Mundie Moms

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

City of Heavenly Fire snippet

Oh how I've missed these guys! Enjoy this lovely CoHF snippet Cassie posted tonight with Jace & Alec. 


City of Heavenly Fire snippet

Alec looked down at the shattered pieces in disbelief. “You BROKE my PHONE.”

Jace shrugged. “Guys don’t let other guys keep calling other guys. Okay, that came out wrong. Friends don’t let friends keep calling their exes and hanging up. Seriously. You have to stop.”

Alec looked furious. “So you broke my brand new phone? Thanks a lot.”

Jace smiled serenely and lay back on the grass. “You’re welcome.” 

*ETA: hee hee.

I so needed this laugh! I seriously can not wait to jump back into the TMI world with Jace, Alec and everyone. Thank you Cassie for this lovely treat!

Infernal Devices Magna Picture: Will


 Cassie shared this earlier today and said that "Will gets a hero shot in the Infernal Devices manga. (Coming out this winter)." Oh Will! I don't know why, but this picture makes me all giddy thinking about the upcoming release of the Infernal Devices magna, where this picture is from.

TMI Movie News/ Cassie Clare News: Recent Q&A's & More

There's not been a whole lot of movie news this week, other than it's currently week 4 of filming & they're filming at the INSTITUTE! I know, it's so exciting!! Recently Cassie has been answering some great questions from fan on her tumblr about the movie, and the books. Tonight I'm taking a moment to compile a list of those questions and answers and linking them back to her post.

British Accents for the TMI cast:


Q from shes-our-mockingjay: In the MTV video, Lily said all the Shadowhunters were British. I get they're all from Idris technically, but I never thought they had accents of any sort, wouldn't Clary have mentioned that? Or did she mean the actors... I'm so confused!

I think I’ve always left it pretty open in the books as to how the characters sound. Clary never comments on it; I’ve always thought there was likely an Idrisian accent but never wanted to heavily describe what that might sound like — I think the best way to treat dialect is really really lightly and the best way to deal with fantasy accents is to let readers imagine what they might sound like.

Books are a very different art form than movies. What would take pages of description in books can be served with visual or audible shorthand in a film.

The decision to have the Shadowhunters speak with British accents (their native accents in the case of all the actors pretty much except Kevin) has to do with Harald wanting to show that they are different from those that surround them, that they are a people who are separate, different, and with an older heritage. Maybe a good example of something like this is that in Lord of the Rings, Sam speaks with a working-class Gloucestershire accent and Frodo speaks with a posher British accent because it’s fast audible shorthand for the class difference between them. The Gondorians speak with a more Northern accent to underlie that they are from an older, remote society. None of this is in the books but it tells us a huge amount about the characters that LOTR takes many pages to establish.

Anyway, this is just to say that: movies take visual and audio liberties with text because they have a different way of communicating the same things books communicate, because they’re a different medium. I actually do like the Shadowhunters’ British accents (they all did their auditions with both British and American accents and the British accents for whatever reason worked better) – and I don’t think it’s contrary to the books’ spirit, but YMMV!


Simon Lewis, Jewish Vampire:




The thing is, people are going to read a book and bring to it their own interpretations, interpretations you never intended, conclusions it would never have occurred to you anyone would draw. Opinion is often shaped by personal preference and experience, which is not anything you can calculate for, because everyone is different.

So what I can do here is say two things. First I can explain why Simon’s Jewish. Vampires in literature are surrounded by a panoply of Christian iconography. Crosses. Holy water. There is the scene in Dracula in which they press the Host to Mina’s forehead and it burns her.It’s a shocking, moving moment — but if your religion isn’t Christianity it is also a bit of an alienating one because you cannot quite relate.

The idea that making a character a vampire is making them de facto evil, a “bloodsucker” (Simon’s a vegetarian, and drinks animal blood out of bottles) , a loathsome figure, is a very dated one. It is not how modern media generally portrays vampires. Edward Cullen, Lestat, Angel, Spike, the hot brothers from The Vampire Diaries, Mitchell from Being Human, Bill and Eric from True Blood, are not loathsome and horrible, they’re badass beloved sex symbols. (And they’re all, as far as I can tell, Christian.)

When I started writing the TMI books my cousins begged me to have a Jewish vampire in the books, because vampires were cool. (Which discussion led to Simon’s line about checks for eighteen dollars scaring off Jewish vampires - it makes sense, really.)* I wanted the scene where Simon recoils from the Stars of David in his cell in City of Glass to mean as much for a Jewish reader as the scene in Dracula might to a Christian reader — that as deep an emotional and spiritual importance is attached to the Magen David by Jews as is attached to the crucifix by Christians. I was happy when one of my beta-readers, Steve Berman, told me that the scene where Simon thinks he is going to die in City of Ashes so he tries to recite the Shema ** (Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai ehad) — but chokes on the words — made him cry.

I suppose it might be one thing if all the vampires in the series were Jewish. But the head of the vampires is Hispanic and Christian: the vampires we see in the Hotel Dumort are white and black and Hispanic and Asian. Simon is Jewish because I had literally never read a book with a Jewish vampire in it and I wanted there to be one. He’s Jewish because I’ve had tons of kids (and adults — Michelle Hodkin, who wrote The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer****, did a signing with me in Long Island and the first thing she said to me was that she was so glad Simon was Jewish) come up and be thrilled that a Jewish guy got to be a hot kickass immortal vampire, that Jews are not shut out of what is (like it or not) a massive mainstream cultural trend.

And lastly, Simon is Jewish because of all the characters, he is the most like me, and I am Jewish. Which is something I am guessing that whoever posted that about Simon did not know. The general assumption is that I am Christian because the general default assumption, from my Western readers, is that everyone is. I’m glad Simon is not.

* Chai means life. The numerological value of the letters that spell chai add up to eighteen. When we get checks for birthdays or Bat Mitzvahs, they are in denominations of eighteen, for life.
** Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One — the last thing we’re supposed to say before we die.

*** Note to goyim: You know how I have to explain all this stuff? (Usually in emails.) It’s because there are almost no Jewish characters in fantasy fiction. I never have to explain last rites, or the Lord’s Prayer.

*** She also wrote a great essay called “Simon Lewis: Jewish Vampire” for Shadowhunters and Downworlders.

V’ahav’ta eit Adonai Elohekha b’khol l’vav’kha uv’khol naf’sh’kha uv’khol m’odekha.

Clockwork Prince & Noticing Things: *spoilers*

I totally have to share this, as Cassie reposted it earlier today on her tumblr... there are some AWESOME TMI artists and this image is so cool.


Interview with UNSPOKEN author Sarah Rees Brennan

You guys, I am so excited about today's author interview! Not only am I celebrating the release of Sarah Rees Brennan's newest release UNSPOKEN, but she's here on the blog!!!! Sophie and I adore Sarah, and we loved her Demon boys. As much as I loved Nick and Alan, I am head over heels in love with UNSPOKEN! Seriously, this book is full of awesomeness and has been added to my shelf of favorites. You'll be able to read my review for UNSPOKEN later this morning. Right now there's more important things to talk about with Sarah.....



Hi Sarah! Welcome back to Mundie Moms! I'm so thrilled to have you on the blog today Congratulations on TODAY's release of your newest book, UNSPOKEN! I am so excited for people to read this book. What's one thing you and Kami have in common?

Why thank you, thank you. I am pretty anxious for people to read it myself. I can frequently be found hanging upside down over sofas, chewing something (a power cord, someone else's purse, that kind of thing) and wailing in a muffled voice 'When will people read my book?'

Kami does not chew on unfortunate things. But she is, actually, quite a lot like me: I wanted to write a book full of goofy humour, one where I could relax a little and let my voice out more, and my voice is a TERRIBLE GOOFBALL. So the narrator of the book had to be like me in that way: we had to have similar senses of humour.

We also share a love for words and a similar dress sense: I like for a girl to be cool and wear very girly vintage frocks, or sparkly scarfs: to have fun with clothes and remain awesome and not be characterised as shallow for thinking about clothes sometimes. 

Still, Kami's much more energetic and dedicated to news reporting than me. She's a little me, a little Lois Lane and Nancy Drew, mostly her own. ;)

I love the way your write relationships. They're flawed, beautiful, romantic, heartbreaking, and always leaving me wanting more. How would you describe the relationship Kami and Jared have?

Aw, thank you! *blushes delicately, hides face* Well. I'm going to talk about this using the snippets of poems I use in Unspoken, if that's cool!

I think we all long for someone who will innately understand us, the idea of something like a soulmate --'Somewhere or other there must surely be, the face not seen, the voice not heard'--Christina Rossetti--and your imaginary friend would be that to you, and more: someone you could utterly trust without ever seeing them.

But then there's the flip side of relationships, the worry about losing your own independence, your individuality, that letting someone in THAT MUCH would be scary-- I feel that I shall stand/Henceforth in thy shadow. Nevermore/Alone upon the threshold of my door - Elizabeth Barrett Browning--and how much more scary if they were in your mind? If they were in your mind and suddenly a real person, capable of making real demands?

Theirs is a complicated relationship, in which they have to negotiate trust, in which they depend on each other, in which they sass each other while fighting crime, in which they balance need and want. So, and now I'm going to quote YOU: flawed, but hopefully beautiful. That's what I was going for.


* I seriously love the character sketches of Sarah's characters. Here's one of both Jared & Kami (images taken from Sarah Rees Brennan's site here)

You always have this perfect balance of romance, action, fun, suspense, and snark in your books, which I love. Which of these elements do you find the easiest to write/create?

Aw, thank you again! *blushes more, becomes dizzy from rush of blood to head, falls down on floor*  

The humour in my books is the easiest thing. Oh, I always have to cut down on it a lot, I could write forty pages of characters sassing each other and be perfectly happy. I have a sickness. That said, I find it easy to write, but reading back over it I always have the sinking sensation that I am not funny at all and have made a complete fool of myself!

I do love having a mix, though. I'd be bored with all action or all romance, but I always want plenty of both. I'd even be bored with sass all the time (I mean, like ninety per cent of the time is cool...) so I'm going to keep on mixing and hope you keep on liking!

What was one of your favorite scenes or chapters to write? Why?

Oh well. There are quite a few. I love several of the scenes where everyone is just being really weird, in all the different ways the characters are weird: when our heroine pulls her best friend into a cupboard, or two of the characters who aren't dating stage a dramatic break-up.

And I like most of the scenes with property damage.

There is one scene I pretty much lifted from life, though. Maureen Johnson and I once broke into a darkened gym and swimming pool. It was a crime. We were not properly dressed. We are bad people: it was my idea. I put it in the book, but I gave them a better reason for doing it than we had...

Can you can tell us, what does one do to celebrate their book's release?

It all depends on where you are and who you're with! I've had dinners out, been on tour, dinners in with special cupcakes... This time, I'm in France with Cassie Clare and Josh Lewis, Holly Black and Theo Black, Robin Wasserman and Maureen Johnson, and we're going to go out to dinner. They offered to take me to the seaside but I told them I might be too overcome. I shall sit in the herb garden and play with our French kitten and murmur wanly 'I hope people like my book' as the others come and sprinkle me with lavender water. (I should probably tell them that's what I want them to do...)

They're cruel people. They may throw me in the pool after half an hour of this carry-on. 

Many of us MM's love the tweets/posts that happen during the writing retreats you, Cassie (Cassandra Clare) and Holly (Holly Black) go on. Inquiring minds really (really) want to know, how much writing really gets done when are on your writing retreats?

We really do get crazy amounts of writing done. Way more than I get done at home, when there will not be people around me working, or saying 'ice cream in a thousand words' or discussing what they've done over dinner and shaming you. Cassie especially is a machine: you hear her keyboard going off like constant gunshots while the rest of us are flopping about like fish on the shore, talking about Jeanette Winterson or our favourite sorbet. And whenever you're stuck, you have a team to help you out, so you flap your hands about and go 'My characters make no sense!' or 'Help I just set a building on fire and I don't know why' and there is someone to help you: usually I just wail to my uncaring toaster.

Occasionally we'll hand one of our computers over to another, and that person will type stuff in real quick. (Usually that person is me. I'm in your computers violating your writing boundaries: now if you think you spy an SRB sentence in a book not by me, you MAY BE RIGHT.)

Last year in Mexico I was writing Untold, the sequel to Unspoken, and Cassie was writing City of Lost Souls (this information will also tell you how much crazier Cassie's publishing schedule is than anyone else's!) and we got stuck in a crazed cycle of competition, both trying to write ten thousand words a day. She can do faster, more consistently, but I have strange bursts of speed. Came the day when I was like 'SOUNDLY DEFEATED, MADAM, I have done it!' 'Jesus,' she said. 'When's your deadline?' 'Deadline?' I said innocently. 'I don't have a deadline yet for this book. I just wanted to win.'

I think she tried to throw me in a fountain, but she's tiny small, so she did not succeed...

Are you able to tell us a little about what we can except in the book second installment in The Lynburn Legacy?

Well, you guys may know my trilogy rule: book 1, set up, book 2, make out, book 3, defeat evil! I really do mean it, so that's a hint. I don't just mean making out--first book is where we meet most of the characters, see their situation and how it develops, see who they are and how they feel, and then book two is where you take those characters, their relationships, their situations, and change them--shake them up--take it a step up. Intensify everything and bring irrevocable change. And then in book three, tie everything up and do something nobody expects as well...

So book 2: kissing! Change! And as the theme of Unspoken and its cover is autumn, the theme of Untold is winter: the winter of our discontent, a time of cold and loneliness and wishing for warmth, the fear that it will be always winter (and never Christmas). Learning the secret of despair, and the secret of independence, and the secret of what you really want, at the end of everything.

Also my main characters go on a crime spree!

SPEED ROUND QUESTIONS:

* Where's your favorite place to write? --A place with my friends. ;)

* If you could take a writing trip anywhere in the world, where it you go? --France is pretty good. But I'd love to go to Tuscany!

* What's one upcoming YA release you're looking forward to reading? --The Diviners by Libba Bray! She's a genius and a creepy-crawly horror in the roaring twenties... what's not to love?

* Are you team ShadowHunter or team Hot Boys With Swords? --Team Hot Boys With Swords! Hey, I love Cassie and Shadowhunters, but Hot Boys With Swords is my team, and the team of the Princess Bride, and many Very Handsome Historical Dramas Including That One Pride And Prejudice Scene and Pirates of the Caribbean! It's like a hot guy army with swords. None can resist.

* Happy Endings or Cliff Hangers? -- Happy endings for the last book, cliffhangers for the others. ;) The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last!

* Summer or Fall? -- Summer! I love the friendly yellow eye of the sun and like to sit out sunning myself to the dismay of my friends. Jennifer Lynn Barnes, author extraordinaire,'s father met me and was like 'Aren't the Irish meant to be pale?' and she was like 'Not if she NEVER COMES INSIDE or WEARS SUNSCREEN.' (Kids, always wear sunscreen! I am very silly.)

* What's one must have item you need when writing? -- Well, my computer's pretty important. And a cup of tea! I can occasionally substitute with another beverage, like raspberry or pomegranate juice, but only when there isn't too much blood in my caffeine system...

**********

Thank you Sarah for visiting with us today! Now you guys can see why Sarah isn't just one of my favorite authors, she's one of my favorite people! If you ever get the chance to meet her in person I HIGHLY recommend that you do. IF by chance you're planning on attending the Austin Teen Book Festival, than you'll get your chance to meet her! 

I also HIGHLY recommend that you go pick up UNSPOKEN!

About the Book:


Published by: Random House
Released on: September 11th, 2012 TODAY
Purchase from: Random House | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him? - quoted from Goodreads


You can find out more about The World of the Lynburn here, and the Characters here.

About The Author:


Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. The books most often found under her desk were Jane Austen, Margaret Mahy, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, and she still loves them all today.

After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. She began working on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.

Sarah’s newest book is Unspoken, a romantic Gothic mystery about a girl named Kami Glass, who discovers her imaginary friend is Jared Lynburn. He is one of the mysterious Lynburn family who have returned to the sinister manor on the hill that looms over her town, and who may or may not be involved in dark deeds in the woods. It’s lucky that she’s a sassy girl reporter determined to discover all the secrets that have been kept from her by the town, Jared, and her own family.

Follow Sarah via her Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook 

Remembering 9.11.01

(image found on google/facebook)

It's hard to believe it's been 11 years since the attacks of 9/11 rocked our country. I wasn't in NYC then, but I still remember the exact moment when these attacks were announced. I remember what I was doing, how I felt, and how the mood in the office I worked in at the time changed into something of utter disbelief, shock, worry, and heartbreak. There is so much that can be said about the events that happened that day. This act of terrorism might have ripped a huge whole in our hearts, and our country, but it also united us as a nation in unspeakable way. There's much that has changed since then, but one thing will always remain the same on 9/11, the moment of silence we each take to honor those who lost their lives that day. From the heroes in the air, to the many heroes on the ground who rushed in to save others not giving a second thought to their own lives, to those who tragically lost their lives, and to those who's lives were forever altered and changed. You are always in our hearts, and we will never forget you.

Twitter Tuesday - YALSA Poll




We here at Mundie Moms adore YALSA for their work with teens and librarians, so imagine our delight when we noticed that they've been having fun with their Monday Poll.
 
Last week, they asked readers to vote for their favorite fictional boarding school (Hogwarts won, but many voted for Gallagher Academy...stop me before I digress into a daydream about Mr. Solomon...or yes, School of America in Paris with Anna and Etienne), and this week, it's time to vote for the worst. Hmmmm, Hecate Hall (from Rachel Hawkins Hex Hall series) anyone? Pemberly Brown (from the Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker)? Wait, where's Wallingford from Holly Black's Curseworkers series?
 
Be sure to vote here for the worst fictional boarding school, and hey while you're clicking things, follow YALSA on twitter for all the latest news on teen reads, their conferences and their resources for authors and publishers.

Labels