Luanga Nuwame Novels and Online Course Links

When it comes to creative pursuits, making unique and fun oddities out of cardboard and publishing comic books is just the beginning for Zelpha/Homemade Game Guru’s founder Luanga Nuwame. Nuwame has also dipped his toes into other ponds of expression and imagination. Here are some external links to online courses and novels created by Nuwame:

DEVELOP YOUR CUSTOMIZED GENEALOGY FAMILY TREE BOARD GAME

(Online Game Design Course)

Way back in 2008, Nuwame invented a board game concept called YOUR Customizable Family Tree Board Game. It was a DIY board game creation kit that allowed families to build a physical board game based on each generation of their family tree. It was meant to be inclusive, requiring all ‘direct’ family members (parents, kids and grandparents) to be involved in the final game’s format and the creation of all questions/answers. The original prototype was even featured in a handful of Genealogy-based magazines and Make Magazine’s online blog. However, Nuwame ultimately did not produce the game on a larger scale due to the costs associated with making the multiple components required for the game to function. Also, he did not have the financing to make the components overseas in bulk. Due to the niche appeal of a game based on genealogy, both manufacturers and retailers he approached didn’t get on board with the concept.

In 2014, Nuwame was told about Udemy, an online learning platform that allows anyone to teach any subject they like. Deciding to give his genealogy board game a new lease on life as a DIY course, Nuwame created The Family Tree Board Game Udemy tutorial in October 2014. The course is still available for those of you who want to teach current and future generations about the amazing, interesting and noble facts about YOUR family. Everything you need to make a complete physical game is ready for download in the course. Please click the image to learn more:

 

THE CARDBOARD BIBLE

(DIY Guidebook)

From the birth of the Homemade Game Guru YouTube channel in 2008 up until early 2016, the channel was enjoying great subscriber growth, was featured in major news media in Canada and the United States, and it was achieving over a million views each year. Nuwame decided to capitalize on the Homemade Game Guru’s success by launching his first DIY book based on the content of the channel. The Cardboard Bible was launched in September 2015 and to this day it is Nuwame’s most successful book. What makes The Cardboard Bible stand out is how it demonstrates the simple way over-the-top creations like a functioning treadmill and foosball table can be made from ordinary household cardboard. The guidebook is meant to show all people that anything is possible with just a little cardboard and the will to create something special.

The Cardboard Bible is available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com

 

THE ADVENTURES OF LITTLE PETALIANNE

(Ongoing Comic/Children’s Book Series)

 

The concept of Petalianne began in the early 2000s. When Nuwame was still in his early 20s, he randomly thought up a story about a group of flower sprites who worked and played together in their enchanted forest home. He created the basic concept with sketched character images and a basic plot surrounding the youngest flower sprite named Petalianne, and then put it all away in his file cabinet along with numerous other random concepts he created but decided to hold off on pursuing. The idea of Petalianne and her friends was practically forgotten about until 2012. In that year, Nuwame became a first-time father to a healthy little girl. Along with artist and fellow dad George Leon, Petalianne was freed from the file cabinet of obscurity and published as a one-off children’s book. After some positive sales, in 2016, Nuwame teamed up with artist Dan Hammond to produce an ongoing series of comic book-like children’s books based on Petalianne and her friends.

Two issues of the new series have been published on Amazon.com and a third issue is in the works.

 

 

SMOKING A J WITH JESUS

(Religious Reflection and Criticism Novel)

 

Imagine having one insane lucid dream about being a young kid. A young kid who is physically different from who you actually are, and you happened to meet Jesus while you smoke weed together and he explains the ‘true’ origins of God and universe to you! Yes, this was an actual dream Nuwame had in 2012 and once he woke up, he immediately wrote out the entire dream to ensure he would never forget it. That prophetic dream was published as a book in 2013 entitled Smoking a ‘J’ With Jesus under the tongue-in-cheek pen name Toakpin Bluntpuff III. This book will suggest theories on religion that are way out there, yet can also be seen as logical and sensible. Although written from the perspective of a foul-mouth teen boy, the book is meant to get people to question the religious dogma they were raised to believe without question. It should be noted that Nuwame was brought up Catholic, but became a Deist in his 20s. The book and the original dream originated from Nuwame questioning the faith he was indoctrinated to believe as fact since his childhood. We guarantee you have never read a book like this before!

The Cardboard Bible is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

 

 

THE FANTABULOUSLY AWESOME LIFE OF A DONATION TRUCK DRIVER

(Whistleblower Novel About Charities)

Written under the pen name Nion Dabtino (an anagram – if you can figure it out), Nuwame shares information on what it was like being a donation truck driver for one of the largest charities in North America. This book touches on how the business of not-for-profit clothing donations functions, but more importantly, the book is really about the truly horrible and disgusting things everyday people ‘donate’ to their favorite charities. Stomach-churning things like kitchen food garbage, moldy clothes, used syringes and bags filled with feces placed within and/or around clothing donation bins. For all the good and helpful donations well-intentioned people give to assist local not-for-profit charities, it will amaze you to discover what horrible things others will give just so they can quickly eliminate their garbage.

Also, this book was the first publication to sound the alarm about why it is deadly and unadvised for people to try to enter a donation bin! The book summarizes the many ways a donation bin can hurt or kill a person. News about this book was sent to Canadian media prior to, and during, some unfortunate high profile deaths of people who got stuck in donations bins, but amazingly all approached news media outlets took a pass (the sole exception being Newstalk 1010, AM radio). If you are open to learning about how the clothing donation business works and to appreciate the hard work men and women put into collecting those donations, this book is waiting for you.

The Fantabulously Awesome Life of a Donation Truck Driver is available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and googleplay.com

THE BOY WITH ZERO SELF-ESTEEM: ONE MAN’S JOURNEY FROM DEPRESSION TO SELF-ACTUALIZATION

(Extremely Personal Book on Mental Health and Depression)

 

This book is by far the most personal and revealing look at the life of Luanga Nuwame. The book was published under the penname Aone Ofmany. Unlike Nuwame’s other books published under ‘playful’ pen names, Aone Ofmany was meant to mirror that Nuwame’s story is a reflection of millions of men out there too ashamed to open up about their mental health battles. Sure, mental health is now being discussed in the open, but the stigma related to men and the still prevalent notion of ‘manning up’ has never gone away. After years of considering publishing this book, in late 2018, Nuwame put his life into the open for anyone to read.

The Boy with Zero Self-Esteem will reveal how Nuwame endured depression, anger issues, anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem from his teen years up into his late 20s. It took three mental breakdowns and two attempted suicides before Nuwame was able to find the path towards building his self-worth back up. From how he was raised by his single father and Nuwame’s teenage nerd/geek lifestyle, to his abysmal dating life as a young adult, readers will see the fine details and steps that lead to the deterioration of a young man’s sense of self-worth. Readers will also see how creativity and meditation can help heal the mind towards a sense of ‘normalcy’. Many of the products featured on this website were originally conceived during Nuwame’s battles with depression – his creative outlet to stay alive and build self-worth.

If you want to know how the creator of this website and everything within it came to be who he is today, this is the book to read!

The Boy With Zero Self-Esteem is available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnobles.com.