Nathan Castellanos - Author of Salted Plastic 

A horror laced with dark comedy about cultural appropriation in the city of LOS ANGELES.

Nathan orginally started his book series Salted Plastic in 2015 as a sort of catharsis for being priced out of my hometwon of Highland Park in Los Angeles. It was a way for me to deal with the resentment I felt when the entire area where i grew up started to cater only to the upper class. I didn't want it to be literal academic study, for fear of being conceived as sort of politician, so I used the themes of sci-fi and horror as an analogy for how I felt about what has happened in many neighbourhoods across the United States (and the world in general) where heavy gentrification and cultural appropriation is happening. I never expected it to take off and be valued by others as a postive message. let alone as a form of entertainment.

Natalie and I linked up through socail media because gentrification is a common issue we are both dealing with in our respective neighbourhoods.  Me, personally, I deal with it by writing fiction that is reminiscent of the experiences that myself and others are dealing with relevant to the G word and cultural appropriation in Los Angeles. 

That, said I highly admire how Natalie deals with it by uplifting her community.....by lifting the underrepresented, and I would like to see more of that across-the-board all over the world.