• In spirit of Curie's mission to promote undiscovered but exceptional content, we wish to use this weekly section to provide an author showcase for some of the outstanding authors who received Curie upvotes in past week. Curie curators and reviewers nominate authors for inclusion in this showcase and author approval is sought and attained.

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Featured Author: @brandonsadventur
My Indie Game Post Mortem

Screencap from gameplay

Video games of the "blow up an endless stream of [spaceships/asteroids/whatever]" have a long and illustrious pedigree, from the original 1978 arcade classic Space Invaders right up to Steem's very own @brandonsadventur and his game Final Storm (published on Steam and Itch.io). What makes this post special isn't necessarily the content of the game (although the gameplay video is intense and the game looks like a ton of fun), but rather the insights that @brandonsadventur gained through the process of making it.

Given that Brandon estimates he has, to date, earned a whopping $.01 USD / hour (after expenses) on his time spent on this project you might expect him to be sour on the whole thing. Au contraire, he took it as a learning experience and shares the lessons with us. I believe these lessons have broad applicability to nearly any commercial project, and you would be wise to read this post:
https://steemit.com/business/@brandonsadventur/my-indie-game-post-mortem

@brandonsadventur

Brandon is not just a programmer and game designer; among many other interests and hobbies listed in his introduction post, Brandon is a hobby 3d printer, subsistence gardener and aspiring science fiction novelist as well. At the end of the day, I want to encourage people to grow, learn and try new things. So many people get stuck in the rat-race of life and feel beaten, defeated, oppressed, and have a hard time seeing a way out. If something I share helps or encourages someone to try new things, explore and enjoy life or better themselves, that will bring me tremendous joy and I will feel like this was a success.

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Featured Author: @authorofthings
Unraveling - a weird journey I’m on…

@authorofthings

Not surprisingly, @authorofthings writes things, most often fiction and poetry. She is one of the founders of the Isle of Write on Discord, an inclusive writer's community that "encourages the creative in the creatives, a place with very few rules and a ton of talent" (in her own words). If you are familiar with @authorofthings through her fiction short stories or poetry, our featured post today will be something of a change of pace. It is a raw, unflinching and emotionally honest look at her own life and fears in the face of a possibly cancerous mass recently discovered in her breast: https://steemit.com/busy/@authorofthings/unraveling-a-weird-journey-i-m-on

Fair warning - this post is exquisitely painful to read. I am not ashamed to admit this brought me to tears when I first read it, and again tonight as I type this. Unraveling is never pleasant but sometimes it is necessary - how to get to the core of a matter without unraveling? @authorofthings pulls together many threads here from her life: a grandmother who became a living ghost; a young adulthood spent pushing the limits and tempting fate; a Russian proclivity for fatalism; a newfound fear of heights. Tying these threads together before unraveling the whole knot to lay bare a vulnerable soul for all to see, it feels less like @authorofthings wrote these words and more like they burst out from her in a torrent that could not be contained. These words needed to be written, and they need to be read. This is powerful writing.

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Featured Author: @theguymasamato
Project: My Own X-Carve Dust Control System - Done!

GIF created from original render by @theguymasamato - used with permission

I'm a DIY enthusiast and I like building stuff. I work with wood, acrylic, nonferrous metals, pc parts and all different electronic parts.

I will blog about my projects from the beginning (concept) to the end.
These won't be step-by-step tutorials, instead I would show you some projects, to inspire you with your own ideas and give you something to think about.

True to his word, @theguymasamato shared one of his recent projects with us from beginning to end and the results are very inspiring! Our featured post is the 3rd and final post in a series detailing the design and construction of a home-made dust control system for an X-Carve computer controlled carving machine. The first post covered the initial concept design, the second post detailed the construction of the main parts and our featured post is the final steps of painting and assembly:
https://steemit.com/woodworking/@theguymasamato/project-my-own-x-carve-dust-control-system-done

After finally realizing his dream of owning a CNC machine, @theguymasamato realized that his first project with it could be to improve the machine itself with the addition of a dust control system - an expensive accessory on the market, but something that a CNC machine like the X-Carve could actually be used to create!

@theguymasamato created 3d renders of his design using Autodesk Fusion 360 software, which enabled him to then create the toolpaths the X-Carve would use to cut out each component piece. These 3d renders also serve as beautiful illustrations for his post, as you can see by the impressive GIF above! In the end the project is a rousing success when comparing the 3d renders with the final product. @theguymasamato has his dust control system in place and we have a really great example of a DIY construction project brought to fruition on the Steem blockchain.

Photo by @theguymasamato - used with permission

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Featured Author: @valerie15
My 2018: A Tour Around My Town and A Free Invitation from the Lucky One

Dawn to dusk on Panimahawa Ridge - photos by @valerie15, used with permission

@valerie15

Behind my username @valerie15 is a dreamer, a writer , risk taker and a young woman from the Philippines. Close friends refer to me as "Val" so feel free to use such when interacting with me. I am a government employee during daytime, a law student at night and a freelance writer during my free time. Pretty occupied, huh? Well, for someone who has a dream, the word rest doesn't exist. It's a matter of learning how to manage one's time and finding joy in everything that you do.

The joy that Val finds in her home province of Bukidnon in the Phillipines is self-evident. It bursts out from every word and picture in this post and will infect you with a desire to travel there and experience this magical place for yourself! Whether it is the drone video footage of a bike ride along Panimahawa Ridge, the photo collage of traditional Bukidnon culture or even the work campus of her employer, @valerie15 finds the beauty around her and has a real gift for sharing it with the world: https://steemit.com/my2018/@valerie15/my-2018-a-tour-around-my-town-and-a-free-invitation-from-the-lucky-one

Working as a government employee and a freelance writer while going to Law School is not a walk in the park. This platform has really showed me that we can be so many things at the same time while not losing grip with life and its intricacies. Thank you all for the continued support! - @valerie15

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Featured Author: @yahialababidi
So, You Published A Book—Now, What?

It is not every day I can just type the name of an author featured in one of these showcase posts into Google and a bio springs up fully formed, but such is the case with the inimitable Yahia Lababidi. Of course I know Yahia as much more than a collection of past accomplishments - it is my pleasure to call him a friend and my honor to watch his current work unfold in real time on Steem blockchain. Our featured post is a response to a question posed by fellow Steem user (and freelance philosopher, natch) @nobyeni: "...looking forward if you would write about how to approach that... the hurdle after finding the publisher so to speak ;)"

https://steemit.com/writing/@yahialababidi/so-you-published-a-book-now-what

I realize that what to do after publication might seem like a stretch for writers who are still getting started. But, with the publishing world in a state of transition, it’s never too early to start preparing and modifying expectations. For non-writers reading this post, I think it might be of interest in demystifying the writerly life and, perhaps, busting some myths along the way about books and writers.

Yahia's writing is always full of grace and life, and his command of language is such that he could write about a vacuum cleaner and it would suck you in. In this case however his typically beautiful prose is focused on a subject that will be of great practical interest to anyone who dreams of finally publishing that manuscript. I cannot recommend this post enough to any aspiring writer, or indeed, to anyone who enjoys reading finely crafted words. The post is capped off in splendid fashion with a video of @yahialababidi reading some of his own work at the San Francisco International Poetry Festival, skillfully accompanied on acoustic guitar by Steven Gray, presented as one of the "perk(s) of publishing a book" (being asked to participate in a book festival).

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This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie community representative @carlgnash with input from other Curie curators and reviewers.