SHADOWHUNTER WRAP-UP: 'City of Heavenly Fire' snippet, TLH news, and more

There's lots of news in the Shadowhunter fandom and here's a rundown of the latest!

Cassandra Clare shared a very special Valentine with fans: a brand new snippet from City of Heavenly Fire. This snippet features Julian Blackthorn, one of the Los Angeles Institute characters from the highly anticipated series The Dark Artifices.

Take a look:

“Julian,” said Jia, in the same gentle voice, “would you do something for us? Would you take up the Mortal Sword?”

Clary sat up straight. She had held the Mortal Sword: she had felt the weight of it. The cold, like hooks in your skin, dragging the truth out of you. You couldn’t lie holding the Mortal Sword, but the truth, even a truth you wanted to tell, was agony.

“They can’t,” she whispered. “He’s just a kid —“

“He’s the oldest of the kids who escaped the Institute,” Jace said under his breath. “They don’t have a choice.”

Julian nodded, his thin shoulders straight. “I’ll take it.”

Robert Lightwood passed behind the podium then and went to the table. He took up the sword and returned to stand in front of Julian. The contrast between them was almost funny: the big, barrel-chested man and the lanky, wild-haired boy. 

Julian reached a hand up and took the sword. As his hand closed around the hilt, he shuddered, a ripple of pain that was quickly forced down. Emma, behind him, started forward, and Clary caught a glimpse of the look on her face — pure fury — before Helen caught at her and pulled her back.

The book is roughly 733 pages, according to Cassie. "There’s no difference between the Walmart edition and any other edition in terms of the story, so you shouldn’t worry about whatever page number they have listed. It’s all the same book."

With all that said, Cassie also revealed that TESSA AND JEM will make an appearance in the book!

Signed copies of COHF at Barnes & Noble

There 2,000 first edition signed copies of City of Heavenly Fire for sale at Barnes & Noble, according to Cassie.

 I signed about 2,000 first editions of City of Heavenly Fire for Barnes and Noble (not that the COHF books have been printed yet, but I signed the first pages and they’ll be bound in. So you’ll be able to order them from B&N soon. I’ll put up the link when I have it. Every one will also be stamped with a rune stamp, and some of them — totally randomly — have my sketch of Church in them. That’s sort of a lottery, whether you end up with one of those, though. And you can always get signed books of mine from Books of Wonder.

There will be extras in both the first editions and regular prints, but with a little bit more for fans to rave about! Cassie says:

Well, all the first editions of City of Heavenly Fire have a portrait on the inside of Jace, Simon, Maia, Alec and Isabelle done by Cliff Nielson, who does all my covers. Only the hardcover first editions sold by Simon and Schuster in the US and Canada will have that portrait on the inside cover. All the books will also come with a note from one of the characters in the end that is handwritten and printed, and leads into the Dark Artifices series. That’s every book, not just the first editions. As to how to buy first editions — basically first editions are all the copies in a publisher’s first print run. They last until they sell out. So the earlier you order a book the more likely you are to get one. 

Bane Chronicles book set for print in November

Cassie revealed that the first edition of The Bane Chronicles will hit stands in November 2014. Cassie says:

Anticipatory and terrified is exactly how you should be! :) Yep, the Bane Chronicles will be released in print — the current publication date for the print edition of the Bane Chronicles is November 11 of this year. 

The newest story in the series, The Course of True Love (and First Dates), comes out this Tuesday. 

Name of 'TLH' project to be released

On February 25…

You’ll be finding out what TLH stands for.

HAPPY BELATED VALENTINES DAY FROM CASSANDRA JEAN!

Naturally, I will draw Valentine on Valentine’s Day! (The Mortal Instruments written by @CassieClare)

The flowers on the bottom are called Shooting Stars (or falling stars) and the flower on the top are called Hoya’s and look remarkably like…stars! For Morgenstern.