Mundie Moms

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Shadowhunter Tarot Card Set: Card #9





So Cassandra Jean has finished the complete Shadowhunter Tarot, so for the next … seventy-something days I’ll be posting a card a day in order, from the first card to the last. Some will be under spoiler cuts; some you’ll have seen before — I’ll explain why each character has the card they have. 
Today I’m actually posting two because I’m trying to catch up, and also because you’ve seen these before! Mark Blackthorn of the Dark Artifices takes the Chariot card, here called the Changeling. Mark has fey blood like his sister Aline, both of whom you’ll see in City of Heavenly Fire. He’s carrying a kind of bow and arrow known in mythology as an elf-arrow or elf-bolt. 
Jace takes the strength card, here represented as the Angel because of the angel blood in his veins. And because that Angel blood gives him unusual strength. As for why he’s shirtless…
Me: Why did you draw him shirtless?
CJ: I like him that way.
Me: Good enough.

Teen.com's Sneak Peek #TMIMovie Sweepstakes




OH WOW. So much to win over on Teen.com. Seriously, take a look at Lily Collins telling you all that can be yours!


Win an exclusive sneak-peek #TMImovie party at your house for you and your closest Shadowhunter friends! You’ll get to watch never-before-seen footage from the movie on your new big screen TV with a brand new Sony Home Entertainment System! You’ll also win a Sony reader (for you and your friends) and a Sony Reader Store gift card to purchase the entire Mortal Instruments series! Like we said, amazing!
A TMI Movie Party and TEN Sony readers??? Go, go, go over here and enter!

Another Gorgeous Piece of CoHF Spoilery Fanart

Okay, I LOVE this fanart piece by Cassandra Jean. Here's what Cassie had to say about it (from her tumblr) and about City of Heavenly Fire snippets:
love this! What I love about it is that this is the classic James Bond pose, where he usually has a girl holding on to his leg, but this time it’s the girl who’s the hero and the boy grabbing her leg. “Kill those demons for me, Clary, and in return, I will wear scanty, scanty clothes!”

Seems like a fair exchange.

Also, I think this means it’s time for some COHF snippets to start…
For those who do NOT want to be spoiled, don't click on the cut...and in the mean time, let's all get excited about those upcoming snippets!


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Martin Moszkowicz Shares a Behind the Scenes TMI Movie Still

Martin Moszkowicz treats fan to another behind the scenes TMI Movie shot. Check out this picture, which Martin shared on his Facebook page"TMI – First look behind the scenes — with Harald Zwart and Lily Collins."


He also tweeted about here. Be sure to stop by and wish Martin a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!

The Bane Chronicles: What Really Happened in Peru Debuts at #4 on the NY Times Best Sellers List!


Cassie, Sarah and Maureen all announced yesterday on Twitter, and Cassie on Tumblr, that The Bane Chronicles: What Really Happened in Peru debuted at #4 on The NY Times Best Sellers List!!!

Here's what Cassie said on Twitter:
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN PERU is #4 on the New York Times bestseller list! Thank you readers and coauthor @sarahreesbrenna !!!!

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN PERU is #4 on the New York Times bestseller list! Thank you readers and coauthor @sarahreesbrenna !!!!

I am very happy to see Magnus on the bestseller list, him not exactly being your usual YA protag. :D

Here's what Sarah said on Twitter:
So again I use profanity, but: SACRED BLUE TIGERS. Thank you @cassieclare & her lovely readers who took a chance on me & all my readers too!

SACRED BLUE TIGERS, IT IS. RT @maureenjohnson Holy Cats! "What Happened in Peru" is number four on the bestseller list!

Here's what Maureen said:
Holy Cats! "What Happened in Peru" is number four on the bestseller list!

 That is seriously so incredibly exciting, and so well deserved! I would have excepted nothing less from this trio of powerhouse writings. Make sure you stop by and tell them Congratulations! That is so well deserved!

CONGRATULATIONS Cassie, Sarah & Maureen!

Cassie's Recent Posts: CP2 Spoilers: Questions and answers


If you have not read Clockwork Princess, please be warned this post is a SPOILER filled one!
CP2 Spoilers: Questions and answers.
On love and love triangles. Again. This time with art by Cassandra Jean. And just a reminder: these are old messages, from my drafts folder; I’m not currently taking asks or reading fanmail. You can always email me if you need to!
Hey, Cassie. I finished Clockwork Princess yesterday and haven’t stopped thinking about it. I think I’m in some kind of a shock. I absolutely loved the book. It was so emotional and funny for me that I was crying the whole time, good and bad tears. But after reading the end, I’m left a little conflicted…
You see, I was “team” Will, but I loved Jem…just as a friend. And I actually wanted there to be two Tessas at one point…But what I’, trying to say is: didn’t Tessa just kind of choose Will because there was no Jem? And I know they had a happy life, and she was faithful and still was and she missed him, but when Tessa said she always loved Jem, it kind of disincluded Will. They didn’t even say his name. Now I know that this was the future and they didn’t need to keep bringing up the past…and I know that you did this to make sure Tessa had one lifetime with each of them…and that they all three loved each other so much, but I’m still conflicted. It just seemed to me that Will was left out at the end.
Cassie, I finished Clockwork Princess and though I did love it and I was glad Jem and Tessa got their happy ending in the end I was crushed that Tessa and Will got married first. I know that Jem couldn’t marry Tessa but it seemed to me since Clockwork Angel even that he was the one who really loved her, and he was the one that gave her understanding and love in a way that no one else could. I always thought that what she felt for Will was physical passion and infatuation but they didn’t have the deep understanding that Tessa and Jem did. From the moment that he said Mizpah to her on the stairs I knew they were meant to be together and so I don’t know how to feel about the time she spent with Will. I guess I will just have to tell myself she was thinking about Jem the whole time she was married to Will, and that she ended up with Jem in the end. Except that Jem will die someday, and so she won’t really end up with anyone and I don’t know how to feel about that. I feel like Jem got the short end of the stick.
I finished Clockwork Princess last night and soaked the pages through with tears. I loved the friendship of Will and Jem and also both the relationships of Jem and Tessa and the relationships of Will and Tessa and even I even started to like Gabriel though I also kind of wish someone would beat him up. I guess what I want to say is that even though I understand why you did what you did with the ending to make it fair, don’t you think there’s only one true love for someone really? That there will always be someone they love most? And I know you’ve said Will would be happy looking down on Jem and Tessa at the end of the book but I can’t help feeling he would be upset. Wouldn’t Jace be upset if he died and then Clary got together with Simon?
Whooszle. (I am not even sure that was a human noise.) I’ve put all these next to each other as a sort of example of how different readers have diametrically opposite reactions to reading exactly the same book. It’s kind of interesting.
I’ve talked some about structure and some about foreshadowing and some just about the nature of love and love triangles in books, and now I’m going to make a post that’s just purely personal.
Do I believe there’s only one true love for everyone? No. I think it’s fine if you believe that, because the world would be a very boring place if we all believed the same thing. But I believe that’s a myth, and not just a myth but a potentially destructive one. (Wait till you read Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale…) 
So, two stories that are personal. One about my own mother. Sorry, mom. My parents are divorced. They were together twenty-five years. My mom remarried a guy she’d known before. My stepfather. I love my stepfather. I based Luke in part on him. He’s a great guy and my mom’s been happy with him. She was happy with my dad, too.
So, you tell me. Which one of them does my mom love less? Which one of them got the short end of the stick? Which one got the love that doesn’t measure up? Is my mom now with a guy she loves less than she loved my dad, some kind of secondary lesser love, even though he’s probably going to be the guy who’s with her till the end of her life? Or is it the other one who she didn’t really love? The guy she was with for twenty-five years, had kids with, a whole life with, she didn’t really love him? My father?
Obviously I’d rather believe what I do believe: that she loved them both equally, and they were right for her at different parts of her life. But more on that in a bit.
Story two: This one’s about a woman my mom’s age. She also got divorced and then met a wonderful guy who she fell in love with, let’s call him D. And then he died. And, much in the manner of Jem, begged her on his deathbed not to let his death mean that she wouldn’t try to find someone else to fall in love with. And she promised she wouldn’t do that — but she did. She didn’t get out of bed for a year, and then she never saw or dated another person again. It’s been thirty years now. I know her children and I know that they’ve been bitterly unhappy most of their lives because their mother is so lonely. I know they hate it. I know the man she loved would hate it. I know it makes her friends sad. And I know that she’s sad. Other than her kids, she doesn’t see a point to her life besides hoping she’ll die someday so she can be with D.
As writers, we all write our personal values. We write what we believe, what’s important to us, and what we know. I love a tale of people who find each other, and nobody else will do, as much as the next person. I love the idea of soulmates. I think of ID as being a story about soulmates — that Will, Jem and Tessa are each other’s soulmates.
But it also matters to me to write that people can heal, that the heart regenerates, that you can love again, and that while each love is different, that does not make different also less. It’s one of the things that’s been fun about the Bane Chronicles — that Magnus falls in love, and loses, and goes on, always with optimism and an open heart. It’s one of the things that makes him wonderful. And I don’t think it cheapens any of his loves, because Magnus, like Tessa, is immortal, and as he says, there is no happily ever after for those who live forever.
I think we need love. I think we need it like water and food and air. And that is why I don’t think Will would be upset about Tessa and Jem finding each other again in the epilogue of Clockwork Princess. I don’t think he’d be upset any more than he would be upset that Tessa was allowed to have water and food and air even though he, being dead, couldn’t have those things.
Would Jace be upset if he died and Clary got together with Simon? Well, this is all theoretical, because he’d be dead. But assuming he was aware, I think it would depend a bit. Jace is a teenaged boy. He does not have a deep love for Simon who he regards as the precious other half of his soul. He likes him fine. :) Nor does he really have the long view of life that Will, who lived an entire lifetime, would have. So Jace, yes, would be jealous, and perhaps bitter that he had lost a chance at a whole life. Will had a whole life. Though I would like to think that Jace, not being a terrible person, would still want what happiness for Clary she could find, even if it did make part of him sad  (and probably confused since hey, what happened to Izzy?!)
Also, Clary is not immortal. Not that I don’t think it would be fine for her to try to find love again if Jace died, but Will is not an idiot. He knew in marrying Tessa that he was marrying someone who was going to outlive him by possibly thousands of years. He did not expect her to spend those thousands of years without romantic love. So do I think Will got the short end of the stick? No, I don’t. He had a great life. Eighty years after he died his wife got together with his best friend because he was dead, Do I think he was with someone who couldn’t love him fully or properly? No, I don’t. Tessa loved him with the kind of epic overwhelming love you hardly ever find. Do I think Jem got the short end of the stick? No, I don’t, knowing what I know about his future. Do I think he is with someone who can’t love him fully or properly? No, I don’t. Tessa loves him with the kind of epic overwhelming love you hardly ever find. I think part of what Will loves about Tessa is the fact she loves Jem, and part of what Jem loves about Tessa is that she loves Will. 
If anyone got the short end of the stick, it is Tessa. One day Jem may rejoin Will on the other side, where Will is waiting by the river and they will be reunited. But when Tessa loses them both, they are gone from her forever.
 when Tessa said she always loved Jem, it kind of disincluded Will. They didn’t even say his name.
? CP2: “You asked me if I have loved anyone but Will,” [Tessa] said. “And the answer is yes. I have loved you. I always have, and I always will.”
Will’s name is in the same sentence in which Tessa tells Jem she loves him. Will is very much present as a memory (in the same way Jem is present as violin music when Will proposes to Tessa) — and perhaps that’s the sticking point, that he is a memory and not a living presence. He’s been ashes for eighty years. If you love Will, that hurts. It hurts Jem and Tessa. More on that in another post, but I’ve always said the epilogue is bittersweet and the fact that Will is dead, and dead forever, is the bitter. Jem and Tessa do, in fact, keep bringing up the past but that doesn’t change the fact that Will’s gone and that this is the beginning of their life together. Will and Tessa had their life together. Now it is Jem and Tessa’s turn, and though they both love Will, it is okay that when they are kissing each other, they are thinking about each other. If they were both thinking about Will, it would be a story about how they were both always only ever in love with Will, which might be an interesting story, but is not this story. :)
I do not think Tessa is bringing Will a lessened, imperfect love because, as she says in the book when thinking about how she loves Jem “there would always be a small corner of her heart that belonged to [the other boy].” There is a part of Will that will always belong to Jem. There is a part of Jem’s heart that will always belong to Will. They share things with each other Tessa can’t. Will knows there is a small part of Tessa’s heart that belongs to Jem and he loves her the better and the more for it, and feels loved the better and the more for it. She loves Jem and so does he, and that commonality binds them. The Will in my head, who exists for me when I write, would never be upset that eighty years after he was bones and ashes, the person he loved the most in the world found happiness with the other person he loved most in the world. Will spend a whole lot of time pushing people away and denying himself the feeling of being loved. He knows how soul-withering that is. He would not begrudge it Tessa, and he would not be jealous or bitter. (In a world where Will was even around to have an opinion: he’s not a ghost, he’s moved on, so we’re talking very theoretical theoreticals here.) Jem’s love for Will allowed Will to keep his humanity through the formative years of his life. If he was bitter and jealous and upset looking down on Jem and Tessa  (knowing, as he does, the years and years that Jem spent in the shadows, while Will and Tessa were together) it would feel to me (to me: it’s personal, not a directive!) that he had lost that so preciously kept humanity in a way that would make me very sad.
If your read on Will is different, that’s okay. You don’t have to agree with me. I’m just giving you my read on Will, the Will in my head when I write. The Will I’m writing now with Sarah in The Midnight Heir. :)
In the same way, my Jem, the one in my head, who exists for me when I write, did not grudge Tessa and Will their life together and was happy for them, that they could be happy — he became a Silent Brother to save them, and relinquished his claim on Tessa, which she would have honored, so that they could have a life together. And if Will could have made any sacrifice to give Jem and Tessa their life together, he would have, just as Jem did. Because I do not think he is a worse person than Jem — I think they are both exceptional people. 
The Clockwork Series is most definitely is not your usual romance-novel structure. And I accept that there are readers who love the HEA, and the idea of only one love and total faithfulness forever, and that is okay. And if you think you can only have one love in your life that is the BEST love, okay. We all bring our values and beliefs to what we read. We also bring our values and beliefs to what we write. I wrote TID in part for all the children of divorced parents, who love their stepparents too, who need to believe the One True Love narrative is not the only narrative. That part of the beauty of the human heart is that it regenerates. That if you really love someone, what you want above other things is their happiness, because to me, that’s not just the best part of love, it’s the best part of people.
And on the note of the best part of people, the scene where Tessa and Jem introduce Jem to his namesake, their baby, drawn by Cassandra Jean, of course, master of feels.
And Jem played the birth of their first son, and the protection ceremony that had been carried out on the child in the Silent City. Will would have no other Silent Brother but Jem perform it. And Jem played the way he had covered his scarred face with his hands and turned away when he’d found out the child’s name was James.

I’ve got one last one last post in me about love triangles, which is basically about structure and foreshadowing, and then that’s it! The healing will go on without me! Whooszle!

Books to Screen TMI Movie Promo Ad

I'm a little on getting this posted, but here is the promo image that Books to Screen, who's out of the UK, has for the TMI movie merchandise ad. A couple of weeks back this image circulated around the fandom, and had a few thinking if was a new movie poster. While it has that movie quality to it, Cassie confirmed it is not one of the official TMI movie posters, but either way this looks awesome. I'm loving it!

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