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Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Tehran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.

Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).

After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.

Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.

City of Bones was her first novel. Sword Catcher is her most recent novel.


“Even the Inquisitor's eyebrows shot up when Magnus strode through the gate. The High Warlock was wearing black leather pants, a belt with a buckle in the shape of a jeweled M, and a cobalt-blue Prussian military jacket open over a white lace shirt. He shimmered with layers of glitter. His gaze rested for a moment on Alec's face with amusement and a hint of something else before moving on to Jace, prone on the ground."Is he dead?" he inquired. "He looks dead.""No," snapped Maryse. "He's not dead.""Have you checked? I could kick him if you want." Magnus moved toward Jace."Stop that!" the Inquisitor snapped, sounding like Clary's third-grade teacher demanding that she stop doodling on her desk with a marker.”
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“The Angel blade burns you, just as God's name chokes you," said Valentine, his cool voice sharp as crystal. "They say that those who die upon its point will achieve the gates of heaven. In which case, revenant, I am doing you a favor." He lowered the blade so that the tip touched Simon's throat. Valentine's eyes were the color of black water and there was nothing in them: no anger, no compassion, not even any hate. They were empty as a hollowed-out grave. "Any last words?"Simon knew what he was supposed to say. Sh'ma Yisrael, adonai elohanu, adonai echod. Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. He tried to speak the words, but a searing pain burned his throat. "Clary," he whispered instead.”
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“Are you the one with the blue eyes?""Actually, my eyes are usually described as golden...and luminous.”
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“Your friend's poetry is terrible," he said.Clary blinked, caught momentarily off guard. "What?""I said his poetry was terrible. It sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random.”
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“Just take the weapon you hold in your hand and drive it through his heart," Valentine's voice was soft. "One simple motion. Nothing you haven't done before."Jace met his father's stare with a level gaze. "I saw Agramon," he said. "It had your face.""You saw Agramon?" The Soul-Sword glittered as Valentine moved toward his son. "And you lived?""I killed it.""You killed the Demon of Fear, but you won't kill a single vampire, not even at my order?"Jace stood watching Valentine without expression. "He's a vampire, that's true," he said. "But his name is Simon.”
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“Maybe I could love you someday."If you ever do," he said, "come and let me know. You know where to find me."Her teeth were chattering harder. "I can't lose you, Simon. I can't."You never will. I'm not leaving you. But I'd rather have what we have, which is real and true and important, than have you pretend anything else. When I'm with you, I want to know I'm with the real you, the real Clary."She leaned her head against his, closing her eyes. He still felt like Simon, despite everything; still smelled like him, like his laundry soap. "Maybe I don't know who that is."But I do.”
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“Pain lanced through his neck. He gasped and his eyes flew open; Simon was sitting up on him, staring down with wide eyes, his hand across his own mouth. Simon's wounds were gone, though fresh blood stained the front of his shirt. Jace could feel the pain of his bruised shoulders again, the slash across his wrist, his punctured throat. He could no longer hear his heart beating, but he knew it was slamming away inside his chest. Simon took his hand away from his mouth. The fangs were gone. "I could have killed you," he said. There was a sort of pleading in his voice. "I would have let you," said Jace.”
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“Admiring yourself?” The Inquisitor’s voice but through his reverie. “You wont look so pretty when the Clave gets through with you.”“You do seem obsessed with my looks.” Jace turned away from the mirror with some relief. “Could it be that all this is because you‘re attracted to me?”
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“Magnus got to his feet. “I do believe that's my cue to leave as well,” he said. Clary noticed he was avoiding looking at Alec. “I'd say it's been nice meeting you all, but, in fact, it hasn't. It's been quite awkward, and frankly, the next time I see a single one of you will be far too soon.”
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“So?” Clary said. (After she Marked Alec with the Fearless rune.)“So what?” Alec rolled his sleeve down, covering the Mark.“So how do you feel? Any different?”Alec looked considering. “Not really.”Jace threw his hands up. “So it doesn’t work.”“No necessarily,” Luke said. “There might simply be nothing going on that might activate it. Perhaps there isn’t anything here that Alec is afraid of.”Magnus glanced at Alec and raised his eyebrows. “Boo,” he said.Jace was grinning. “Come on, surely you‘ve got a phobia or two. What scares you?”Alec thought for a moment. “Spiders,” he said.Clary turned to Luke. “Have you got a spider anywhere?”Luke looked exasperated. “Why would I have a spider? Do I look like someone who would collect them?”“No offense,” Jace said, “but you kind of do.”“You know” -Alec‘s tone was sour- “maybe this was a stupid experiment.”“What about the dark?” Clary suggested. “We could lock you in the basement.”“I‘m a demon hunter,” Alec said, with exaggerated patience. “Clearly, I am not afraid of the dark.”~pg.284-285~”
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“Look," Luke went on, "In all the years I've known him, there's always been exactly one place Simon wanted to be, and he's always fought like hell to make sure he got there and stayed there.""Where's that?""Wherever you were.”
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“Clary shut her eyes. You didn't say no to an angel, no matter what it had in mind. Her heart pounding, she sat floating in the darkness behind her eyelids, resolutely trying not to think of Jace. But his face appear against the blank screen of her closed eyelids anyway - not smiling at her but looking sidelong, and she could see the scar at his temple, the uneven curl at the corner of his mouth, and the silver line on his throat where Simon had bitten him - all the marks and flaws and imperfections that made up the person she loved most in the world. Jace. A bright light lit her vision to scarlet, and she fell back against the sand, wondering if she was going to pass out - or maybe she was dying - but she didn't want to die, not now that she could see Jace's face so clearly in front of her. She could almost hear his voice, too, saying her name, the way he'd whispered it at Renwick's, over and over again. Clary. Clary. Clary."Clary," Jace said. "Open your eyes.”
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“Clary hesitated - only for a moment, but the moment stretched out as long as any moment ever had. She could ask for anything, she thought dizzily, anything. - an end to pain or world hunger or disease, or for peace on earth. But then again, perhaps those things weren't in the power of angels to grant, or they would have already been granted. And perhaps people were supposed to find these things for themselves.It didn't matter, anyway. There was only one thing she could ask for, in he end, only one real choice.She raised her eyes to the Angel's. "Jace.”
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“Just kissing? How quickly you dismiss our love.”
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“It's the mortal cup Jace, not the mortal toilet bowl.”
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“Usually I'm remarkably good natured. Try me on a day that doesn't end in y.”
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“You guessed? You must have been pretty sure, considering you could have killed me.""I was ninety percent sure.""I see," Clary said. There must have been something in her voice, because he turned to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put his hands on his cheek, more in surprise than pain."What the hell was that for?""The other ten percent.”
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“In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn't matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.”
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“She looked out then, through the crowd, and saw Simon with the Lightwoods, looking at her across the empty space that separated them. It was the same way that Jace had looked at her at the manor. It was the one thread that bound these two boys that she loved so much, she thought, their one commonality: They both believed in her even when she didn't believe in herself. ”
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“I wouldn't change it," Simon said. "I wouldn't give up loving you. Not for anything. You know what Raphael told me? That I didn't know how to be a good vampire, that vampires accept that they're dead. But as long as I remember what it was like to love you, I'll always feel like I'm alive.”
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“You can only push the truth down for so long, and then it bubbles back up.”
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“He had become a monster. You just couldn't see it...because it wore the face of a friend.”
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“she was glad she had been scarred. She said that whoever loved her now would love her true self, and not her pretty face.”
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“A sort of good-bye without saying good-bye," he said. "It is a reference to a passage in the Bible. 'And Mizpah, for he said, the Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another.”
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“Nice, bah. He's gorgeous." Magnus gazed dreamily in his direction. "You should leave him here. I could hang hats on him and things.”
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“Jace you already behave as if you‘ve never heard the word ‘fear.‘ I fail to see how we‘re going to be able to tell the difference if it does work on you.” (Luke talking about the rune Clary just created)Alec stifled what sounded like a laugh. Jace simply smiled a tight unfriendly smile. “I‘ve heard the word ‘fear,’” he said. “I simply choose to believe it doesn’t apply to me.”“Exactly the problem,” said Luke.-pg.283-284-”
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“Magnus wants to shout at me, don’t you, Magnus?” (Jace)“Yes,” Magnus said, tearing his eyes away from Alec long enough to scowl.-pg.275-”
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“Why does it take girls so long to shower?” he demanded. “Mortal girls, Shadowhunters, female warlocks, you‘re all the same. I‘m not getting any younger waiting out here.”-Magnus to Clary, pg.272-”
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“I thought you hated demons. Now you use them like servants. The Ravener, the Drevak demons, Agramon-they‘re your employees. Guards, butler-personal chef, for all I know.”-Jace to Valentine, pg.260-”
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“The next thing I knew I was listening to five people shouting. What was that all about, anyway?”
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“Did you think I was helping you out of the goodness of my heart? Or am I just the only warlock you know?” (Magnus)…“No,” he said now, “but you are the only warlock we know who happens to be dating a friend of ours.” (Jace)For a moment everyone stared at him-Alec in sheer horror, Magnus un astonished anger, and Clary and Simon in surprise. It was Alec who spoke first, his voice shaking. “Why would you say something like that?”Jace looked baffled. “Something like what?”“That I‘m dating-that we‘re-its not true,” Alec said, his voice rising and dropping several octaves as he fought to control it.Jace looked at him steadily. “I didn’t say he was dating you,” he said, “but funny that you knew just what I meant, isn’t it?”“We‘re not dating,” Alec said again.“Oh?” Magnus said. “So you‘re just that friendly with everybody, is that it?”-pg.241-”
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“I think I like ‘mundane’ better than ‘bloodsucker,’” Simon muttered.“With Jace, you don’t really get to choose your insulting nickname.”-Simon and Clary, pg.234-”
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“Clary, what am I going to do? My mom keeps bringing me food and I have to throw it out the window-I haven’t been outside in two days, but I don’t know how much longer I can go on pretending I have the flu. Eventually she‘s going to bring me to the doctor, and then what? I don’t have a heartbeat. he‘ll tell her that I‘m dead.”“Or write you up as a medical miracle,” said Clary.-Simon and Clary, pg.216-”
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“Remember when you fell out of that tree on the farm when you were ten, and broke your arm? Remember how he made them let him ride with you in the ambulance on the way to the hospital? He kicked and yelled till they gave in.”“You laughed,” said Clary, remembering, “and my mom hit you in the shoulder.”“It was hard not to laugh. Determination like that in a 10-year-old is something to see. He was like a pit bull.”“If pit bulls wore glasses and were allergic to ragweed.”-Luke and Clary talking about Simon, pg.211-”
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“I brought you some coffee.” he held out the cup but she waved it away.“I hate that stuff. It tastes like feet.”At that he smiled. “How would you know what feet taste like?”“I just know.”-Luke and Clary, pg.209-”
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“Oh, for goodness‘ sake,” yawned Isabelle, “Is he really waking us up at this ungodly hour just to prove his love to you or something? Couldn’t he have called? mundane men are such twits.”(Thinking its Simon when the “doorbell” of institute rings)-Isabelle to Clary, pg.188-”
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“Will!” he shouted. “Will, she bit me!”“Did she, Henry?” Will, looking amused as usual, appeared like a summoned spirit from the chaos of smoke and flames. . .Will raised an eyebrow in Tessa’s direction. “It’s bad form to bite,” he informed her. “Rude, you know. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that?”“It’s also rude to go about grabbing at ladies you haven’t been introduced to,” Tessa said stiffly. “Hasn’t anyone told you that?”
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“Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side.”
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“He taught me there's a place on a man's back where, if you sink a blade in, you can pierce his heart and sever his spine, all at once,' Sebastian had said. 'I guess we got the same birthday present that year, big brother,' Jace thought. 'Didn't we?”
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“The Law is hard, but it is the Law.”
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“Words were weapons, his father had taught him that, and he'd wanted to hurt Clary more than he'd ever wanted to hurt any girl. In fact, he wasn't sure he had ever wanted to hurt a girl before. Usually he just wanted them, and then he wanted them to leave him alone.”
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“Sebastian: YOU'RE Ragnor Fell the warlock?Magnus: Well, I'm certainly not Ragnor Fell the exotic dancer”
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“Simon-"From now on I will only adress people by nodding at them." Clary-"That's stupid why would you do that?" Simon-"Because it says that 'I am a badass, and I recognive that you too, are a badass”
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“Where is your angel now?”
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“What don't kill me...Had better start running!”
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“Jace shook his blond head in exasperation. "You had to make a crazy jail friend, didn't you? You couldn't just count ceiling tiles or tame a pet mouse like normal prisoners do?”
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“Malachi scowled. "I don't remember the Clave inviting you into the Glass City, Magnus Bane.""They didn't," Magnus said. "Your wards are down.""Really?" the Consul's voice dripped sarcasm. "I hadn't noticed."Magnus looked concerned. "That's terrible. Someone should have told you." He glanced at Luke. "Tell him the wards are down.”
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“Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Jace had looked at her then, the blaze of faith in his eyes, his belief in her. He had always thought she was strong. He had showed it in everything he did, in every look and every touch. Simon had faith in her too, yet when he'd held her, it had been as if she were something fragile, something made of delicate glass. But Jace had held her with all the strength he had, never wondering if she could take it--he'd known she was as strong has he was.”
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“When I went to stay with I’m, he asked me for something of my fathers to make the tracking easier. I gave him the Morgenstern ring. He said he‘d let me know if he senses Valentine anywhere in the city, but so far he hasn’t.”“Maybe he just wanted your ring,” Clary said. “He sure wears lot of jewelry.”
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“Its three in the morning,' she noted with dismay. 'Do you think Simon’s all right?''I think he‘s weird, actually,' said Jace. 'Though that has little to do with time.”
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