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ABOUT THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS
Are there more books besides City of Bones?
It's the first of three books actually: a trilogy. The title of the trilogy itself is The Mortal Instruments. The first book is called City of Bones, the second is called City of Ashes, the third, City of Glass.
When will City of Glass be out?
City of Glass will be out March 25, 2009 in the US. City of Ashes will be out in the UK July 7, 2008 and August 1 in Australia/NZ.
What is the series about?
City of Bones begins with a sixteen-year old girl named Clary Fray, who lives in New York with her mother, an artist. She comes home one night to find her apartment ransacked, her mother gone -- and a slavering demon ready to tear off her head. Once the demon's dealt with, Clary follows the clues to her mother's disappearance into an alternate New York filled with hideous demons, hard-partying warlocks, not-what-they-seem vampires, an army of werewolves and the scariest thing of all: the secrets of her mother's past. She also finds herself torn between two boys -- her best friend Simon, for whom she's developing new feelings, and the mysterious demon hunter Jace, who has a past more tangled than her own. She becomes a part of the secret word of the demon hunters, or Nephilim, and as she does discovers she might be more connected to them than she originally thought. City of Ashes continues Clary's adventures with Simon, the demon hunters Jace, Isabelle and Alec, the warlock Magnus, and the mysterious Raphael. City of Glass takes the characters to the demon hunters' exotic home country, Idris.
What does that mean, "urban fantasy?"
Urban fantasy is fantasy set in the "real world": we're not in a fantasy world, but in the modern world we know and live in, only with "fantastical elements" present. Punk elves with iPods, public libraries infested with demons, werewolf pop stars, faeries on the rollercoasters at Six Flags, that sort of thing.
Where did you get the idea for the Mortal Instruments books?
The idea for the Mortal Instruments came to me one afternoon in the East Village. I was with a good friend of mine, who was taking me to see the tattoo shop where she used to work. She wanted to show me that her footprints were on the ceiling in black paint -- in fact the footprints of everyone who'd worked there were on the ceiling, crisscrossing each other and making patterns. To me it looked like some fabulous supernatural battle had been fought there by beings who'd left their footprints behind. I started thinking about a magical battle in a New York tattoo shop and the idea of a secret society of demon-hunters whose magic was based on an elaborate system of tattooed runes just sprang into my mind.
When I sat down to sketch out the book, I wanted to write something that would combine elements of traditional high fantasy -- an epic battle between good and evil, terrible monsters, brave heroes, enchanted swords -- and recast it through a modern, urban lens. So you have the Shadowhunters, who are these very classic warriors following their millennia-old traditions, but in these urban, modern spaces: skyscrapers, warehouses, abandoned hotels, rock concerts. In fairy tales, it was the dark and mysterious forest outside the town that held the magic and danger. I wanted to create a world where the city has become the forest -- where these urban spaces hold their own enchantments, danger, mysteries and strange beauty. It's just that only the Shadowhunters can see them as they really are.
I like listening to audiobooks. Is there an audio version?
Yes! City of Bones is read by the actress Ari Graynor, and City of Ashes is read by Natalie Moore, both out from Simon and Schuster Audio.
I live in England, Australia or New Zealand. Can I buy your books there?
Yes. My publisher in those countries is Walker Books.
Will there be foreign editions of the book in translation?
Yes. The Mortal Instruments trilogy has been sold in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Denmark. You can see the foreign editions with their covers on the editions pages in the "About the Book" section of the site. Remember, if you want the book in English, Amazon ships worldwide and any English-language bookstore should be able to order it.
Did you know there's another book called City of Bones?
In fact, there are several other books called that. Books share titles all the time. I called my book City of Bones because there's a city made of bones in it -- I didn't find out there were other books with the same name until later!
Is there going to be a movie of the Mortal Instruments?
Well, that's not really up to me. I have absolutely no control over whether there's ever a movie or not. To quote Tamora Pierce, "Movies happen not when the author deigns to allow people to make her/his books into movies, but when movie companies or producers decide that a particular book would make a good movie." A movie studio or production company would have to option the rights, and I have a film agent who's making sure they take a look at the books and decide whether they're interested. More than that, I can't do. But I can report that there's been a lot of interest, and we'll see what happens!
Do you have any idea what actors you would want to play the characters
if the book(s) ever did get made into a movie?
I don't like to pick actors for an imaginary movie cast because I like people to come up with their own mental images of the characters. There's a fun page here with a reader's picks for the characters that I think are very good, especially Isabelle.
Are you going to write more Mortal Instruments books after City of Glass?
I'm not going to write more books about Clary and her friends, because their
story ends with City of Glass. But there will be a new series about different
Shadowhunters, called The Infernal Devices, that takes place years before the events of The Mortal Instruments.
16-year-old orphan Tessa Fell's quiet life is thrown into turmoil when
her older brother Nathaniel suddenly vanishes, leaving her alone. Her search
for him leads her into Victorian-era London's dangerous supernatural underworld,
where warlocks throw masked balls for half-demon Downworlders. When Tessa
discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must come to trust her
natural enemies, the demon-killing Shadowhunters, if she ever wants to
learn to control her powers and find her brother. Torn between beautiful
Will, a Shadowhunter hiding a deadly secret, and the devoted Jem, whose
addiction to a demon drug is slowly destroying him, Tessa must draw on
all her strength to
save her brother and keep herself alive in this deadly new world.
No, because it takes place about 145 years ago. But I'm hoping to do a graphic novel
someday that may touch on the future of the characters from The Mortal Instruments...
His name rhymes with "lace" or "mace." At the risk of spoiling anyone,
all I can say is that it's more than just a twist; if you're really invested
in Jace and Clary, you shouldn't give up on them yet -- there's still a lot
to come in their future, a lot of surprises about their history, and plenty
more developments in the Jace/Clary/Simon love triangle. Yes, it is. Look for a mention
of a "mortal cup" in Ironside. Shadowhunters don't go to mundane doctors, the kind who would do DNA
testing. Their DNA is different. They wouldn't get a useful result,
even if they wanted to risk the exposure.
What's The Infernal Devices About?
Will the next series, The Infernal Devices, have Jace and Clary in it?
IF YOU'VE ALREADY READ THE BOOKS (contains spoilers!)
How do you pronounce Jace?
I just got to the end of City of Bones and I am so upset about Jace and Clary!
Why???
Is that Val and Luis from Holly Black's Valiant in that scene where
Jace and Clary are going downtown with the Silent Brother?
Why don't Jace and Clary just go get DNA tests to find out of they're related or not?
Who's the guy on the cover of City of Glass?
That's Sebastian.
Who's Sebastian?
Sebastian is a new character in City of Glass. He's a Shadowhunter. He's a cousin of the Penhallows, who are friends of the Lightwoods', and who the Lightwoods are staying with in Idris. He gets in between Jace and Clary.
Where do the names in the books come from?
The names in my books come from all over the place. Clary Fray is named after two friends of mine -- her original last name was Frayne, but it was shortened during editing as my editor liked the sound of Fray better. (She's not named after me. Her first name does sound similar to "Clare", but I should point out that Cassandra Clare is just a pen name, so I think it more reflects that I must like that particular name-sound.) Jace is a name I always liked, and it needed to be something that could be short for Jonathan. Max and Isabelle are named for my grandparents. Alec's name was originally Alex, but Alec is a more interesting version of Alexander, I think. Simon is named after a friend of mine, while Maryse, Robert, Jocelyn and others are simply names I picked out of baby name books and the like. (Luke Garroway I picked because it sounded a bit like loup-garou, which is French for werewolf.)
ABOUT WRITING
What's your favorite thing about being a writer and do you have tips for young
writers?
My favorite thing about it is being able to dream up stories and share them with people who enjoy them. I love it when people care about the characters I've created. It makes them feel very real. As for tips for young writers,As for tips for writers, check my FAQ section at my cassandraclare.com website. If you're looking for tips specifically for teen writers, you can find a whole list of them here.
How long did it take you to write City of Bones?
About two years.
What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to music when you're
writing?
I always listen to music when I'm writing. In fact I made an iMix of the songs
I was listening to when I wrote City of Bones. You can find it here: City
of Bones iMix
Lots of fantasy. Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series. Lloyd Alexander's Prydain
Chronicles. E. Nesbit's Five Children and It books, the Narnia Chronicles, Tolkien,
a ton of fairy tales and ghost stories. I also loved mysteries, primarily Dorothy
Sayers' Peter Wimsey books and noir like the Raymond Chandler mysteries.
Sorry, but for legal reasons I can't! Try a critique group like critters.org.
Are you characters based
on real people? Not as such. They're composites,
generally, of people I know. Uh, no. I update my events page whenever
I'll be doing a signing in a certain place. If you're a bookstore or a librarian
interested in having me do an event, please feel free to email me! The personal website is at www.cassandraclare.com,
and you can also join the Mortal
Instruments mailing list! Please do join. You can find out about events
like readings and signings either on the personal website or the mailing list.
If you've got more questions, you can email them to me at cassandraclare@gmail.com.
Yes, there's a fan-run
forum here. School, library and bookstore appearances
are organized through my publisher. There's
a form to fill out here. I love getting email responses
after people have read my books, so go ahead and email me!
What books did you read when you were a teenager?
Can you read my story/book/poem?
MISCELLANEOUS
Do you know the shirtless guy on the cover of the book?
Will you be going on tour/doing signings?
Do you have a personal website or mailing list?
Is there a fansite or somewhere I can go to discuss the books with other people?
Would you come to my school/library/town and do a signing?
Is there anything else you would like your readers to know about you?
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