“The Bride of Usher” completing soon, I swear

I missed last Friday for publishing the next installment in “The Bride of Usher.” It’s funny, because I realized last week that I had planned it silly. For some reason I thought there were only four Fridays in October, and so had planned enough chapters to end it last week. Once I released my mistake, I figured I’d split it into two — Part VII last week and the Epilogue this week. And then, I didn’t even get to that. 🤣

Life has been wild, but I’m trying to slow it down. Wish me luck with that.

That said, I just finished editing Part VII and the Epilogue, and am about to start the process of getting it into the site. I may try to send it out earlier, but worst case scenario, I’ll send it out this Friday.

We’re almost there…

Things I really wish people knew about having a mental illness

Things I really wish people knew about having a mental illness:

• There isn’t always a reason you feel down.

• It’s not attention seeking.

• It’s not being lazy.

• You can’t just “get over it.”

• It’s not something to be embarrassed about or ashamed of.

• It’s not easy.

—

From my Twitter archive. Originally tweeted June 20, 2018.

Listening to Frost/Nixon interviews

I’m listening to the Frost/Nixon interviews and at the 25 minute mark I’m stopping for the night. It’s so hard to listen to Nixon. What an insufferable sack of shit. I’ve listened to him before but not for this long.

Going places with characters, the psychology of people

This short story I’ve been working on has been quite enjoyable. I’m pretty proud of it. And it certainly took me through some interesting territory in terms of understanding people. So much in writing (and acting) is understanding the psychology of people. Even people you would generally not like or find repulsive. But to write them well and realistically, you have to spend some time trying to understand and explain their behaviors. Especially if they aren’t villains.

I should probably add that when I say “understanding the psychology of people” doesn’t necessarily equate to empathy or sympathy.

It just means I can connect the dots as to why they do what they do or why they tick the way they tick. It doesn’t necessarily mean I can relate or that I may change my view with regards to their behavior — I just understand it on a psychological level. Which I believe is super important in writing believable characters.

Side note: This isn’t about “The Bride of Usher” which I am currently writing and publishing to the newsletter, but another short story I’m also currently writing called “Blood Frequency.”

A poll about my next short story

I’m currently writing a YA sci-fi/horror short story with some comedy. It deals with family drama, growing up gay in the Midwest during the 1980s and 1990s, and is a coming-of-age story.

I should probably figure out what to do with it. I’ll probably wrap up editing in November. Should I drop it in the newsletter as an epub for Thanksgiving? It does deal a lot with family themes, so a Thanksgiving release would kind of make sense.

Use the poll and comments to let me know what you think.

My darn iPhone alarm hates me

My iPhone does this thing where it’ll sometimes randomly turn down my alarm volume. Which means I end up sleeping through my alarm. It’s been doing this a lot the past week or so. Did it again this morning and screwed up my whole morning. So annoyed right now. Did a search and it’s apparently a glitch that comes around a lot on iPhones. Been an issue for years.

So now I’m setting my Echo Dot alarms again for backup. Jeez.

If you have an iPhone, has this ever happened to you?

Modern politics be like…

A lot in modern politics hinges on one political stance:

I’m pro-your-healthcare-choices-are-none-of-my-damn-business.

Thanks for coming to my NatTalk.

A birthday, mine

It’s my birthday today. I’m 42. Please clap.

#ModernShakespeare

WiFi, thou art a villain!

A racist by any other name is still a racist.

Do you 💩 emoji at me, sir?

—

From my Twitter archive — originally tweeted May 17, 2018.

Sup.

I need to get better about writing to the Ask Nat microblog. Especially, as social media seems hellbent on ruining themselves by catapulting content moderation, being insufferable, and caving to right-wing extremism.

I really do think this is a good time for folks to go back to blogging, even if it’s owning their own microblogs.

On that note, would it be fun to just have a collaborative blogging space for likeminded folks? Basically a tiny microblogging platform, because the only posters would all know and trust one another. It could even be private. Just thinking out loud.

As always, you can hit me up with anonymous questions in the Ask Nat form to keep me busy.

✌️

The Halloween Serialized Special begins tomorrow

I’m planning to do another serialized story for Halloween this year. Last year, as you may recall, was the first one called The Gentleman Killer which can still be downloaded for free in ebook format.

Tomorrow, I’ll be releasing the first installment of the latest serial called The Bride of Usher, which is a mixture of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher in a sci-fi/horror blend. Much like The Gentleman Killer, this story will feature a heavy dose of feminine rage. Something we could all use a little more of right now in our media consumption, probably.

Last year I released new installments on Friday. My plan is to follow that schedule again.

Here’s a little teaser video to get you excited. Turn up volume for music.

Indie filmmaking can cease the moment of AI slop

Originally shared on September 11, 2025.

—

Last night a short film I starred in made its premiere at a film festival. During the Q&A afterwards, one of the filmmakers was asked about why he chose to make a film about AI — it was a dark comedy. His initial response was something to the effect of “well, AI is bad.” I’m probably not quoting verbatim. But y’all, the whole audience erupted in laughter, applause, and cheers. An audience made up of indie filmmakers and those who support them. It got me thinking…

I was doing a lot of indie filmmaking in the early 2000s, and it was a an amazing time for both indie film and indie music. And the wild thing was that what we were doing in the indie scene was changing things in the overall industry. So much heart and soul was being poured into indie film and music at the time. And even A-list actors started taking roles in indie films because it was where the good roles were.

This moment last night where we all cheered in a movie theatre and laughed at something as simple as "AI is bad" made me realize we are in that moment again. Hollywood wants to make AI movies and pump AI into their movies. I say, let them. People were exhausted with the music industry output in the early 2000s and rushed to MySpace to eat up what indie musicians were putting it out. It was a mixture of alternative rock and much of it had a 60s flare. It was excellent. Go listen to Amy Winehouse if you want a taste of what it sounded like. And that's the thing, eventually the music industry started embracing these sounds and artists. Adele also grew out of this time. I don't remember if she was ever an indie musician, but I do remember listening to her music months before she blew up and suddenly everyone knew who she was.

The point?

Indie filmmakers you have this amazing moment before you. Go out and roll hard with all of your heart into your filmmaking. Your passion and heart will literally change the industry, and audiences will flock to you before that change even comes. Audiences will get tired of AI (if they aren't already) like they've gotten tired of Marvel. Indie filmmakers aren't gonna make the next Marvel Avengers event movie, but as always, indie filmmakers are gonna make some of the most amazing, heartfelt, fun, and unique movie experiences. So own it. When you go to pick your next project, pick one that you're super passionate about. Because it's that passion that is gonna lead the way.

“That’s our war criminal.”

Fun fact. I came into adulthood as Bush and Cheney committed war crimes and nothing was done. They were not held accountable. Anyone remember Kissinger? Yeah, it was a hard lesson to learn as a young adult, but it made me realize we don’t hold ourselves accountable. Ever.

The way I likened it at the time and it’s still true was that if Bush and Cheney had done what they did for some other country, we would have invaded to stop them. But when we do it, “That’s our war criminal. It’s fine.”

When it reality, that should be backwards. We should always hold ourselves accountable first. We should always be striving to keep our house in order. To not do so, and then point fingers at another nation, is hypocrisy.

Dogs Chasing Cars, the AI race

In 2011, I started writing a novella called Dogs Chasing Cars. It was set not far in the future, and it revolved around corporations racing to be the first to market to sell an android with the most advanced AI in the world. The corporations were so powerful, they were untouchable. They even had security squads, small military teams, that they would deploy to steal from or disrupt their competitors in some way.

Each had their own version of an android with advanced AI that was at varying stages of development. None of them were satisfied. A young man, a college dropout and genius, was slowly building one on his own. His was light years ahead of theirs and wind got out that he had accomplished what none of them could, so they all descended on him to steal his life’s work. In a late night attack on his home, he manages to barely escape and dump his android on a neighbor’s doorstep in the rain with a note.

Soon after the neighbor, his fiancée, and friend are on the run with the android — with the corporations hot on their tails.

I’ve been thinking about this story a lot lately because there are a lot of parallels between the world I was building in it and what we’re seeing now with the corporations today, the AI race, and how much power and influence they wield while they all race to be at the top of the AI slop pile. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t finish it back in 2011, because I have so much more to think about. But it is sad and wild in a way that some of the ideas I had, which I thought of as pure fiction, are not far from reality today.

I’m also glad I called it Dogs Chasing Cars because it’s so on the nose for how the AI race is unfolding today. At the time, I remember thinking of it as a descriptor of how the corporations were building AI. They were merely dogs chasing cars — wildly optimistic and without a care of who may get hurt or what they’ll do if they actually catch a car. They were just dogs chasing cars with their tongues wagging in the wind.

We need to stop fawning over Newsom

We need to stop fawning over Newsom. He’s a transphobe. I absolutely do not want him to be president.

Ignoring his transphobia because people running his social media accounts are pissing off other bigots is lame.

Support trans people more than memes. 🏳️‍⚧️

Busy times, cool stuff

Been working on something fancy for my book…

Gonna be acting in a short film this weekend for the 48 hour film festival in St. Louis…

After next week, I’ll technically be a senior in college — should be graduating next Spring…

Mercedes Masterson website updates incoming…

“Family is more important.”

When I was a young adult, my dad kept having heart attacks and was constantly in and out of the hospital. My boss never worried or complained when I informed him I had to bail on work, he would just stop me, and say, "Family is more important."

Be that boss. Be the boss who puts families first.

Too many bosses today take the complete opposite approach and put AI over people and their families. If your whole thing as a CEO is screwing over your staff and their families, so you can chase the AI pipe dream, maybe you need to recalibrate yourself.

Family is more important.

— George “The Wiz” Jones.

George “The Wiz” Jones. Miss you, man.

Prompt: Should the phrase “under God” be included in the Pledge of Allegiance?

In short, no it should not be. America is not one nation under a Christian god unless we are a Christian state — which we are not. Or at least, we weren’t supposed to be. We were supposed to have the freedom to choose our beliefs, not have them court ordered or government mandated.

Even longer version is that we probably shouldn’t even have a Pledge of Allegiance to begin with. Blind allegiance to a government or nation ain’t it. We need to be critical of our nation when we need to be, and it needs to allow it by order of free speech. I would rather we taught kids to think critically about their nation, their government, and their patriotism than have them pledge an allegiance.

Feel free to answer the prompt yourself in the comments.

Opinionated woeful ignorance

A person who is woefully ignorant of something, but has opinions on it, will make no sense.

What is (a) dream story topic you really want to write about?

I don’t know that I really have a dream story topic to write about. When I was younger and making indie films, I thought it would be cool to write and direct a gritty, R-rated Star Wars film. But after watching how judgmental and toxic the fan base can be, that doesn’t appeal to me anymore.

When my son was a kid, he was super into The Clone Wars cartoon and I dabbled with writing a fan fiction story for him. As I began to develop the story, it was becoming more and more complex — and interesting. I was reading a lot about the Greek and Persian wars and that was influencing the story a lot. Eventually, I realized I didn’t want to waste a good story on fan fiction that I couldn’t publish. It’s a trilogy of novels and I haven’t written them yet. But, I have written a few short stories that take place in the world, which has allowed me to explore and experiment in an environment that isn’t a novel. I also made a short, silent film experiment to explore one of the main characters. At some point, I’ll explore it more and write the trilogy. The first book is called Myrna and is named after the main character, who is a bounty hunter. Below is a photo of me from the short film in which I play a character named Attika.

Thanks for the question, it was interesting and I had to think about it some.

If any of you want to read the short stories in my sci-fi universe or watch the short film, let me know in the comments below, and I’ll re-release them in the library or something.