#wip: soarers

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Hello! I recently discovered your book, zburatorii si fasolele. As a Romanian second-get immigrant who is out of touch with her roots, I found I related with the main character from what I read in the synopsis. I also love fantasy, and am looking for more (easier, because my Romanian is broken) books to read in the language. I was wondering, however, if your book was available to purchase as a pdf? I live in another continent, and won't be visiting Romania until later this year. If not, that's fine I'll have to wait and pray I don't forget haha.

Oh my god I completely missed this ask!! I'm so sorry, and I'm SO pumped a random person online is interested <3

The book is self published, printed on demand and shipped all over the world, so there's a good chance you can order it from wherever you are; you won't find it in the Romanian bookshops anyway. The buy link is in my pinned post :)

This being said, I'm so excited that you want to read it at all that I can just send you a pdf for free if you give me your email address and promise to leave it a review on Goodreads hehe

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Chapter headers???

I did these for Soarers and they turned out really decent so I was wondering if anybody else would be interested? They're 500x500p and black&white and I'd charge like 5 to 10 euros for 1 and figure out a discount for a full book. Here's how they look in document (phone can't handle laptop screenshot, trust me the quality is better):

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Guys book 2 of soarers is THIS close to being done-done and I like it more than the first cause i can see my skills improved :O I think I might actually publish this year??? Pray that I'll keep the momentum and actually start running my social media (rip) also maybe send some asks if you are familiar with soarers please please please the rats in my brain must be fed ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ

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Soarers magic system - magi

Nomenclature - Romanian for mage/mages (so basically I just gave it a latin plural for consistency)

Medium range - couple of tens of meters (like a yard)

Medium endurance - can use their powers for like an hour at a time

Medium versatility - can work with zmei, vraci, fairies and strigoi to unlock new powers

Some sub-specialties:

Heavy objects, slow movement: used in construction, transportation

Light objects, fast movement: used in sports, combat

Light objects, precise movement: used in crafts, medicine

Flying: used in entertainment, transportation (magi always need to "anchor" themselves, so here flying means using the earth and trees/buildings to constantly balance by pushing and pulling on stuff... it's dangerous and difficult and has virtually no practical application so it's not a popular specialty)

Some extremes:

Lifting up to a tone

Precise levitation (because they need to distribute lots of small push forces into the floor, it's hard to make it not wobbly)

Accelerating pebbles up to bullet speed

Threading needles

Precise flying

Some law limitations:

Don't hurt people with the zbor, you know the drill

No flying / lifting people up higher than 2 meters unless authorized

No moving cars / carriages in traffic unless you have a driver's license + magi specific certificate

Some magi characters:

Felix Feier

Ioana (Nana) Feier

Petrică Praș

Aisha Aziz

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Soarers magic system - luti

Nomenclature - Latin for clay (one lutum two luti)

Short range - immediate proximity (direct contact preferred)

Medium endurance - can use maintain their changed appearance for hours at a time, can actively perform changes for minutes at a time

Medium versatility - can work with vraci, fairies and pricolici to unlock new powers

Some sub-specialties:

Face modifications

Hair modifications

Outer body modifications

Medicine (shape shifting for medical procedures)

Mutations (give people extra fingers or wings, go nuts but it's hard and usually fails horribly)

Some extremes:

Perfect impersonations

Temporary sex change

Half animal mutations

Some law limitations:

No changing someone's appearance without consent

No pretending you're someone else legally

Some luti characters:

Mihai Kaiser

Ștefana Luti

Luca di Dacia

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Soarers magic system - vraci

Nomenclature - old Romanian word for doctor/healer/wizard

Close range - within arm length, direct contact necessary for best results

Medium endurance - need breaks every couple of hours

Medium versatility - can work with luti and nymphs to unlock new powers

Some sub-specialties:

Any medical specialty

Rogue (use powers to harm instead of heal; the human body is complicated and the same thing that saves you can kill you yada yada)

Some extremes:

Poison control (pushing any organ to the limits, in this case the liver and kidneys, is advanced)

A beheading was successfully stitched back once in like 1850s, with a bunch of vraci at the scene

Some law limitations:

No harm to others

No practicing advanced techniques, unless licensed

Viral and bacterial infections must be combated as little as possible, since they mutate and we don't want to launch a disease that will kill off everybody without access to vraci.. this means soarers still suffer through the flu

Some vraci characters:

Emanuel Ursaru

Anișoara Santos

Tico Yadne

Evane Yadne

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The Soarers test prints came in T . T

When she is abruptly sent from London to her mother's native Transylvanian town, 13 year-old Wendy gets to explore the unknown half of her heritage: a rural setting, a new language, a peculiar Grandpa, and twelve magic types. As much as she misses her father, Wendy is determined to partake in her mother's culture. She activates her magic - teleportation - and this skill comes with both opportunity and danger. Wendy uncovers not only the rules and history of her new home, but also the mysterious plot orchestrated by the ruling family.

They'll be available for purchase in November 2023

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Soarers magic system - fairies

Nomenclature - approximate translation to existing englisch word, from romanian sânziene

Long range - couple of kilometers

High endurance - can use their powers for 12+ hours at a time

High versatility - most other soarers can project their powers through a fairy

Some sub-specialties:

Short range high detail - the fae (zână) is high resolution but can't get very far

Long range low detail - the fae can get very far but it usually looses the human form (at their base, all fae are just small light points)

Impersonation - create fae in the look of other people

Abnormal fae creation - get funky with the fae (make them monsters, for example)

Some extremes:

Abnormal sensory imitation - people can see and hear fae, but few fairies can make their fae have a smell, or even touch (they still aren't actually material though, it's all fake)

Some law limitations:

All human laws apply to fae (no stalking, entering in people's houses etc.)

Don't impersonate other people when it comes to professional or legal stuff

Don't create visually upsetting imagery in public (so like, don't have your fae's guts open up for funsies)

Some fairy characters:

Malvina di Dacia

Catinca Feier

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Soarers magic system

Here's the 12 zbors (i.e. superpowers) a soarer can have, illustration included in the books :D It's difficult to explain them without using modern or media slang, which the characters don't have, but basically the zbors go:

Temperature control which can extend to fire/ice powers

Healing powers that can also be used for evil

Mind control

Astral projections

Telekinesis but without the force field bs

Shape shifting within all the possible ways the person could've turned out given their parents' DNA

Magic drugs (and medicine of course)

Teleportation and portal creation

Sound control with a dash of seismic powers

Crazy good senses

Telepathy, with coding (and some quantum physics) as an analogy

Future telling, with statistics (and some quantum physics) as an analogy

Conditions to have a certain zbor:

have at least one soarer parent (soaring is a dominant gene but it's hard to make a baby with an earthling aka non-soarer)

be between ~ 13 to 25 years old (unlesssss but let's not get into it right now)

be born in the respective time period of the year (though very rare exceptions do occur randomly)

be donated zbor from an active soarer

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Ni o scenă din cartea a 3-a, mi-e lene să o traduc

ー Ba sunt supărat, îi spuse Felix ziua următoare, după școală.

Își făceau temele la birou, căni de ceai fierbinți la îndemână. Afară se întunecase deja, dar ningea din greu, așa că peisajul de pe geam avea o aură luminoasă ca de perlă. Lui Wendy îi era somn; fusul ei orar nu mai știa pe ce planetă era. Puse stiloul jos.

ー Pe cine?

Nu mai ținea minte despre ce era vorba. Felix puse și el jos stiloul și își mișcă buzele de pe o parte pe alta, trăgând comedic de timp.

ー Pe nenea Zoli, șopti el. Ești în clasa a noua. Nu ar trebui să te ocupi cu prinsul de criminali.

ー Nu e ca și cum îi caut cu lumânarea, spuse Wendy, apoi luă o gură de ceai. Adică, nu fac nimic periculos.

Felix se uită în jos la cicatricea lată de lângă cotul ei. Wendy își trase mâneca mai jos.

ー Asta e vina Gândacilor, nu a bunicului Zoli.

Felix oftă.

ー Îți place ce faci?

ー Da, răspunse ea, cu convingere. Îmi place să rezolv mistere, și chiar vreau s-o răzbun pe Angele.

ー Și faptul că nenea Zoli te laudă și petrece timp cu tine nu are nimic de-a face cu asta. 

Wendy fu de-a dreptul ofensată. 

ー Ești gelos, spuse ea.

ー Că mergi la polul nord să vorbești cu pușcăriași? M-ai prins.

ー Că bunicul Zoli mă laudă și petrece timp cu mine, îl cită ea.

ー Ba chiar să știi că sunt fericit. Nu știu de ce neanea Zoli a așteptat să apari tu în peisaj ca să facă minimul de efort ca și părinte, dar mă bucur pentru voi doi.

ー Ce părinte? Noi doar lucrăm împreună.

ー A mers cu tine să-ți cumpere cizme! răbufni el, cumva încă în șoaptă. Am vrut să port un costum de Luminații și mi-am dat seama că habar nu am cum se leagă o cravată, a trebuit să-l rog pe Emanuel să mă ajute. Locuiesc cu omul ăsta de la 11 ani, cred că nici nu știe care mi-e numele mijlociu.

ー Ai un nume mijlociu?

Felix își încrucisă brațele pe piept și pufni scurt din nas.

ー Nu, admise el apoi.

Wendy nu știa ce să facă sau spună, în afară de mai multe glume seci. Vru să comenteze, „Așadar ești gelos!”, dar ce îi ieși pe gură fu:

ー Îmi pare rău.

Felix rămase nemișcat, atâta doar că se scufundă puțin în scaun.

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Zbutătorii și cartofii, capitolul 5

Wendy obișnuia să fie foarte entuziasmată să meargă pe cal undeva, mai ales prin pădure. După un an de tăbăcit fundul, frecat degetele de frâuri, plătit taxe pentru grajduri și mirosit a cal la destinație, prefera bicicleta. Aveau doar două biciclete însă, iar în ziua aceea bunicul Zoli o luase pe una dintre ele, și Felix refuzase politicos să o ducă pe roată până în Stânca. 

Așa că acum călăreau amândoi pe scurtătura din pădure către terenurile de zbor, Felix pe Alpha și Wendy pe urmele lui, pe Zeta. Luna magilor era pe sfârșite, și căldura aerului se simțea plăcut în loc de copleșitor; începea să fie moale ca de toamnă. Copacii filtrau lumina de dupămasă, lăsând tot mai multă să intre pe măsură ce coborau către câmpii. Ieșiră din pădure într-un luminiș plin de mure, iar Wendy înghionti calul până ajunse în dreptul lui Felix, ca să își continue bârfa mai pe îndelete.

ー Ce înseamnă „săruturi și mai știi tu ce”? ceru ea clarificări.

Felix îi povestea despre relația lui cu Anișoara, și anume stadiul în care se afla.

ー Îmbrățișări, atins pe talie și coapse… În fine, am întrebat-o duminică cât timp plănuiește să continue așa.

ー Și?

ー A spus că vrea să aștepte până se mărită.

ー Nu mă surprinde, multă lume preferă asta.

Personal, Wendy nu își pusese întrebarea, ținând cont că ultima dată când interacționase romantic cu cineva fu atunci când John Wilson îi ceruse un sărut la schimb pentru o buburuză pe care o găsise în curtea grădiniței.

Felix trase de frâuri și sări de pe cal. Adună câteva mure și pe aruncă pe toate în gură.

ー Bine, dar eu nu vreau să mă căsătoresc cu Anișoara, spuse el, evitându-i privirea de parcă recunoscuse ceva incriminatoriu.

ー Aveți doar 15 ani, spuse ea, de pe cal. Dacă ar fi să vă căsătoriți, aș strica eu nunta la partea cu „vorbiți acum sau tăceți”.

Felix îi înmână un mănunchi de mure. 

ー Care parte, mă?

ー Mersi. Poate aici nu se face, dar în Anglia în timpul nunții, ai ocazia să cauzezi o scenă dramatică.

ー Așa e plănuit?

ー Probabil, nu am fost la nicio nuntă.

Felix urcă înapoi pe cal și își continuară drumul, în jos pe lângă rândul de munți pietroși.

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Drew some soarers using a template I can't find the originator of anymore :(

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He raised his head from his hands.

"Wendy, the two of us need to talk."

"Now?"

It was past midnight. Grandpa pursed his lips and nodded. He stood up from the stool leaning on his cane and asked her to follow him to the office.

"Sașa, try not stealing anything meanwhile," he said over his shoulder. "Felix, try to-- Actually you're a good boy, keep it up."

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Sașa and Shomkereki are picking on each other so much people might as well ship them

"Why did you even come up here if you're so busy?" he asked her, giving out the rest of the cards. "What are you reading anyway [in the newspaper], if somebody is selling pants at a good price?"

"There's no need, I get them from free from your mom."

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Soarers official book1 illustrations ⭐

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Is Soarers middle grade or YA?

It's a nightmare to categorize is what it is. It's MG by most standards, cause of the whimsical approach, the 13 year old protagonist, the simple writings style, the episodic volumes, the coming of age undertones etc. but BUT it also contains:

Smoking

Implied underage drinking

Implied weed smoking

Mention of condoms

Mention of menstruation

One use each of the word fuck in swearing context

And that's just the first book. As the protags age, the story gets into suicide mention and self harm, underage Magical Substance That's Totally Not Drugs use and overdose, self made piercings, sex talk, sexual assault and implied sexual activity, and more graphic violence.

So I'm already begging to be sued labeling it YA but MG will send me straight to jail :S What makes it worse is that most websites don't even have the MG option, it's either YA or children's.

But renu you say, who did you write this book for? For my 12 year old self and for the other 12 year olds with unsupervised internet access who watched anime and movies and wished kids media was more Serious and Gritty

So i guess Soarers is to violence, sexuality and drugs what Naruto is only to violence. But how do i publish this.