crime and goes on the lam, Polly’s life capsizes, leaving her with little choice but to flee toward the gleaming mirage of 1939 Los Angeles.

Armed only with lightning-fast fingers and a sharp wit, Polly talks her way into the executive suite of demanding, brilliant movie producer David O. Selznick as he labors over his most ambitious project: a film the rest of Hollywood scornfully dismisses as “Selznick’s Folly.”

As Polly gets swept into the chaos of filming Gone with the Wind, she realizes Selznick may have information about where she might find her father—but does he have murky motives of his own? Undaunted, Polly forges ahead, but the battle to clear her father’s name thrusts her directly into the path of a ruthless insider—and he plays for keeps. Polly must outmaneuver his insidious ploys in a town where favors and fraud reign hand-in-hand.

From the author of the Garden of Allah novels comes book one in the Hollywood’s Greatest Year trilogy. This delightfully nostalgic yet gripping tale promises to transport you to a time when movies were larger than life and Hollywood was reaching its golden zenith.

~oOo~

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I do hope I have sufficiently whetted your appetites until I’m ready to unveil the first chapter of a book that I plan to release in June 2024.

As ever, thanks so much for your interest!

Martin Turnbull

*** UPDATE *** – You can now read Chapter 1 HERE.

~oOo~

ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy
A trilogy of novels set in World War II Hollywood

Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Instagram

~oOo~

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book-review, books, film, hollywood, movies | 7 Comments

A little piece of the Garden of Allah Hotel lives!

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Martin Turnbull

The Garden of Allah Hotel, whose 32-year story took me nine years to chronicle, was razed in August 1959, which means it’d been gone for over 35 years before I moved to LA, and 45 years before I’d even heard of it. Aside from the odd ashtray, matchbook, maybe a menu or two that pops up on Ebay, there’s not much remaining of the place that was once a lively hub of Hollywood’s famously infamous social life.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I was contacted via my website by a gentleman named Ebon, who wrote to tell me that he lived on Havenhurst Drive down the street from where the Garden used to be. The previous owner of his property had lived there from 1937 to 1999. He wrote to me because when this previous owner heard that the hotel was closing down, she walked up the street and helped herself to a hibiscus cutting. Sixty-five years later it is still alive. The original planting had to be removed, but Ebon took a cutting, which he had transferred to a pot. Would I be interested in taking it off his hands?

He didn’t need to ask me twice! Last Monday, I drove to West Hollywood and took possession of what is now my only piece of genuine Garden of Allah history.

Mind you, I’m not especially good at keeping green things alive, so I make no promises this gorgeous plant will survive under my dubious care. But I promise to try!

* * *

And while I have your attention, I want to let you know that I’m holding a one-day-only sale on my novel All the Gin Joints, Book 1 in my Hollywood Home Front trilogy, set in and around Warner Bros. during World War II. So if you haven’t picked up a copy yet, the time to do it will be tomorrow

February 3, 2024

when All the Gin Joints will be only 99 cents (ebook only.)

You can read more about All the Gin Joints on my website or follow these links:

Amazon (US)

Barnes & Noble (US)

Kobo (US)

Apple books (US)

* * *

ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy
A trilogy of novels set in World War II Hollywood

Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

Instagram

~oOo~

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My first visit to downtown Los Angeles since 2019 on November 4, 2023

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

I usually post vintage photos of Los Angeles on my social media, so this one is a little different. Recently, I was invited to participate in a panel of indie-publishing authors at the LA Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. I hadn’t been there since long before the Covid lockdown which started in March 2020, so I took the opportunity to take a walk around streets I haven’t seen in nearly 4 years. Here is a sampling of photos I took as I walked around.

Clifton’s Cafeteria / Cabinet of Curiosities (currently empty) 648 S. Broadway:

Los Angeles Theater, 615 S. Broadway. (Opened 1931)

Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St. It looks more like a bank, which it probably was because Spring St was LA’s Wall St in the 1920s:

Once upon a time (1910s and ’20s) the Hotel Alexandria was the fanciest hotel in town. It’s now loft apartments at Spring and 5th Streets:

Eye-catching black-and-gold grill work on the corner of Broadway and 5th:

We don’t see many signs for Chop Suey and/or Chow Mein these days, but this sign is at the Grand Central Market:

Huge neon sign at Grand Central Market:

Hill St station of the Angels Flight funicular:

After living in LA for 27 years, I finally got around to riding the iconic Angels Flight funicular:

Angels Flight funicular:

3D mural on an office building on Grand Ave near 5th St.

Biltmore Hotel opposite Pershing Square (opened October 1st, 1923)

Poster for the Biltmore Cocktail Shop, Biltmore Hotel:

This corridor in the Biltmore Hotel lead to the Biltmore Bowl, a cavernous ballroom that at the time was one of the biggest (or perhaps the biggest) ballrooms in the US:

This trio were guests at the Biltmore Hotel’s gala opening, which was one of the biggest social events of the year. The younger couple look pleased to have scored an invite, but Mrs. Frownypuss Mother-in-law seems thoroughly unimpressed:

I went to downtown LA to sit on a panel of indie-publishing historical fiction authors held at the LA Central Library:

Main entrance of the LA Central Library, facing Flower St:

Side entrance of the LA Central Library facing Hope St:

Poster for the Inde-Pendent-Voices program dedicated to indie publishing, LA Central Library:

This is our panel in action. Check out my body language. Clearly I’ve gotten over any fear of speaking in public!

~oOo~

ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy
A trilogy of novels set in World War II Hollywood

Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Amazon Canada Paperback

Instagram

~oOo~

If you don’t like it, then fix it.

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

Many years ago – in fact, so many years that they qualify as the previous century – I lived in an apartment with boring white walls. I didn’t like them, they weren’t very homey or welcoming, but I was renting, so I figured “Why bother?” It wasn’t until I had lived there for more than five years that I realized for a couple of cans of paint, I could completely transform the place. The paint job took less than a day, and I wished I had fixed it years before.

My old apartment recently came to mind when I was looking at the cover of a novel I published in 2019. At the time, I felt the cover was okay. Just okay. It wasn’t what I wanted, nor did I feel like it matched the story. But I had worked with the cover designer for much longer than any of the others and eventually I just became sick of thinking about it. It was meh-fine-good enough. But during the intervening years, I would always look at it and wish I’d gone back to the drawing board and started over.

And then, about a month ago, I realized that this was my white apartment walls situation all over again. If you don’t like it, then fix it.

And now I finally have. Chasing Salomé is about an actress working in silent-era Hollywood in the early 1920s. That was my entire brief to the cover designer and I sat back to see what she came up with. When the first draft arrived, I thought “Oh! Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Needless to say, at least, in my opinion, this is a much better cover. And in this context, “better” means more pleasing to the eye and an appropriate fit for the genre, which will hopefully attract the eye of potential readers who haven’t yet read any of my other novels. And if the new cover doesn’t translate to increased sales, that’s kind of okay, too. The exercise has relieved me of one little doubt that has been niggling down the back of my mind for too many years, And that’s a good thing, surely?

1 = The original cover
2 = The first draft of the new cover, which I was perfectly happy with, but I wanted it to fit more closely with the novels I have gone on to publish since then. Such as:
3 = The Heart of the Lion came out in 2020, which set the template for how my subsequent book covers would look like.
4 = is the final draft after I requested a few changes, all of them to the text and font, leaving the image intact.

And so here we are, the new-and-improved:

CHASING SALOMÉ

A novel of 1920s Hollywood
by
Martin Turnbull

Hollywood, 1920

Alla Nazimova has reached the pinnacle of success. She is the highest-paid actress in town, with a luxurious estate, the respect of her peers, adoration of her fans, and a series of lovers that has included the first wife of her protégé, Rudolph Valentino.

But reaching the top is one thing. Staying there is an entirely different matter. Nazimova dreams of producing a motion picture of Oscar Wilde’s infamous “Salomé.” It will be a new form of moviemaking: the world’s first art film. But the same executives at Metro Pictures who hailed Nazimova as a genius when she was churning out hit after hit now turn their backs because her last few movies have flopped.

Taking matters into her own hands, Nazimova decides to shoot Salomé herself. But it means risking everything she has: her reputation, her fortune, her beautiful home, and even her lavender marriage. But will it be enough to turn her fortunes around? Or will Hollywood cut her out of the picture?

From the author of the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels and based on a true story, Chasing Salomé takes us inside Nazimova’s struggle to achieve a new level of stardom by raising the flickers to an art form.

~oOo~

~oOo~

You can pick up a copy of Chasing Salomé at any of these retailers:

Amazon US Kindle

Amazon US Paperback

Amazon Canada Kindle

Amazon UK Kindle

Amazon UK Paperback

Amazon Australia Kindle

Amazon Australia paperback

Apple ebook

Kobo ebook

Barnes & Noble Nook ebook

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Instagram

~oOo~

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A (long-overdue) visit to Culver City aka “The Heart of Screenland”

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

Despite having lived in Los Angeles since the mid-1990s, I haven’t spent much time exploring Culver City, which is odd because I’ve set many scenes in my historical fiction novels there. It’s home to:

MGM – now known as Sony (but not inside my head)
Selznick International Pictures – now known as The Culver Studios (also not inside my head, and is where Gone with the Wind was filmed)
and the Hal Roach studios (which no longer exist, but is where Laurel and Hardy filmed much of their shorts)

I’ve been writing about golden-era Hollywood since the early 2010s and have been reading about these studios since the 1970s. So why have I never explored this pocket of Los Angeles? I have no idea. But this past week I rectified that when Laini Giles, author of the Forgotten Actresses series of novels, came to town and we decided to spend a day together.

As it happens, I’d recently been emailing with Hope Parrish at the Culver City Historical Society who was generously helping me with some research. When I mentioned that Laini and I wanted to visit the society’s museum, we made a date.

Dennis Parrish, Laini Giles, Martin Turnbull, Hope Parrish

What a treasure trove of goodies the museum turned out to be! Being home to the studio that boasted as having “more stars than there are in heaven,” MGM is featured quite a lot.

This was a traffic signal out front of the studio:

And behind it is a metal sign that warns TRESPASSING LOITERING FORBIDDEN BY LAW – METRO GOLDWYN MAYER. In other words: “All you people hanging around the studio in the hopes of getting a job inside these hallowed walls and becoming a movie star, take a hike!”

The many, many other items on display are too numerous to detail here, but check out their website and/or their Facebook page for details of when they’re open to the public. They also hold interesting talks and lectures, so if you live in Los Angeles, it’s worth joining their mailing list. But if you live farther away, the presentations are filmed and uploaded to the society’s YouTube channel.

After thank-you-ing-and-farewell-ing Hope and her father Dennis, who was also there to show us around, we drove up Culver Blvd because we had a couple of other places we wanted to check out.

First stop was the historic Culver Hotel, which has been a local landmark since it opened in 1924. Back then, six stories qualified as a skyscraper, which is fair enough because it’s very prominent in practically every post-1924 vintage photo of Culver City.

(Full disclosure: I didn’t take the above photo, but sourced it from KCET. I’m not sure now why I didn’t take a photo of it, but if I had, it would have looked just like this.)

For film fans, it’s more commonly known as the place where MGM housed the performers who played the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. (1939) It also recently underwent a huge renovation, so Laini and I talked our way into the hotel and had ourselves a good lookie-loo.

And this was my favorite touch: the doors to the men’s and women’s restrooms were signposted with Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the trio of men from the Lollipop Guild.

How fun is that?

And then it was time to walk what turned out to be only half a block away.

I first saw Gone with the Wind when I was around 15, so let’s call that 45 years ago. All the way back then, I was fascinated by the building featured in the Selznick International Pictures logo. Maybe because it was so different from MGM’s Leo the Lion, Columbia’s girl-with-torch, and Paramount’s mountain. Was it a real building? Did someone live there? Or was it a creation of Hollywood movie studio fakery?

While researching for my novels, I learned it was the Selznick studio’s administration building–and before it Cecil B. DeMille, and before that Thomas Ince. And despite the fact that I’ve lived in LA for 27 years, I never got around to seeing it for myself. I think I assumed the street in front of it was part of the studio and therefore blocked off from us mere civilians. If I’d known it was a public pedestrian zone, I would’ve gone there ages ago. The important thing is I finally got to see what’s commonly referred to as “The Mansion.” Skuze my inner film geek, but this was A Very Big Moment.

The place is immaculately maintained and landscaped. They’re now known as The Culver Studios, and are home to Amazon. I don’t know that it’s acceptable to be sitting on the fence of Ince, DeMille, Selznick, and Lucille Ball (it became Desilu in late 1950s / early 1960s) but oh well. The above photo was 45 years in the making so it’s okay, if you ask me.

~oOo~

And one final thing…

Last month I attended a performance of Romy Nordlinger’s one-woman show about Alla Nazimova, called “The Garden of Alla.” Afterward, Benjamin and Anne from Theatre West invited me up on stage for a Q&A with Romy to talk more about the Garden of Allah Hotel my novels set there, Nazimova, and all things old Hollywood. Fortunately, the session was filmed and is now available on YouTube. (If it plays a little soft, listen to it through headphones. Romy and I will sound a lot clearer. Or at least we did on my laptop!)

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/1QgTAsvUThQ

~oOo~

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a safe and fun Fall.

Martin Turnbull

~oOo~

ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy
A trilogy of novels set in World War II Hollywood

Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

~oOo~

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Pinterest

Instagram

~oOo~

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A Hollywood Home Front trilogy giveaway!

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

Hello Hollywoodites,

I thought you’d like to know that in celebration of the recent release of YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, the third and concluding volume in my Hollywood Home Front trilogy, I’m holding a giveaway.

If you haven’t yet read my trio of novels set largely in and around Warner Bros during World War II (featuring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, Hedda Hopper, and the Hollywood Canteen) I’m giving away a set of signed paperbacks (or ebooks, if you prefer…although they’re a little harder for me to sign…)

To be in the running, simply add a comment telling me the name of the movie Bogie and Bacall were making when they first met. Easy peasy!

And if you’ve already read All the Gin Joints and Thank Your Lucky Stars, but haven’t yet picked up a copy of You Must Remember This, here are some reviews the book has received:

5 STARS
Martin Turnbull has once again produced a book that is impossible to put down. He weaves real history and fun fiction into a seamless compelling plot that showcases major and minor Hollywood names. His style and method leave you feeling like you know the iconic Tinseltown people and places as friends (and sometimes enemies.) I can’t say enough good about what I consider a brilliant approach to telling real history containing all the facts known, yet with details that are lost to history (as they always are).

5 STARS
An exceptional read that I could hardly put down. Treat yourself and read the entire Hollywood Home Front trilogy. This gifted author brings the characters and places alive.

5 STARS
Martin Turnbull at his finest.

5 STARS
Martin knocked it out of the park again with this one. I read until early in the morning, I read at lunch, I read each page yearning for the next and dreading the word “The End.” I look forward to Martin’s next book as I’m sure it will be just as phenomenal as all the rest – he truly has a talent for bringing characters and places to life.

You can find links to You Must Remember This on all the online retailers for HERE.

~oOo~

This contest ends at 12 noon Pacific time on Tuesday June 6, 2023. So remember: you’ve got to be in it to win it.

Thanks and good luck!

Martin Turnbull

~oOo~

ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy
A trilogy of novels set in World War II Hollywood

Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

~oOo~

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Pinterest

Instagram

~oOo~

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Announcing the release of “You Must Remember This”

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

For more years than I can count (five? ten? since 1753? who can keep track of these things anymore?) I had an idea for a novel set during the filming of Casablanca. In March 2020, I started writing what I thought would be a standalone book called All the Gin Joints, but —much to my surprise—it turned out to be a trilogy when I realized that Luke Valenti and Nell Davenport had way more story to tell than I had originally given them credit for. Who was I to stand in their way?

And so here we are, a scooch over three years later, reaching the conclusion of an unexpected, unplanned, but fun and fulfilling Hollywood Home Front trilogy with the release of:

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS

A novel of World War II Hollywood
Book 3 in the Hollywood Home Front trilogy

When the curtain rises on an entirely new life, some will stumble and some will soar.

With the end of World War II finally in sight, Ensign Luke Valenti heads home to Los Angeles, eager to be reunited with the girl he left behind. As Luke navigates his rocky transition to peacetime, he yearns for a quiet return to civilian life, but discovers the US Navy plans to make him its war-hero poster boy and keep him squarely in the spotlight.

On the other side of fame sits Luke’s home-front sweetheart, Nell Davenport, who, during Luke’s absence, has blossomed in an unexpected career. Thrilled by the excitement following her musical debut, Nell is unaware that every step she takes on the precarious road to success brings her and Luke closer to a revelation that could shatter the fragile life they are struggling to rebuild amid the aftermath of war.

From the author of the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels comes book three in the Hollywood Home Front trilogy. “You Must Remember This” is the story of two people striving to adapt to a world they no longer know.

~oOo~

Pick up a copy of YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS in your favorite format from your favorite retailer:

Amazon US Kindle

Amazon US paperback

Barnes & Noble Nook ebook

Amazon Canada Kindle

Amazon Canada paperback

Amazon UK Kindle

Amazon UK paperback

Amazon Australia Kindle

Amazon Australia paperback

Apple ebook

Kobo ebook (US)

Kobo ebook (Canada)

Kobo ebook (Australia)

Goodreads

BookBub

Overdrive

Audiobook:

Amazon
Audible

~oOo~

Read Chapter 1 on my website.

~oOo~

~oOo~

ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy
A trilogy of novels set in World War II Hollywood

Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

~oOo~

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull:

Pinterest

Instagram

~oOo~

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Chapter 1 preview of “You Must Remember This” – a novel of World War II Hollywood, by Martin Turnbull

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

Hello fans of golden-era Hollywood and Turner Classic Movies! Last month I revealed the title, cover art, and for my upcoming novel, You Must Remember This, which is book 3 in my Hollywood Home Front trilogy.

That novel is due to be released in April 2023. Meanwhile, I’m ready to share with you the first chapter which, I hope, will leave you wanting more.

CHAPTER 1

The radio room of the USS Lanternfish reeked of sweat and grease. Dozens of instruments glowed and ticked. And Ensign Luke Valenti could still taste the canned corn chowder he had wolfed down for lunch three hours before. Or four? It was hard to keep track when a guy was trapped in a space that had been built for one but was now housing him as well as the radio operator.

They sat back pressed against back, the heat of Sparky’s spine seeping through his rumpled chambray shirt.

Luke pushed the headset halfway off his ears. “Got the time?”

“What did you do, Warner Boy? Lose your watch overboard?”

Like it or not, almost every enlisted man in the Navy got branded with a nickname. All radio operators were called Sparky. No exceptions. And when Luke had let on that he’d worked at Warner Brothers, the crew had pounced on it.

“It fell off my bunk,” he replied. “Sugar was asleep, so I wasn’t about to risk my life.”

One of the cardinal rules aboard a sub was to never wake a sleeping man. But with only eight inches of space separating one bunk from another, it wasn’t always possible. If roused prematurely, the Lanternfish’s cranky Chief of the Boat transformed into an ogre who devoured sailors for breakfast.

“Wondering what your girl’s doing right now?” Sparky asked.

It would soon be three years since Luke had kissed Nell Davenport goodbye. Usually, it felt like hardly any time had passed since he’d felt her tear-stained cheek against his. On tough days, though, it felt like a dozen lifetimes. It probably wouldn’t if he’d heard from her, but he had received no letters, no cards, no V-mails. Nothing. Ever. Probably just bad dumb luck; most likely, they had gone astray in the vast military postal service. After all, he’d frequently moved around. It would’ve been hard to keep track of him.

But what about the three months he’d spent learning Japanese at the Navy Language School in Colorado? Hadn’t that been enough time for the mail to catch up with him? If it hadn’t been for that Hollywood Canteen broadcast, he might have dropped into a pit of despair. Hearing Nell sing a song she had written using their special secret code had flooded Luke with relief. Her V-mails hadn’t reached him, but at least she’d been getting his.

“Might she be at that fancy nightspot you told me about?” Sparky asked. “What’s it called again? Simon’s?”

“Simon’s is a drive-in hamburger joint. You’re thinking of Ciro’s.”

“She could be puttin’ on the Ritz with Clark Gable or Ronald Colman.”

“They’re not Warner stars. If she’s out with anyone, I’d hope it was Bogie.”

Sparky squirmed in his seat. “I blow a gasket every time I think about how I know someone who’s pals with Humphrey Bogart.”

“He’s a regular guy,” Luke said. “Likes to play chess, likes his whiskey, likes to read, and he especially likes to sit in the steam room at Finlandia Baths on Sunset Boulevard and shoot the breeze with Peter Lorre.”

A crewman appeared in the doorway of the radio room’s newly installed watertight door. “Lookouts on the platform have sighted a mast. Jap merchant ship. Five miles, give or take. Doesn’t appear to be moving.”

Luke patted his earphones. “We need to get in much closer before this prototype I’m testing will kick in.” He needn’t have said anything. Combat procedure was straightforward: all enemy vessels must be fired on. At least Japanese merchant ships had no torpedoes.

“We’re submerging to the deckline to lower our profile, but your antennas should be okay.”

The dense air in the radio room congealed even thicker. The Lanternfish had approached the enemy before, but most recently as part of a pack. This time, however, it was alone.

“Anyhow,” Luke said, as he continued to monitor his set, “when you come visit, I’ll take you to Finlandia Baths. We can relax until we’re puddles of sweat. Deal?”

Sparky studied a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge he’d taped to the only empty square foot of wall space. On their first day out from Pearl Harbor, he’d mentioned to Luke that he’d prefer the Marine Parkway Bridge to remind him of Rockaway Park, where he was from, “but Brooklyn Bridge gets all the attention, so I’m making do.” The two men had discovered they’d grown up ten miles from each other. Back home, it wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow, but five thousand miles away in the middle of the Pacific, it meant a great deal.

“I’ll see if Bogie can join us at Finlandia,” Luke said. There was no reply. He turned to see Sparky staring at the Brooklyn Bridge, barely moving. “Christopher?”

Sparky jumped. Nobody used real names, which, he had confessed during a long night watch, bothered him. “It makes me feel like nothing more than a number. Once in a while, I’d like to hear someone call me by my actual name.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sparky muttered now. “Norwegian Baths. Bogie. Count me in.”

Luke had noticed the haunted look in Sparky’s eyes the last time a Jap ship had pinged the Lanternfish’s radar. “It’s my job to send out continuous maydays,” he had told Luke that night, “until the end.”

Luke raised a finger at the photograph on the wall. “Thinking of home?”

Sparky ran a hand over his sandy-blond crew cut. “I used to bike from Ninety-Seventh Street to Rockaway Beach Boulevard, ducking in and out of traffic, old ladies shaking their walking sticks at me, dogs barking. I’d pedal all the way to Breezy Point Tip.”

“Must have taken you all day.”

“That’s what summers are for, right?”

“What kind of bike did you have?”

“Schwinn. Red with chrome trim. And you?”

Luke pictured himself coasting along Argyle Road, his feet off the pedals, en route to Aunt Wilda’s, where there’d be rich cream cakes, a new record album to play, and a wild story involving a Levantine diplomat or a contortionist from Saskatchewan. “Sun Racer. Dark green. Black trim.”

“If we knew each other back then, we could’ve ridden from Brighton Beach to Greenpoint.”

“From Bay Ridge to Jamaica Bay!”

Static cracked and popped in Luke’s headset for a full minute before subsiding to a dull hum. Chatter, low and indistinct, rose in its place. As the Lanternfish glided closer to the enemy, inarticulate murmuring grew crisper and clearer. Luke upped the volume. Oh, yes. Definitely Japanese.

A voice, older and deeper, spat out instructions. Do this. Do that. Check this. Double-check that. The other voice, younger and efficient, responded. Yes, sir. Copy that. Confirmed. Understood.

Then Luke heard a command he wasn’t expecting: Flood tubes one and two.

Flooding the tubes was the first step before a submarine fired torpedoes. How was that possible? Merchant ships were armed with only machine guns on the decks. Maybe he’d misheard?

There it was again: gyorai.

The Japanese word for ‘torpedo’ sounded nothing like their word for machine gun.

Luke ripped off his earphones and threw himself through the hatch and into the command chamber, his heart thudding against his ribs. “Captain, I’ve picked up chatter on my prototype. They’re flooding torpedo tubes one and two.”

Captain Polk, a rational man with flinty blue eyes that rarely blinked, pulled his face from the periscope. “Are you sure?”

“Positively.”

The captain reached for his phone to address the entire crew over the boat’s loudspeaker. “All hands. Battle stations. Secure all watertight doors except the com. Clear the bridge. Dive! Dive! Dive! Periscope depth. The enemy has torpedoes, probably in a sub hiding on the far side of that decoy maru. They’ve readied their fish, which means they’ll be coming out from cover real soon.” He swiveled to his right. “Jigs, see anything yet?”

The Lanternfish’s chief radarman stared at his circular screen. “The ship hasn’t moved this whole time.”

“Estimated distance from target?”

“Twenty-one hundred yards and closing.”

Torpedoes had at least a five-thousand-yard range, but the best shots were within one thousand, and could take a minute or more to swim that distance. It wouldn’t be long until the Lanternfish reached that point. Luke tried to swallow, but his spit had turned to concrete.

“BRIDGE!” Every crewman froze in place as Jigs roared his warning. “Confirming a second craft.”

“Sub?”

Tense seconds crawled by until Jigs could be sure. “Jap sub, aye.”

“The enemy has detected us,” Polk yelled through the speakers. “They have the advantage of surprise and will be launching their fish before we can launch ours.”

Luke took his seat as the Lanternfish leveled off.

Sparky gawked at Luke, eyes fogged with apprehension. “Remember our pact. If one of us doesn’t make it out alive—”

“No defeatist talk,” Luke fired back. The voices in his earphones fell silent.

Jigs called out their distance. “Nineteen hundred yards . . . fourteen hundred. . . eleven hundred . . . reaching a thousand in four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .”

A high-pitched voice split the air. It was Dipper, the sonar guy. “Confirming two inbound fish.”

“All hands,” Polk boomed into the intercom, “brace for impact.”

Luke gripped the edge of his tiny desk and braced his feet against the deck. As the Lanternfish cruised through the water, the only sound was Dipper’s voice piercing the dank air.

“One hundred yards . . . fifty . . . twenty. . .”

Luke held his breath and closed his eyes. Nell’s face appeared in front of him. It’ll be okay, her tentative smile assured him. A breeze blew a lock of hair across her left eye and—

A deafening clang tolled the length of the Lanternfish. Metallic ripping sounds followed. The boat shuddered a moment or two before righting itself.

“A dud!” Sparky let out his breath. “It hit us, though.”

“Forward torpedo room,” Polk called out. “Report your damage.”

A voice Luke couldn’t identify shot out over the intercom. “Bow plane gone. Torn a hole in the hull. Forward torpedo evacuating now.”

“Blow ballast,” Polk ordered. “Take ’er up.”

The forward torpedo room held fourteen men trained to clear out in under fifteen seconds. The Lanternfish could still fire on the enemy with aft torpedoes, but without a functioning bow plane, they were now stuck on the surface.

The captain gave his next order. “Swing ninety to starboard for a tail shot. Flood stern tubes. Open outer doors.”

Their torpedoes were fitted with gyros that could guide them through ninety degrees, toward the enemy, which saved the Lanternfish needing to rotate a full one-eighty. Not an ideal situation, but far from hopeless.

As the deck beneath Luke’s shoes swayed, the earphone voices started up again.

The merchant ship captain was now talking about how his cargo was packed shoulder to shoulder. What were they transporting? Cows? Luke leapt from his desk when he heard the word horyo and approached the captain again. “Sir, the enemy is carrying POWs.”

Polk winced. “It’s a hellship.” The Japs had been freighting POWs as they pulled back to the home islands. “Did they say where?”

“Amidships, sir. There must be lots of them packed into the main hold because they’re, quote, shoulder to shoulder.”

The captain dropped his chin to his chest. “Those sons of bitches know they’re screwed, but determined to take as many of us as they can.”

“Also, sir.” Luke hated the wobble he heard in his voice. “Their skipper stated that he’s prepared to scuttle his maru if he has to.”

Polk alerted the boat. “The enemy is holding POWs. Our objective is to cripple, not sink. With the forward torpedoes gone, I know this is a tall order, but I want you to remember that many Allied lives hang in the balance.”

Sending Luke back to his station, he asked for their current position from the boat’s navigator, who confirmed they had completed the ninety-degree turn.

Dipper called out, “The enemy has fired a second pair of fish.”

“Fire seven!” Polk boomed. “Fire eight! Fire nine! Reload seven. Reload eight. Reload nine.”

Luke felt the vibration through the soles of his black shoes as the Lanternfish thrust three torpedoes into the Pacific.

“All hands brace for impact.”

Luke found Sparky staring at him, eyes round as marbles. Don’t say it, Luke wanted to tell him. We know your job is to send out a mayday while the crew hotfoots it topside.

A deafening explosion reverberated the length of the boat. The Lanternfish lurched, almost jolting Luke and Sparky from their seats. The Japanese fish had struck the aft torpedo room, gashing it with a massive hole.

A fatal blow.

Water would be pouring in now, the room littered with bodies, any surviving crew entombed behind sealed doors.

A shrill alarm rang out. Every man on board knew its meaning. The Lanternfish was dead. Time to abandon ship.

Sparky hunched over his telegraph set—three dots, three dashes, three dots—followed by their coordinates. Luke pressed a hand to Sparky’s shoulder, but he shrugged it away. “Save yourself.” He turned back to his microphone. “Mayday! Mayday!” he said. “Lanternfish disabled. Will report ongoing status.”

Another explosion rattled the sub. Luke hurled himself toward the scrum of crewmen heading for the ladders to the deck. The screeching alarm drilled deep into his skull as his arms and legs flailed for purchase on the ladder’s slick rungs.

The cool sea air whipped Luke’s face as he scrambled onto one of the gun decks.

Pop! Bang!

A bullet whistled past his right ear.

Pop-pop! Bang-bang!

The maru lay silhouetted against the reddish-orange disk of the setting sun. It was closer than Luke had imagined, not much longer than a football field. Close enough that he could see Japs manning machine guns on their deck. Close enough to shoot or be shot. He grabbed the machine gun he’d been allotted to play with during drills.

Rat-a-tatta-rat-a-tatta-rat-a-tatta-rat-a-tatta-rat-a-tatta.

He lost track of how many bursts he fired. Four? Seven? Ten? He was going to hammer away until he ran out of ammo.

A thunderous blast exploded in his ears as rounds splattered above his head. Shrapnel rained down, sharp and searing, singeing his hair, scorching his shirt and skin. Bullets zipped and zinged, whistling past him. He kept firing as the last strands of daylight dissolved in the west.

Dizzy and disoriented, he felt his knees buckling. He hit the deck hard, aching, burning, as he crawled to starboard. Rubber rafts and chunks of debris bobbed on the ocean’s surface. As he struggled to stand, a second boom, louder than the first, felt like it came from the conning tower behind him. Luke’s breath whooshed from his lungs as he lost his footing and tumbled.

Dropping from the cigarette deck, he hit his head against something rigid, metallic, and unforgiving.

Sharp, agonizing pain filled his skull.

Then nothing.

~oOo~

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I hope that sneak peek has whetted your appetite for You Must Remember This. And thanks so much for your interest in my work. I do appreciate it so very much.

All the best,

Martin Turnbull

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ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL:

Chasing Salomé: a novel of 1920s Hollywood

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy:
Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

~oOo~

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Connect with Martin Turnbull:

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Revealing book 3 in the Hollywood Home Front trilogy

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Martin Turnbull

In writing my two most recent novels – All the Gin Joints and Thank Your Lucky Stars, I was focused on depicting the home front during WWII. And because I write about life in and around Los Angeles during the studio era’s heyday, that’s where my Hollywood Home Front trilogy played out. More specifically at Warner Bros., who were hitting their stride with Sergeant York, The Maltese Falcon, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Now, Voyager, Casablanca, This Is the Army, Destination Tokyo, Pride of the Marines, and Mildred Pierce to name only a few of the classic movies they were producing under the leadership of Jack Warner, the most patriotic and pro-war-effort of all the movie moguls.

When it came to researching book three, I found myself reading about how everybody looked forward to “getting back to normal” after the end of the war. What they didn’t realize, however, was there was no longer a normal to get back to. Surviving through terrible, wrenching experiences had changed the men–how could it not? Meanwhile, the women had taken on jobs once considered the men’s domain and discovered they were more than capable—and were being paid more than they ever dreamed possible. “Getting back to normal” was a trickier proposition than many people realized, and that is great fodder for a novelist.

I’m still tweaking the manuscript ahead of shipping it off to my editor, but I’m now ready to reveal the title, cover art, and book description:

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS

a novel of World War II Hollywood

by
Martin Turnbull
Book 3 in the Hollywood Home Front trilogy

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When the curtain rises on an entirely new life, some will stumble and some will soar.

On the other side of fame sits Luke’s home-front sweetheart, Nell Davenport, who blossoms in an unexpected career. Thrilled by the excitement following her musical debut, Nell is unaware that every step she takes on the precarious road to success brings her and Luke closer to a revelation that could shatter the fragile life they are struggling to rebuild amid the aftermath of war.

From the author of the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels comes book three in the Hollywood Home Front trilogy. You Must Remember This is the story of two people striving to adapt to a world they no longer know.

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You Must Remember This is due out April 2023

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Also by Martin Turnbull:

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood

The Hollywood Home Front trilogy:
Book 1 – All the Gin Joints
Book 2 – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Book 3 – You Must Remember This

~oOo~

~oOo~

Connect with Martin Turnbull: