Ask the Author: Martin Turnbull
Answered Questions (15)
Martin Turnbull
Hi Shelly! They're a mixture of both. The Garden of Allah was a real-life hotel that stood on Sunset Blvd from 1927 to 1959. It was home to many real-life people, many of them A-list famous, and most of them worked at the studios. There are three main characters who are fictional and who check into the hotel the week that it opened, and through nine novels we follow the ups and downs of their professional and personal lives as they experience and participate the unfolding evolution of Hollywood's golden era. So it's a story of three fictional characters interwoven with real Hollywood history.
Martin Turnbull
Hi Ian, and thanks for your question. My plan with the Garden of Allah series was always to tell the story of life at the hotel, and by extension life during studio-era Hollywood from its opening party in January 1927 to its closing party in 1959. To my way of thinking, the Garden's life exactly paralleled Hollywood's golden years, starting with "The Jazz Singer" ushering in the talkies in 1927, and closing with "Ben-Hur" in 1959, which in my view was the last of the great studio-era Hollywood blockbusters. By 1960, both the golden era and the hotel were history. So it seemed to me to be a way to tell the history of the golden era of Hollywood - through the eyes of the people who lived in a place that exactly matched it, year for year.
Also, by the time I released "Closing Credits," I had been writing about Marcus, Kathryn, and Gwendolyn for over 10 years, and I felt it was time to retire them and move onto fresh projects and different characters with whom we could explore this endlessly fascinating era.
Also, by the time I released "Closing Credits," I had been writing about Marcus, Kathryn, and Gwendolyn for over 10 years, and I felt it was time to retire them and move onto fresh projects and different characters with whom we could explore this endlessly fascinating era.
Martin Turnbull
Thanks for thinking of me, Glen. But ordering through Amazon is probably the best way. "Reds in the Beds" was probably the hardest to write about because the post-war anti-Commie campaign along with the Hollywood Blacklist was big and messy and affected every area of Hollywood. So I wanted to get it right but at the same time keep the tone of the other books. I think I got it right in the end, but how about you let me know once you've finished it?
Martin Turnbull
Hi Glen - I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying my Hollywood's Garden of Allah series. "Citizen Hollywood" was one of my favorite books in the series to write! As it happens, my books have been optioned by a producer. You can read more here:
https://martinturnbull.com/about-the-...
And also as it happens, the producer worked with Ryan Murphy on "Eat. Pray. Love." So you never know!?!?
https://martinturnbull.com/about-the-...
And also as it happens, the producer worked with Ryan Murphy on "Eat. Pray. Love." So you never know!?!?
Martin Turnbull
Well, I almost exclusively read historical fiction so any book world I'm likely to head to actually existed. If I could choose, though, apart from the Garden of Allah Hotel/golden-era Hollywood world that I write in, I'd have to say the New York of the 1910s and 20s as created in "Z" by Therese Anne Fowler. It's the world that Zelda Fitzgerald enters when she marries F. Scott Fitzgerald. And what would I do there? Everything the Fitzgeralds did up to - but not including - when it all started to go wrong!
Martin Turnbull
No, Beth, I haven't. I've taken great care to portray those people in a true light, so I don't bring up anything that they didn't bring up in their own autobiographies, or which is discussed in a reputable source, like a scholarly biography or, perhaps, events that were well documented at the time, say, in the press. In conversations with fictional characters or in fictional situations, I try as much as I can to present that character in line with their public persona. I have no interest in turning any of these people into villains...unless of course they actually got up to such mischief in real life! Thanks for your question!
Martin Turnbull
Laura! I've just read the review you left for "The Trouble with Scarlett" - thank you so much for taking the time to compose such a long and thoughtful review! I appreciate it very much. Fan for life - I like it!
As for research...I have a "big plan" for these books - 9 novels covering the history of Hollywood's golden era from 1927 to 1959, which is both the heyday of Hollywood and the years the Garden of Allah was open. So I started out by reading every Hollywood-related autobiography and memoir I could get my hands on and spent a year sitting on the couch reading and taking notes. When I wanted to expand on a certain situation or describe a certain place, I'd jump on the internet and google for images or more detailed accounts of something that may have been just mentioned in passing in someone's biography. I don't recall a situation where I was able to find nothing. I found contradicting accounts of an event or situation, in which case I'd usually use a meshed version of the two. Often I'll use Wikipedia as a starting point, but then go to the references section at the bottom to see exactly where the Wiki got its information.
Hope that helps, and thanks again for the review. And let me know what you think of Book 3 - "Citizen Hollywood"!
As for research...I have a "big plan" for these books - 9 novels covering the history of Hollywood's golden era from 1927 to 1959, which is both the heyday of Hollywood and the years the Garden of Allah was open. So I started out by reading every Hollywood-related autobiography and memoir I could get my hands on and spent a year sitting on the couch reading and taking notes. When I wanted to expand on a certain situation or describe a certain place, I'd jump on the internet and google for images or more detailed accounts of something that may have been just mentioned in passing in someone's biography. I don't recall a situation where I was able to find nothing. I found contradicting accounts of an event or situation, in which case I'd usually use a meshed version of the two. Often I'll use Wikipedia as a starting point, but then go to the references section at the bottom to see exactly where the Wiki got its information.
Hope that helps, and thanks again for the review. And let me know what you think of Book 3 - "Citizen Hollywood"!
Martin Turnbull
Hi Grace, I'm glad to hear you liked the first book enough to get the second. There's lots more where that came from!
As to your question...no I didn't contact the descendents or estate holders before using them as supporting characters. I did a bit of reading about that and the general consensus seemed to be that descendents and estate holders only tend to get jumpy if you portray these people in a poor light, or in a way that would severely damage their image or reputation. In my books, I don't have them doing anything that (a) is out of character and (b) hasn't already been talked about in their autobiography or in any (decent) biography - i.e. isn't already well documented.
Feel free to contact me via my website if you want to talk about this some more. Your project has been intrigued! http://www.martinturnbull.com/contact...
As to your question...no I didn't contact the descendents or estate holders before using them as supporting characters. I did a bit of reading about that and the general consensus seemed to be that descendents and estate holders only tend to get jumpy if you portray these people in a poor light, or in a way that would severely damage their image or reputation. In my books, I don't have them doing anything that (a) is out of character and (b) hasn't already been talked about in their autobiography or in any (decent) biography - i.e. isn't already well documented.
Feel free to contact me via my website if you want to talk about this some more. Your project has been intrigued! http://www.martinturnbull.com/contact...
Martin Turnbull
Hello Brenda, and thanks for your question. (Sorry it took me so long to reply but I didn't get a notification that your posted here.) I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed "The Garden on Sunset" so much that you're recommending it to friends. So, thank you for help spreading the word!
Now, as for the books being made into a TV series - I agree! I think they could make a great show...and so did the film/TV producer who bought the screen rights last year. If you'd like to know more, you can check out the announcement I made on my blog:
https://martinturnbull.wordpress.com/...
Putting together something like this is a very long process, so we'll see!
Now, as for the books being made into a TV series - I agree! I think they could make a great show...and so did the film/TV producer who bought the screen rights last year. If you'd like to know more, you can check out the announcement I made on my blog:
https://martinturnbull.wordpress.com/...
Putting together something like this is a very long process, so we'll see!
Martin Turnbull
Thank you, Rich. I very much appreciate you taking the time to let me know how much you enjoyed my books. "Searchlights and Shadows" was my 2015 book so that's it for this year. However, I am getting close to finishing my outline for book 5, which means I'm on track for an "early 2016" release.
Martin Turnbull
The book I'm writing at the moment is #4 in a series of a planned 9 books set in and around the (real life) Garden of Allah Hotel which stood on Sunset Blvd from 1927 to 1959. This book is set during WWII and marks a turning point in the series. My characters now find themselves living during a dark time in a city deeply affected by a world war. Los Angeles had many war factories and the Hollywood movie industry became a huge and eager producer of wartime propaganda. There's so much story to tell, it's been a challenge to decide which ones to focus on!
Martin Turnbull
I don't really need inspiration to write - the option of "not writing" isn't really any sort of option for me. I'm always thinking about my books - the current one, and the ones I've yet to write - and most days, I can't wait to get to my laptop and lose myself in golden age Hollywood.
Martin Turnbull
As at right now (July 2014) I am working on book 4 of the Garden of Allah novels. It continues the lives of the three characters we've been following in the three books ("The Garden on Sunset","The Trouble with Scarlett","Citizen Hollywood") as we plunge into the dark days of WWII.
Martin Turnbull
Persistence, persistence, persistence.
Success in writing is a long game so if you're not in it for the long haul, I suggest you go take up bowling or knitting.
But if you do have the drive, ambition and stick-with-it-ness, the benefits of having your work in print are manifold.
Success in writing is a long game so if you're not in it for the long haul, I suggest you go take up bowling or knitting.
But if you do have the drive, ambition and stick-with-it-ness, the benefits of having your work in print are manifold.
Martin Turnbull
I write about life in Hollywood during its golden years (1920s to 1950s) so until a time travel machine is (finally!) invented, the best thing for me about being a writer is that I get to travel back in time and conjure up what life must have been like back then.
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