MediaSlam Press launches with First Book “Griffin and the Dark Secret”

For those of you who know me as a creative director, sometimes blogger and writer of pithy posts on LinkedIn, you might not know that I have aspired to be a writer of fiction as well. Mainly around a story I have worked on and evolved over the last 25 years.

Buy it on Amazon and write a review!

Originally conceived as a treatment to pitch as a movie, then a graphic novel. But as time progressed and I needed a Covid Project, I decided to release it chapter by chapter on SubStack. This forced me to refine and release in a way that was comfortable for me and give me full control. Having talked with many independent writers, I recently decided to self publish on Amazon and thus I needed to create my own imprint. I chose MediaSlam Press, leveraging the namesake of my first consultancy and current newsletter. Ironically, this was not a result of mass rejection by publishers. I truly never shopped it. So “Griffin and the Dark Secret” is my un-abashed account of a festering obsession with Flying Monkeys.

My good friend and sometimes publicist, and now author himself, was kind enough to write a review. By the way, my pen name is my full name.

“In ‘Griffin and the Dark Secret,’ author Curtis Scott Doty invents a new literary genre – the novella is a crime thriller blended together with a sci-fi fantasy story, all set against the more lurid side of 1950’s Hollywood.  Imagine ‘Planet of the Apes’ meets ‘The Goonies.’  His entirely original concept – that the flying monkeys from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ were, in fact, living, breathing creatures, is written in vivid detail – the reader is in the same room, or should I say in the ‘same cave,’ with these fantastical cryptids as he/she reads along. One thing I can say for sure: after reading this book, you’ll never watch the classic ‘Wizard of Oz’ movie again in the same way!” 

Dan Harary, Author and Veteran Hollywood Publicist

That is a great tee-up for this synopsis. "Griffin and the Dark Secret" is a story about a boy who is fascinated with movies and special effects. Set in the Hollywood Hills in 1956, He discovers that sometimes what you see in the movies is real when he uncovers the Dark Secret of Desiree Ellsworth, keeper of the real flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Griffin is thrown into the middle of a great controversy as he enlists his best friend Weston and new friend Cat to help him save his neighborhood of Los Feliz, from certain catastrophe and rescue the very creatures he just discovered.

Read more about how this novella evolved by visiting www.griffinandthedarksecret.com or www.mediaslampress.com where you can learn more about the characters.

Please buy this eBook and support independent writers and publishers whenever you can.

I did use my AI and Photoshop skills to pre-visualize some of the worlds inspired by the book. Enjoy the Art of Griffin.