As you may have heard, Cassandra Clare has announced plans to write a 4th book in the Mortal Instruments series!  The book, City of Fallen Angels, is set to be released in March 2011.   To read the fill press release, click here!

Love, blood, betrayal and revenge — the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels. Simon Lewis is having some trouble adjusting to his new life as a vampire, especially now that he hardly sees his best friend Clary, who is caught up in training to be a Shadowhunter—and spending time with her new boyfriend Jace. Not to mention that Simon doesn’t quite know how to handle the pressure of not-quite-dating two girls at once. What’s a daylight-loving vampire to do? Simon decides he needs a break and heads out of the city—only to discover that sinister events are following him. Realizing that the war they thought they’d won might not yet be over, Simon has to call on his Shadowhunter friends to save the day — if they can put their own splintering relationships on hold long enough to rise to the challenge.

“Simon has always been one of my favorite characters to write about, and I’m excited to get the chance to tell his story while revisiting some of the other characters that I love form The Mortal Instruments series,” said Cassandra Clare. “The enthusiasm for telling Simon’s story that I’ve received from the team at McElderry Books and Simon & Schuster has been great and I’m excited to be working with them to bring a fourth book to the series.”

Cassie Clare also hosted an online chat tonight where the author answered many questions about City of Fallen Angels!  Below I am posting some of the Q&A session, which was great!  BEWARE OF SPOILERS!  DO NOT READ BELOW THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON’T WANT THE JUICY DETAILS!

OK, I got as much of the chat as I could before they cleared it.  I will post their transcript when it becomes available!

Cassandra Clare: Hi guys!

Cassandra Clare: Well, I’m sure most of you have already seen it! But the news was . . .

Cassandra Clare: That there will be a fourth MI book and that the film rights for the MI series were optioned by Unique Features.

Cassandra Clare: So if you have questions about those things, we can have a whack at answering them in an orderly way. 🙂

Katieb: Have you already started writing book 4?

Cassandra Clare: Katie, I have NOT started writing book four. I have written the proposal for the publisher, but that’s it.

merrickmayfair: My biggest question is where Simon’s story will pick up.

Cassandra Clare: Simon’s story picks up about four weeks after the end of Glass.

ClaryFray: Will you possibly be able to draft the screenplay for the movies???

Cassandra Clare: ClaryFray: They already have someone writing the screenplay.

Izzy: Will Isabelle Lightwood play any part in the book, any part significant?

Cassandra Clare: Izzy: Yes, Isabelle is in CoFA (that’s book 4) %u2014 she has an important part.

Pixie&Kimmy: OK, Cassandra, who would you pick(IF it was possible) to play Clary?

Cassandra Clare: I like Molly Quinn. She’s on the TV show Castle.

Kara O: Why do you keep ragging on Hoboken?

Cassandra Clare: Kara: Because my best friend lived there while I was writing the book and I had to poke fun at her. I quite like Hoboken.

nahotep: Will film title be “mortal instruments” or a “city’ title?

Cassandra Clare: Nahotep: I don’t have any idea what they’d call the movies.

juicyjace.: Is jace significant in book four?!

Cassandra Clare: Juicyjace: I see you are very determined! Yes, Jace is in book four.

Katieb: Is there a wedding with Jocelyn and Luke in book 4?

Cassandra Clare: Katieb: They’re planning their wedding in Book 4.

ClaryFray: Cassie — have you spoken with Unique & will they allow you to offer suggestions or guidance for the movies??

Cassandra Clare: Claryfray: I have a meeting set up with Unique this fall so I’ll discuss with them then, but they’ve been very open so far.

BookWorm: Cassandra, Can you please explain the Infernal Devices a little bit more…?PLease.

Cassandra Clare: Bookworm: What do you want to know?

Emeseis: Cassie do you ever read Fanfic for the series?

Cassandra Clare: Emeseis: I don’t, but I totally support people writing it.

HUZAH!: Do you know who is directing it? 🙂

Cassandra Clare: HUzah: There’s no director yet.

LoriLongbottom: What do you think influenced your writing the most?

Cassandra Clare: Lorilongbottom: there’d be too many to list.

Ms. SoNotAMundie: Cassie, can you share some of your influences in the imagery department, there was a question about influences in general up above I thought I’d be more specific.

Cassandra Clare: Ms. SoNotAMundie: Edward Eager, E. Nesbit, Tolkein, CS Lewis, Arthur Ransome, Alan Gardner, Madeleine L%u2019Engle, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, Phillip Pullman and Dorothy Dunnett.

BookWorm: Cassandra, who is you favorite character in Infer Devices?

Cassandra Clare: BookWorm: Right now I’m between Will and Jem in ID. Kind of like Tessa. I like them both!

nahotep: I worship those authors. Dorothy Dunnet = the best historical fiction EVER!

Cassandra Clare: I love both Dorothys. Sayers and Dunnett.

Rosie: Hey Cassie! I just wanted to say I’m so excited to see the Steampunk elements to the new series!! Is Steampunk something you always planed to play with?

Cassandra Clare: Rosie: I love steampunk, and I wanted to write a whole steampunk epic at one point. I had to content myself with including steampunk elements.

sheacox: When you get around to it, I would love to know who your author influences are, Cassandra? Who do you like to read?

Cassandra Clare: Sheacox: I listed a long list of author influences earlier if you can scroll up… I would also add Charles deLint and Ellen Kushner.

ClaryFray: Cassandra ….. I know from the release that Simon needs help from the Shadowhunters in CoFA ….. will he go to Alicante – IE, are Jace & Clary in Idris? Or are they back at the institute?

Cassandra Clare: ClaryFray: None of book 4 currently takes place in Idris.

Lisa McMann: Hey Cassie! Just stopped by to say hey and congrats on all the great news. Miss Spoobin misses you. xo

Cassandra Clare: Hi Lisa! How’s the spoon? 😀

Krysalbe: is it in NYC then?

Cassandra Clare: It’s half in NYC and half in an unnamed small town.

Kalaziel: Where did you get the idea for Idris and Alicante, both are such amazing places?

Cassandra Clare: Kalaziel: Alicante is based geographically on an Italian town called san Gimignano.

Jamie: Cassandra How much Magnus will be in the new series?

Cassandra Clare: Jamie: There is lots of Magnus in the ID series.

Jessica (SimonFan): Hi Cassandra. With the addition of the 4th MI book we’ll now have stories from Shadowhunter and vampire viewpoints. Have you ever considered doing a story about one of the werewolves, like Maia, or the faeries?

Cassandra Clare: Jessica: Well, the whole ID series is warlock viewpoint, pretty much.

Care: can you tell us anything about magnus and his lady friend? or is that too much info?

Cassandra Clare: Care: Magnus’ lady friend is called Camille, and she’s a vampire.

Jen (silentjen): Cassie – do you have a favorite character to write?

Cassandra Clare: Jen: Magnus and Will are my most fun characters to write at the moment.

TimeStandStill: How is a warlock different from a wizard?? Dumb question??

Cassandra Clare: Timestandstill: Well, there aren’t wizards in my books. Warlocks and witches. I suppose all fantasy writers choose the vocabulary they want to use.

HUZAH!: Is there any chance your going to do any book signings in England? “P

Cassandra Clare: Huzah: You know, I just did a tour of England in July. 🙂

Kristen: Cassandra – do you think you’ll ever delve into a genre other than paranormal fantasy?

Cassandra Clare: Kristen: I have an updated take on Pride and Prejudice I always wanted to write but who knows when I will have time.

Ms. SoNotAMundie: You mentioned Clary is going through Shadowhunter training in CoFA. Will we see what the training is all about? Or just mentions?

Cassandra Clare: Ms. SoNotAMundie: There is a certain amount of complaining on Clary’s part about how boring training is.

Kalaziel: Cassandra: With everyone else’s relationships moving on, where do you see Clary and jace going? Are they a long term thing of a Teenage romance?

Cassandra Clare: Kalaziel: Well, I think the issue of what’s going on with Jace and Clary will be explored in CoFA.

Care: I wouldn’t mind seeing Clary and Jace all hot with training! I know you talked about this on your blog though

Cassandra Clare: Care: As Clary notes in book 4, half of training is memorizing vocabulary and looking at maps.

Lakien: Any chance you might make a tour in Brazil when MI is published here? They say it should be by the end of next year

Cassandra Clare: Lakien: The only way I’d end up doing a tour in Brazil would be if the books were HUGE bestsellers there. Otherwise they’d never go for it.

juicyjace.: cassie is there any way you can make the book realease for COFA for march 2010. haha 😀

Cassandra Clare: JuicyJace: You have no idea how fast my poor publisher has to hustle to get a book that isn’t going to be finished until next year out by March 2011!

Irazte: Cassie: in any of the books that are going to be released, will we be able to see more of the faeries? I think of all, they are the least understood race.

Cassandra Clare: Iratze: Well, I’ve always kept the faeries in the background somewhat so as to preserve their mystery.

Cassandra Clare: I don’t know who I’d want to play Valentine. Someone hot. Nothing comes to mind. 😀

Cassandra Clare: Viggo would be good. James Marsters maybe.

Cassandra Clare: I would be happy if they cast Johnny Depp in all the parts.

BookWorm: Cassandra have you read The Gemma Doyle books?

Cassandra Clare: Bookworm: Of course! Look in the back of Rebel Angels and Sweet Far Thing, you’ll see Libba thanks me for helping with the books.

Cassandra Clare: Good books I read lately: Look out for Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl

Krysalbe: What are Izzy and Alec up to in the new book??

Cassandra Clare: Krysalbe: Alec is off being with Magnus. In Europe. Izzy is dating Simon, sort of.

quoththeraven929: I’ve counted about two different references to Holly Black’s Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside in your books. Are there references to any other series?

Cassandra Clare: Quottheraven: I reference Holly specifically because she is my writing partner. You can also find a mention of Jace in her newest book.

Cassandra Clare: Valentine is pronounced like the holiday.

Cassandra Clare: Huzah; Jace and Clary start out book 4 as a couple.

mom2six: Sorry if it’s been addressed, which will come first, Infernal Devices or City of Fallen Angels?

Cassandra Clare: mom2six: The Clockwork Angel comes first. (Sept 2010.) Then CoFA (March 2011.)

ClaryFray: Cassie ….. with all that is going on with shadowhunter training & Simon’s being a daylighter, do they still attend public school in New York as well?

Cassandra Clare: ClaryFray: Simon goes to public school in CoFA. Clary does not.