'THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS' 4th Week at #1 on New York Times Best Sellers Series

    The Mortal Instruments series has been on the New York Times Best Sellers (Series) for 95 weeks. Including next week: 96! On top of that, The Mortal Instruments is still #1 on the list; that's four weeks straight that The Mortal Instruments has been #1! Major congratulations for Cassandra Clare are in need. Let's keep the streak going! ...

Becoming Sebastian Verlac

This is a short piece about how Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern became Sebastian Verlac in City of Glass. It was a very small bar, on a narrow sloping street in a walled town full of shadows. Jonathan Morgenstern had been sitting at the bar for at least a quarter of an hour, finishing a leisurely drink, before he got to his feet and slipped down the long, rickety flight of wooden stairs to the club. The sound of the music seemed to be trying to...

Demon Tower

Outtake 2: Simon arrives in Alicante and meets Aline and Sebastian. In the original version of the story, Simon wound up in Idris as a result of Jace’s trickery and not as an accident. I decided I didn’t like that — it made Jace too manupulative and Clary too forgiving of his bad behavior — so I altered it; this is, however, the original first scene in which Simon wakes up in Alicante and meets Sebastian and Aline. Bonus: inclusion of Simon’s mysterious...

Weighed in the Balance

Outtake Three: Valentine and Luke. In the orginal first draft of Glass, after the Angel brings Jace back to life, Clary and Jace were met at the lakeside by Alec, Isabelle, Jocelyn and Luke, who have come from the battle to join them. This was changed because in the original draft there was no epilogue; so this was all the closure the characters had. I decided an epilogue was necessary to bring them more, and resolve some of what wasn’t resolved...

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Outtake from City of Glass: Clary, Sebastian, and Magnus. This is the way the scene that begins on page 160 in City of Glass, where Clary and Sebastian visit Magnus at Ragnor Fell’s cottage, originally read. There was a much more elaborate set-up, which I cut for pacing reasons. Still, the original scene does feature Magnus in harem pants. “We’re here,” Sebastian said abruptly — so abruptly that Clary wondered if she really had offended him somehow...

This Guilty Blood

I toned it down for the published version of the book, mostly for pacing reasons. No, it is not particularly racy -- but it's a bit more detailed than what made it into the book, so if you're wanting more Clary/Jace it might be up your alley. -Cassandra Clare The roar of the collapse faded slowly, like smoke dissipating into the air. It was replaced by the loud chirruping of startled birds; Clary could see them over Jace’s shoulder, circling curiously...

Bad Blood

So below is, in fact, the original version of the scene that begins on page 137 in City of Glass. In the original version, Jace actually does kiss Alec, more to make a point than anything else, but the resultant scene made me laugh, made all my critique partners laugh, and made my editor laugh, hysterically. It was, actually, too riduculous to work. -Cassandra Clare Jace looked at Alec steadily. Then he said, “What’s between you and Magnus Bane?”...