It's no secret that we, at The Reader's Quill, have an crush on Cassandra Clare (not to mention her characters: Jace, Clary, Simon, Magnus, Alec...)

After having reviewed her first novel and speaking with her back in November, we thought it would be fun to catch up with Ms. Clare after the release of City of Glass, her final novel in The Mortal Instruments series.

For this installment of Thank Goodness for Books, Ms. Clare was gracious enough to answer some our burning questions!

As always, SPOILER ALERT!


First off.....a group of Shadowhunters go back to recover Sebastian's body only to find it gone. Is he still alive?

Maybe! Valentine is definitely dead, but Sebastian . . . well, that remains to be seen.

When Sebastian and Clary visit Ragnor Fell, the smoke curling from the cottage chimney formed the pattern of lopsided hearts. Why did it do this?

As Magnus says later, he was watching Sebastian and Clary out the window, and saw Sebastian trying to take her hand. The smoke was just Magnus making fun of them.

Speaking of our favorite warlock, at the very end of the novel, he is found speaking to a "girl in a white dress with a cloud of curly hair." Clary recognizes something familiar about her, but can't quite place it. Who is she?

She is Tessa, from the Infernal Devices series.

We, at The Reader's Quill, have always been big Simon supporters. However, we are a bit worried about him. Are there any side effects to having the Mark? How will it affect his life?

The thing about Simon is that his arc is almost a superhero arc. He’s gone from being a normal, nerdy guy to a well-nigh invincible supernatural creature. How will that affect his life? Severely, I would imagine. I doubt he’ll ever have the normal life he wants. I actually started writing a short story that takes place after City of Glass and involves Simon having to take on a town of evil vampires. We’ll see where that goes.

Also, who does Simon choose Maia or Isabelle?

At the end of the book? Neither. After the end of the book? I haven’t written that yet!

Now let's talk business - Clary and Jace. Where do they go from here?

Back to New York, I assume. After that — who knows what happens?

You mentioned before that Shadowhunters tend to get married earlier since they lead shorter lives. Are Clary and Jace headed down this path?

Not that early. I meant early twenties, not teens. If they’re still together in five years, I am sure they would discuss getting married.

At the end of City of Glass, Clary refused to help the Seelie Queen, but not before the queen told her that she may have heard half truths from Jocelyn. What did her mother embellish?

Maybe she embellished nothing. The Seelie Queen’s talent is implying without saying — she can’t lie, but she certainly can mislead. The important thing in that scene is the choice Clary makes, her decision that she doesn’t care, or doesn’t care enough to get embroiled with the Seelie Queen to find out.

We loved City of Glass so much, Cassie, but we were curious.... will we ever get to see our favorite characters again? Perhaps a book four?

There’s never going to be a book four of the Mortal Instruments. The story of the Mortal Instruments is over — the Instruments are retrieved, Valentine’s dead, it’s done. If I ever do decide to write more books about these characters in this time period, it would most likely focus on some of the more minor characters — Simon, for instance. Clary and Jace are done being my main protagonists. Haven’t they been through enough?

Make sure to check out Cassie's City of Glass playlist over at our music site, The Musical Menagerie.

This weeks author interview comes from a very special New York Times best selling author, so be sure to check back bright and early tomorrow!

There are only a few series I can honestly say I've been addicted to since page one. Set against the backdrop of Manhattan, New York Times Best Selling author Cassandra Clare's urban fantasy, The Mortal Instruments series, is smart, witty and gripping.

Ms. Clare was kind enough to answer some of our questions concerning the development of her series as well as the future of our beloved characters. Enjoy!

Hi Cassie! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us! First off, over here at The Reader's Quill, we love all sorts of books and music. We're curious, what are your top three favorite books? And top three favorite musicians?

I don't have three favorite books! I can tell you three OF my favorite books, will that help? Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers, Famous Last Words by Timothy Findley, and Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Musicians: again, it's very hard to pick three. I'm fond of Belle and Sebastian, VNV Nation, and Brand New.

Sure. The Cup draws from all sorts of Cup legends — the Grail legend, for one, though it's not meant to be the Grail. It also draws from the imagery of the Tarot card class of Cups. The Cup is also a symbol of faith, and Shadowhunters are all about faith. The Mortal Sword is one in a long line of fictional, historical and mythological swords. There are swords so famous we all know their names — Arthur had Excalibur, Roland had Durendal, Caesar had Crocea Mors, and Seigfried had Balmung (made by Wayland Smith), etc. I wanted the Mortal Sword to be one of history's famous swords, so ,since the MI series draws on a lot of Biblical myth, Maellartach is supposed to be the sword in Genesis — "So God placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." So it's the sword that separates man from Paradise, in theory. It's also why I named one of the chapters in Ashes East of Eden.Well, with Dante and the Bible — and Paradise Lost, which is another big influence on these particular books — these are all works of (for want of a better term) Christian mythology, specifically the myth of the Nephilim, and of the war in Heaven, angels vs. demons, the fall of Lucifer, all of that. And when you're dealing with a magic system dependent on the idea of angels and demons, you have to draw on all that, that's your canon. As for poetry in general, I love reading it but have no talent for writing it, so I content myself with including passages of my favorite poetry in the text.Nothing out of the ordinary as far as research goes. A lot of reading up on world mythology, especially anything having to do with good and evil spirits. I wanted to make sure multiple types of demonic myth were present, not just the Christian view of them, so you'll find Japanese, Indian, Tibetan, and other kinds of demons represented (plus the kind I've made up.) I read a lot of old "demonologies" — there was a whole time period where scholars were obsessed with listing every kind of demon and mapping Hell.Clary's dreams do often come to fruition, though she dreams more symbolically than specifically and can't always interpret what her dreams mean. Yes, that has something to do with the "experiments," but I can't really say more than that!I wouldn't actually say they feature all that prominently. You do get an explanation for their existence. I can't say whether the scars have to do with Amatis, Celine or the Inquisitor, but I will say they don't have to do with all three of them.Hm. A few of them, though generally so altered that they're unrecognizable. Raphael is based on a friend's younger brother (whose name is Gabriel, and I was tickled that it was an angel's name, so I changed it to Raphael, another angel's name.) Simon is sort of a combination of my boyfriend and my best friend. Magnus is based on a friend of mine — a guy who used to wear a ton of glitter and outrageous outfits, but there was this real keen intelligence under all the glitter and partying, which is what interests me about Magnus.I'm glad to hear you like Clary! It's hard to write that balance of tough and relatable, but I hope Clary is both. As for a favorite character — it's like picking a favorite child. I'll say that Magnus is the most fun to write, and Simon is the most like me.I think it's partly why I wanted to make sure the Shadowhunters were a worldwide enterprise — cross-cultural, cross-global. They exist in every country. I didn't want them to be limited to protecting, say, New York. That sort of thing always reminds me of Roger Ebert's complaint about Blade, which is that he's "one guy, dealing locally, with a problem that's clearly global" and he wonders why the vampires that are always fighting with Blade don't just move to another city. The drama's definitely amped up. New characters appear and compete for Clary and Jace's affections. It's a very romantic book, but very dark, very angsty. And there's a war, so definitely lots of blood and some character death.

The next project is a series of prequels to The Mortal Instruments, set in 19'th century London. It won't have our current characters in it, except for Magnus, but it does deal with their ancestors. You can find out more at http://www.theinfernaldevices.com/ I'm really having a lot of fun writing it so far!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Cassandra Clare's Post-City of Glass interview!

Earlier this year, I was scanning the New York Times Best Sellers list and was intrigued by a book about "Manhattan’s young social set, circa 1899." The book was called The Luxe.

Needless to say, I sped through it and then began to anxiously await the follow up novel, Rumors.

Luxe author Anna Godbersen intertwines multiple love stories in such a such an elegant fashion that you too soon wish you were living in 1899!

In two months time, Envy, her final book in this deliciously gossipy series comes out. For this final installment of Thank Goodness for Books, we were fortunate to be able to speak with Ms. Godbersen about her novels, the future of our beloved Diana and Henry, and what's projects she hopes to work on next!


Hi Anna! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us!

Thank you so much for having me!

This is always an anxious-making question for me, because what fascinates me changes, and because I think as writers we define ourselves so much by what we read closely and passionately. But I will give it a shot and say Joan Didion’s Democracy, Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, and Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. As for musicians, at this precise moment, we’ll go with Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke and Fleetwood Mac.
I am lucky to live in the era I do, because elaborate clothing always trips me up. I am at my best with in a state of slightly disheveled hippie ease, and, well, getting me into a corset would be a sad story indeed. This is why we have books and our imaginations!
I was ghostwriting young adult novels, and I wanted it to be big and glamorous, but I also didn’t want it to have as much of the ironic slyness that YA novels with contemporary settings sometimes have. The gilded age seemed to have the perfect combination of gaudy scenes and dramatic situations, and though many of the characters are quite cynical, their era gives them a little more of the stuff of life and death, tragedy, really big stakes. And that is all really rich material to work with as a writer.
It is probably a Diana-Lina tie. Diana is really the heart of the series- her searching and ardor and sense of fun set the tone for the whole book, and those are all qualities that I relate to. But Lina has a special place in my heart, even though she’s sort of a “bad guy,” because she sometimes lacks the confidence and wherewithal to get what she wants, but still stubbornly believes that her life should be beautiful, too, and she pursues that even in the face of tremendous risks.I have always been a sucker for a troublemaker—Henry, I’m afraid.
I began by reading histories of the time, of which there have been many, and then I dove into old memoirs and gossip rags and etiquette books from the time. I spent many, many hours at the wonderful New-York Historical Society, which is such a treasure and so full of information on the city during this period especially.It is very difficult, and I would say that she should be very careful to use the research to her advantage and not let the research rule her. There are wonderfully researched novels that are so tedious because they have these clunky lectures on what-it-was-like-then where plot turns and character development should be. Ideally, the historical record sparks the writer’s imagination, and then she is able to create her own fictional world based on it, with its own rules and ambience. I think anybody considering writing a historical novel should read E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime. I try not to use websites, except that I do often find myself turning to the New York Times’ site, because they have everything from around 1860 on archived, and the New York Public Library’s digital image archive, where you can search for things like ‘Ladies’ hats, 1890-99’ and get a visual. Awfully useful!Yes—probably any period, if I looked deeply enough, but particularly the twenties and the fifties. But I want to write something set in my own time soon, before I forget how to do that.
Ah, this is so embarrassing! Yes, though I try to confine my celebrity weekly reading to airplanes and nail salons. And I am a total sucker for those famous people who sell magazines— Britney, Angelina, etc. Pretty much anyone unbalanced.
For both couples, I think that is part of the original thrill. But particularly for Elizabeth, she sees some part of herself that doesn’t fit in with the rest of her world reflected in Will. Call me cheesy, but I see there’s as a very true love. And Diana and Henry, too, are a good match—and one of the things they have in common is that they are drawn to trouble. That they should not be together is part of their natural chemistry.
Oh, big stuff! Some travel, a lot of heartbreak, some gargantuan misunderstandings and betrayals. And of course a lot of chandelier light and disordered breathing and gaudy dresses and another wedding.I plan to pitch another series for young people. It will be historical, I think, and involve teenagers struggling to get into and out of a glamorous, tragic world. And I’d like to try my hand at writing for adults, too—a novel set in our time.


First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving! This is a special time to be thankful for all we have and a time to spend with the people who make each day truly unique.

I would like to take this time to thank Cassandra Clare, Laura Whitcomb, Lisa McMann and Anna Godbersen for taking the time to talk to me about their writing. All of their books have truly struck a cord in my life, as I hope yours as well. Their books have been my constant companion throughout many nights and I am thankful to have taken part of the literary adventure they laboriously created.

I would also like to thank you, the readers, for checking back every week of Thank Goodness for Books. I love interacting with each and every one of you, reading your emails and laughing about book jokes that hardly anyone else would understand. It is because of you that all this is possible. And it is in your name that all this is for.

Later next month, The Reader's Quill will be hosting another compliment of author interviews! Be sure to come check it out! Happy Holidays!