Mortal Instruments & Infernal Devices Lovers! discussion

THIS IS BIG BIG NEWS!!!!!!

From Holly Black....

So, Cassie Clare and Maureen Johnson are great friends of mine. I could say I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I remember quite clearly: I met Cassie at a party where… let’s just say someone died… and I met Maureen by assaulting her with a cupcake.

Crime’s paid off for me.

Not really for them, all I do is play Taylor Swift at Cassie until she is brainwashed. I did bring my box set of MISFITS to a writing retreat in Mexico, thus introducing Cassie to a certain actor: that contribution of mine worked out okay.

My poor Americans spent their time watching MISFITS going ‘British TV is FILTHY! And that Irish boy is the FILTHIEST OF THEM ALL!’ I was proud for my country.
(The Irish. We’re all basically charming, attractive and morally reprehensible. Hi Simon Lewis hi.)

It was at another writing retreat, this summer in France, where we had THE IDEA. We had adopted a kitten and were sitting around on sofas petting the kitten and plotting who would die in our future novels (answer: LOTS OF PEOPLE).

MAUREEN: You know who I love?

EVERYONE: Simon.

MAUREEN: YES. But also, Magnus.

We all agreed that we loved Magnus, and that we were super excited about seeing Magnus in the movie.

(Two of our Great Loves: Magnus and Kittens.)

I recall watching The Magnus Audition. I confess, watching The Magnus Audition enhanced my love for Magnus extremely. I clawed at Cassie’s shoulder as I watched it. I maybe bit her. I don’t recall. ‘HE’S SO HANDSOME,’ I kept saying.

‘OW’ said Cassie.

I’m deep. I like characters to have facets, okay? And one of Magnus’s facets is that he is super hot.

Back to the French sofas: I talked about how another thing that had cemented my love for Magnus was reading the Infernal Devices, because he was younger in the 1800s, at least one heartbreak back, a bit more vulnerable, still hilarious and a snappy dresser, and still so kind.

(As I am PARTICULARLY fond of the Infernal Devices, I suggested that perhaps Magnus was acquainted with a certain Mr Herondale’s father…)
We all got to talking about the adventures Magnus must have had over the centuries, the people he’d met, the wacky hijinx he’d got up to, the costumes through the ages. Maureen mimed an escape in a hot air balloon and fell off the sofa. (The kitten was very alarmed.) And we got to a point where we were writing a lot of it down, all together, because that is kind of our thing: we get together and write stuff and laugh our heads off about imaginary people. It was all going really well, and we were like, Wait. Could these be REAL stories? Could we do this?

Maureen and I had to ask ourselves, could we pull off Magnus’s voice? (Cassie thought she probably could, you know…)

Maureen said to herself: Yes, for I am hilarious. (Or at least that’s what she should have said, because she IS.)

And I remembered that I had done Magnus’s voice before, in a way…

In Clockwork Princess, Magnus, seeing how much fun Will and Jem are having (aside from all the blood and curses and romantic complications) gets a bromance of his OWN. We were thinking about how these two characters would speak to each other, and Cassie’s husband Josh and I started bantering back and forth, me playing Magnus, Josh playing Magnus’s NEW BRO.

SARAH AND JOSH: *mad laughter* *some interpretative dance*

CASSIE: KEEP GOING I AM TYPING EVERYTHING YOU ARE SAYING.

… So I decided I could perhaps pull off Magnus’s voice as well.

We all got a bit more serious about the stories, and now this is a REAL THING.

We bring to you THE BANE CHRONICLES, chronicling (you see what we did there) Magnus’s adventures through the ages.

Have you ever wondered about Magnus’s past loves and lies? Magnus and Alec’s first date? How Magnus and Camille got together? What happened in Peru? Starting in February 2013, in the run-up to City of Handsome Magnus: the Movie (Also Starring Some Other People Who Are Pretty Good-Looking) we will put out a Magnus Short Story every month.

There will be ten of Magnus’s magnificent adventures all in all. Some of them Cassie and I are writing, some of them Cassie and Maureen are writing, some Cassie is writing herself as we cruelly abandon her! All of them, we think, are lots of fun.

The NEWS is emblazoned here:

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2012/12/10/c...

We just hope you will have as much fun reading the stories as we are having writing them!
So here’s the news. I am announcing it here because… I am Cassandra Cl—

No. I cannot live a lie. Cassie is on holiday in a secret location for resting after much writing and movieing. I am Sarah Rees Brennan, and Cassie gave me the password to her tumblr so I could spread the news.

I will never abuse this sacred trust.

(Okay, I reblogged the Loki picture from Cassie’s account in a moment of abstraction. I really love Loki. But that’s IT.)

(Okay, I might have glanced slightly at Cassie’s fanmail inbox. Aw, you guys are a bunch of SWEETIEHUNTERS. Cuter than the cutest widows of your cutest enemies [who are dead of cute] since 1234.)

(Okay, I might have responded to one of the emails claiming that the Infernal Devices would end with a surprise twist where Will fell in love with a duck shapeshifter.)

(One of these statements is a lie. But not the one about you guys being sweetiehunters.)

THE BANE CHRONICLES is not a lie, however. It is really happening. Magnus stories are coming your way! And I, and Cassie, and Maureen, do hope you are excited! We know you guys are the greatest and have vowed not to let you down, and to shower you in shining—or glittering—adventures.

*Sarah runs away from Cassie’s tumblr* BYE YOU GUYS IT WAS A PLEASURE!

You guys are gonna have so much fun.







All I can say is OMG

I can't believe she's writing this! I'm so excited to read more about Magnus!

I know !! i can't wait to read it, this was such a great news :)

So first story is going to be released April 16th of this year, and it's going to be called: "What Really Happened In Peru." So what do you guys think? Why do you think Magnus got banned from Peru? I'd love to her your thoughts. I am thinking that maybe it had something to do with his father...?

I can't wait!! I really do want to know what happened in Peru...

I wonder if there is going to be a story or more information about Magnus's father and if we're ever going to find out...I am incredibly curious. My thoughts are Magnus's father could be a really powerful demon like Lucifer or someone...Otherwise, why hide it and be ashamed of it so much, especially from Alec, if it was just some small unknown demon of no significance...

What Really Happened in Peru (April 16, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices know that Magnus Bane is banned from Peru—and now they can find out why. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

There are good reasons Peru is off-limits to Magnus Bane. Follow Magnus’s Peruvian escapades as he drags his fellow warlocks Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss into trouble, learns several instruments (which he plays shockingly), dances (which he does shockingly), and disgraces his host nation by doing something unspeakable to the Nazca Lines.

This standalone e-only short story illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality populates the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series. This story in The Bane Chronicles, What Really Happened in Peru, is written by Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare.

The Runaway Queen (May 21, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson

Magnus Bane has a royal role in the French Revolution—if the angry mobs don’t spoil his spells. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

While in France, immortal warlock Magnus Bane finds himself attempting to rescue the royal family from the horrors of the French Revolution—after being roped into this mess by a most attractive count. Naturally, the daring escape calls for invisible air balloons…

This story in The Bane Chronicles, The Runaway Queen, is written by Maureen Johnson and Cassandra Clare.

Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale (June 18, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

Magnus Bane leverages his alliances with Downworlders and Shadowhunters on a venture to Victorian London. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

When immortal warlock Magnus Bane attends preliminary peace talks between the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders in Victorian London, he is charmed by two very different people: the vampire Camille Belcourt and the young Shadowhunter, Edmund Herondale. Will winning hearts mean choosing sides?
This story in The Bane Chronicles, Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale, is written by Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare.

The Rise of the Hotel Dumont (July 16, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson

In 1920s Manhattan, Magnus Bane hobnobs with the elite at a glamorous Jazz Age hotspot. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

The immortal Magnus Bane is making the most of his time in the Roaring Twenties: He’s settled into New York society and is thriving among the fashionable jazz set. And there is nowhere better to see and be seen than the glamorous Hotel Dumont, a glittering new addition to the Manhattan landscape. But a different type of glamour may be at play…

This story in The Bane Chronicles, The Rise of the Hotel Dumont, is written by Maureen Johnson and Cassandra Clare.

The Fall of the Hotel Dumort (August 20, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson

Magnus Bane watches the once-glamorous Hotel Dumont become something else altogether in 1970s New York City. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

Fifty years after the Jazz Age rise of the Hotel Dumont, immortal warlock Magnus Bane knows the Manhattan landmark is on the decline. The once-beautiful Hotel Dumont has fallen into a decayed thing, a ruin, as dead as a place can be. But the vampires don’t mind…

This story in The Bane Chronicles, The Fall of the Hotel Dumort, is written by Maureen Johnson and Cassandra Clare.

Saving Raphael Santiago (September 17, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

—One of the more interesting jobs Magnus has ever been involved in… A distraught mother in 1950s New York hires Magnus to find her son, Raphael, but when Magnus finds him young Raphael is already beyond saving. Or is he?

No Immortal Can Keep a Secret (October 15, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson

Magnus at the turn of the 20th century decides to try this new “psychoanalysis” with Dr. Freud. But clearly the doctor has no experience to help deal with a centuries-old warlock with a very complicated dating history and some very unusual father issues.

The Course of True Love [And First Dates] (November 19, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare

Magnus and Alec’s first date.

What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (December 17, 2013)

What To Buy The Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You’re Not Officially Dating Anyway) (Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare)

Set between City of Ashes and City of Glass. Magnus has to find the perfect birthday present, deal with the demon he’s conjured up for a very irritating client, and work out what’s going on between him and Alec, anyway.

By Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

The Letter (December 31, 2013)

By Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan

No spoilers for this one. :)

All of these installments are available for pre-order on Amazon at $2.99. They will be available for Nooks, Kindles, Sony e-readers, Ipads, and however else you may read e-books. Though the individual stories will not be released in print editions, eventually the collection will be bound as a book and released in stores. All info here.

i already pre-ordered all the stories, and i am sure i will buy the print collection as well....i can't wait to read them....the year wait for book six of TMI is going to make me crazy! good thing i am a voracious reader of a multitude of genres, so i will just occupy my time....though TMI is in the back of my mind a lot of the time, wondering.....

An exclusive snippet for the Runaway Queen is available on the CC Shadowhunters app only. I would post it here, but the app is copy paste proof, sorry.

i sort of enjoyed what really happened in peru........not up to the quality i usually expect, but fun.......i re-read how these ladies decided to do this project, and so, i understand fun was at the bottom of it all........still, i was hungry for better storytelling....i hope runaway queen is better........

Sarah wrote: "Kathie wrote: "i sort of enjoyed what really happened in peru........not up to the quality i usually expect, but fun.......i re-read how these ladies decided to do this project, and so, i understan..."

i hope you are correct! i have pre-ordered them all, so they appear on my kindle app as they are released......looking forward to the next one!

hhmmm, will re-read later.....maybe i was in the wrong space.....

Some of the stories are engaging and others like "The Runaway Queen" I found to be rather so-so. I prefer the books Cassie has written on her own.

Im thinking about buying The Bane Chronicles when they get published as one book, what do you all think? Because I'm not really sure if I should.

I would say it's a good read and there are stories in it that I did really like but I think as a whole it falls short of TMI and TID's quality. This may be because there are other authors writing along with Clare. Sometimes you can really tell that there is a lack of her influence in the story and in other stories they seem to flow much like TMI. I would say it's worth the read. It's not horrible as a whole (so far).

Okay thanks :) I think I will buy the book when it gets published then. I really want to read the Midnight Heir especially.

I'm sorry, but I've read two of these and was not impressed. The writing obviously isn't Cassie's. It doesn't have her style...

i agree with Rachel
it really is very disappointing
at times it may be a little funny, but it wasn't as impressive as i thought it would be
i love cassie's romantic yet witty style of writing, but when i read TBC, it was pretty boring

Yeah there was really only two books I really got lost in and enjoyed. The rest were just kind of weird and random. I mean they were all sort of funny but just not as good as her previous series.

yep
i liked the first one a bit
others were weird

i havent read any of the Bane Chronicles yet
should i read it ?

i havent read any of the Bane Chronicles yet ..is it worth a read?

Everyone should Definitely read it. I believe most of them were about Magnus pre-series. only couple maybe about the current story line.

I read it recently and its really good!
especially Magnus's voicemail

Yes! That's some pretty great stuff there.

Especially when maya phones up and says luke has been in the loo so long with food poisoning theyre beginning to doubt he is their leader anymore!

I thought they were super funny and cute. Not her best work but still pretty good. They are light and nothing super heavy. Very fun to read.

Agree

I loved some of the stories but then didn't really like a couple but overall I think they're funny and worth reading!

Okay so tales from the shadowhunter academy will be fully published as a book like the bane chronicles when all the novellas are finished but for now they are on e-book

I liked the series, but it seemed like some of the stories were out of order.

I'm still on Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale (Will's dad!!! he has Jace's hair and Will's eyes) Charlotte's in the story!!!! But she was still a kid. Anyways, I realized that I could tell that the writing wasn't just by Cassandra Clare. It's her writing style mixed in with others'.

...I fangirled so much when Edmund and Charlotte appeared...

I really liked the series as a whole, especially The Midnight Heir, but I didn't care much for either of the Hotel Dumort stories.

I like Cassie's writing, as in by herself. She collabed with other authors for TBC, and I feel like it wasn't as exciting as TMI and TID. Like the First one (Peru) and the second (Runaway Queen) were really random and didn't have much plot.

Am I the only one who thought that a few of the stories seemed kind of order of order?

I JUST FINISHED READING THE BANE CHRONICLES A FEW HOURS AGO AND AM UNABLE TO START ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE ASDFGHJKL MAGNUS. AND MALEC. FEELS. LITERALLY SPENT AN HOUR AND FIFTYEIGHT MINUTES WRITING A MASSIVE REVIEW BECAUSE I LITERALLY CANNOT EVEN RIGHT NOW

Ashleigh wrote: "Serena wrote: "Am I the only one who thought that a few of the stories seemed kind of order of order?"

do you mean out of order?
.... if so yes and no. If it was written like a diary (which I don'..."

Yeah, the What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway) chronologically comes after The Course of True Love And First Dates.

I did love the book though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!