From an early age, Martin was enchanted with old movies from Hollywood’s golden era–from the dawn of the talkies in the late 1920s to close of the studio system in the late 1950s–and has spent many, many a happy hour watching the likes of Garland, Gable, Crawford, Garbo, Grant, Miller, Kelly, Astaire, Rogers, Turner, Welles go through their paces. It feels inevitable, somehow, that he would end up writing about them.

Always an avid reader, his interest in writing blossomed the day his 5th grade teacher–the beloved Mr Geoffrey Bowers, from Elsternwick State School–assigned the class a creative writing exercise in which the students had to find three things in the class room and write a story about them. PING! Martin ended up writing not one but two stories and then found he couldn’t stop. By high school he was spending most of his school holidays writing stories–British author Enid Blyton was an early influence–and a lifelong habit had well and truly taken root.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Martin moved to Los Angeles in the mid-90s where he now works as a webmaster, writer, blogger and tour guide.