About Martin Turnbull

A lifelong love of travel, history, and sharing his knowledge with others has led Martin Turnbull down a long path to authorship. Having made the move to the United States from Melbourne, Australia in the mid-90s, Martin staked his claim in the heart of Los Angeles. His background in travel allowed him to work as a private tour guide–showing off the alluring vistas, mansions, boulevards, and backlots of the Hollywood scene. With stints in local historical guiding with the Los Angeles Conservancy as well as time on the Warner Bros. movie lot, Martin found himself armed with the kind of knowledge that would fly off the very pages of his future works. As a longtime fan of Hollywood’s golden era and old films, Martin decided it was time to marry his knowledge with his passions and breathe life back into this bygone world.

The product of his passions burst forth in the form of Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels, a series of historical fiction books set during the golden age of Hollywood: 1927-1959. Exploring the evolution of Hollywood’s most famous and glamorous era through the lives of its residents, these stories take place both in and around the real-life Garden of Allah Hotel on iconic Sunset Boulevard. Although Martin’s heart belongs to history, his energy remains in the present, continuing to put his passions on paper and beyond.

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Official website: www.MartinTurnbull.com
– contains information on the Garden of Allah Hotel, its original owner, silent screen star Alla Nazimova
– a Photo Blog of vintage photos of Hollywood and Los Angeles from the turn of the century to the 1960s
– a Hollywood timeline detailing what happened when in Hollywood
– a comprehensive list of Hollywood places: bars, restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, and speakeasies. Until someone finally gets around to inventing a time machine, it’s the closest thing movie fans of classic Hollywood have of visiting a very special time during a very special place.

Martin is also on Facebook and Twitter where he daily posts vintage photos of the places and people that made the golden years of Hollywood such a special time and place.

Join Martin’s Reader’s Group and be among the first to get the latest news.

Martin Turnbull Garden of Allah novels have been optioned by Tamasha Talkies, headed by LA-based film and television producer Tabrez Noorani. You can see the official announcement by The Hollywood Reporter
or on Martin’s website.

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Visit him online at: www.MartinTurnbull.com

and also at:

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Twitter
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Apple iBooks
• Kobo

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Contact Martin Turnbull

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Martin Turnbull is the author of the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels, set at the real-life Garden of Allah Hotel which sat on the corner of Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd from January 1927 to August 1959. To put it another way, the hotel opened at the dawn of the talkie era and closed at the dusk of the Hollywood studio system.

• 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
Based on a true story, Chasing Salomé takes the reader through silent-screen star Alla Nazimova and her efforts to produce a film version of Oscar Wilde’s infamous play, Salomé. Go HERE for more information.

The Heart of the Lion: a novel of Irving Thalberg’s Hollywood
Hollywood in the 1920s: the motion picture industry is booming, and newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Irving Thalberg knows it takes more than guts and gumption to create screen magic that will live forever. The harder he works, the higher he soars. But at what cost? The more he achieves, the closer he risks flying into oblivion. A frail and faulty heart shudders inside this chest that blazes with ambition. Thalberg knows that his charmed life at the top of the Hollywood heap is a dangerous tightrope walk: each day—each breath, even—could be his last.
Go HERE for more information.

All the Gin Joints: a novel of World War II Hollywood
Luke Valenti has never fit into his family of loudmouths and dreams of escaping Brooklyn. A stolen prop from “The Maltese Falcon” pitches him down a reluctant path to Hollywood where Humphrey Bogart is about to embark on the movie that will launch his career into the stratosphere: “Casablanca.” When a chance to reverse his 4-F status presents itself, Luke needs to learn that distinguishing friends from enemies can be a tricky business in a land where artifice blurs reality like murky shadows in a back alley.
Go HERE for more information.

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