Now that we are in the home stretch, there will be a lot of fun things happening to lead us to the release of City of Fallen Angels next Tuesday. A lot of us have spent all day thinking, “Oh man! A week from now I will have read COFA! I’ll know everything!” Wait, that was just me? Oh. Okay. Well, you should be thinking it, too!

First up on the Fun Things of the Week train is this interview from Hollywood Crush, in which Holly Black interviews Cassie about the books, the upcoming movie, and actor (read: Jace) gossip! Check it out. If you can’t right now but are swooning at the very mention of Jace’s name, here’s what Cassie had to say:

“Well, the fans love Alex Pettyfer, and at this point I feel like I know him, though we’ve never spoken,” she laughed. “He’d be a great Jace, but I know that he’s got a lot of projects on his plate, so it sounds like he’s choosing what would be the best fit for him. There’s definitely other fan favorites for Jace, too.”

Speaking of interviews, ReelzChannel is accepting questions from fans for Cassie for an interview they’ll do with her in the coming weeks. So head on over here to their comment thread and leave your questions about the movie!

As for the COFA trailer, Cassie had this to say:

This Saturday will kick off a round of video content leading up to the release of City of Fallen Angels on Tuesday. Entertainment Weekly will debut everything on their Shelf Life column:

http://shelf-life.ew.com/

The videos include a trailer for City of Fallen Angels, interviews with Ed Westwick and Molly Quinn who recorded the audiobook, and a even a short film shot from the point of view of a new character in City of Fallen Angels. The first video will debut on Saturday at approximately 9am eastern (NY) time, and then the same time Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Happy watching, and only 7 days till City of Fallen Angels is released!

Stoked? I am!

And finally, a bloopers/behind the scenes video from the COFA trailer shoot, thanks to Vania, the awesome person behind the camera. Check it out below!

7 days! Only 7 more days!

First and foremost, today is the day! Last weekend, I asked you to participate in the Harry Potter Alliance‘s Borders Day to raise money for a Brooklyn charter school’s library. You didn’t disappoint! Those of you who submitted receipts spent more than $300 combined, a percentage of which will go from Borders to the school’s library. Awesome, right?

The winner was generated by a random number generator and will receive a signed, personalized copy of City of Fallen Angels (the edition from B&N that has the letter from Jace to Clary) shortly after Cassandra Clare’s May 3rd signing in NYC.

The winner is…

…

….

….

SAMANTHA! I’ll be e-mailing you right after this post to get your information. Congrats!

And now on to other fun things!

As we all know, CoFA will be released next Tuesday. For a while now, we’ve been talking on Twitter about different things we’d love to see in the trending topics. #Jace, #CoFA, #MaxIronsForJace, to name a few. Well, next Monday is the night we’re going to make #COFA happen!

At 8 PM EST on Apirl 4, 2011, Mundie Source will be hosting a COFA release party on Twitter. I’m still working out whether to use BlogTV or Livestream to lead discussions and chats and trending strategy, so check the Mundie Source twitter and here on MS for information closer to the day of the party. In order to get COFA on the trending topics, we’ll need a lot of people in a lot of places, so we’re going to have to spread this around like wildfire!

COFA Release Twitter Party Information:

• Even though the party officially begins at 8 EST, feel free to use the hashtag all day!
• Please, please, please tag all tweets between 8 PM and midnight with #COFA.
• Twitter trending topics are based on volume of unique tweets and how far the hashtag spreads around the world. For us to really get #COFA trending, we’ll have to have a lot of people tweeting unique tweets with #COFA as the tag. I’ll explain this more next Sunday.
• Invite your friends to join in and be part of something awesome!
• There will be prizes, including another signed copy of COFA to be sent out after Cassie’s May 3rd signing in NYC, for people participating in the twitter party.
• We will also be having a discussion about expectations and predictions for COFA, dream casting for the movie, and other fun topics that fans bring up!

Follow @MundieSource to keep up with further information and make sure you’re online next Monday to join in the festivities and count down to COFA!

Cassie has just released the Seelie Court scene from City of Ashes from Jace’s point of view. Click here to go straight to it! She titled it “Because It Is Bitter” because “boy, is Jace bitter here.”

Enjoy! And check back tomorrow to find out who wins the Borders Day contest!

There is a deleted scene from the COFA trailer that was dubbed “too hot” and has been given its very own release! It’s called the Dirty Sexy Alley Scene and you can start the treasure hunt right here on Cassie Clare’s blog. All you have to do is go to each of the blogs and collect the letters. They make up a Mortal Instruments-related word that you can use as the password at the end of the hunt.

Enjoy!

EDIT: If you didn’t get to see it through the password or if you just want to watch it again, here it is!

 Yes, you read that right! As you all know, City of Fallen Angels will be released on April 5, 2011. It is under a strict embargo, so I obviously can’t give one away and send it out now, but read on to find out how a personalized, signed copy of COFA can be yours!

Most of you probably don’t know that I am a volunteer for the Harry Potter Alliance, an organization that strives to do good things in the name of Harry Potter. We have raised money for disaster relief, collected more than 50,000 book donations, and continue to work toward a better world each day.

During March, we at the HPA are working to collect books for a charter school in Brooklyn that lacks a library. While we are sure we will be successful in getting a ton of books for the children at this school, we are also hoping to go one step further and help them make this library a reality–by giving them money for shelves and other necessities. 

Where do you come in, you may ask?

This coming weekend (March 19 & 20), the HPA has partnered with Borders. For every purchase made with this coupon (which can be used both online and in stores), Borders will donate a portion of the money from that purchase to the HPA, which we will then turn around and give to the school.

You can order something online (pre-order COFA! Buy Clockwork Angel! Etc.!) or head to a Borders store and get yourself a latte. Any purchase made with the coupon will help build this school a library, no matter what size. When you make your purchase, keep your receipt. Take a picture or scan it in and send an e-mail to Submissions @ Mundiesource . net (without the spaces) with Borders Day in the subject line. If you just want to show the date on the receipt, that’s fine, too. As long as it is a purchase made on those two days, I’ll assume you’re not lying about using the coupon. Online orders are the same–just copy and paste whatever you feel proves your purchase.

You have until March 26th e-mail proof that you used the coupon. On the 27th, I’ll announce the winner. The winner is promised a copy of COFA, signed and personalized by Cassandra Clare when she comes to NYC on May 3 (tentative date). It will be mailed out as soon as it is signed.

Unfortunately, this contest is only open to US residents. But I have other things coming up that will be open internationally, so don’t fret, overseas fans!

If you have any questions, leave them below. I tried to be as clear as possible, but something here may be confusing.

Cassie just posted this on Twitter, saying she promised the Google Group something special when they hit 5,000 members. So here is a deleted scene from Clockwork Prince, with spoilers cut out.

The darkness came and went in waves that grew ever slower. Tessa was beginning to feel lighter, less like an awful weight was pressing her down. She wondered how much time had passed. It was night in the infirmary, and she could see Will a few beds away from her, a curled figure under the blankets, dark head pillowed on his arm. Brother Enoch had given him a tisane to drink once the [redacted] was cut out of his skin, and he had fallen asleep almost instantly, thank God. The sight of him in that much pain had been more harrowing than she could have imagined.

She was in a clean white nightgown now; someone must have cut away her blood-stiffened clothes and washed her hair before bandaging her — it lay softly over his shoulders, no longer twisted into rat-tails of tangles and drying blood.

‘Tessa,” came a whispered voice. “Tess?”

Only Will calls me that. She opened her eyes, but it was Jem seated on the side of her bed, looking down at her. The moonlight spilling through the high ceilings turned him almost transparent, an ethereal angel, all silver but for the gold chain at his throat.

He smiled. “You’re awake.”

“I’ve been awake here and there.” She coughed. “Enough to know I’m all right besides a crack on the head. A lot of fuss about nothing —” Tessa’s eyes dropped, and she saw that Jem was carrying something in his hands: a thick mug of some liquid that sent up a fragrant steam.

“What’s that?”

“One of Brother Enoch’s tisanes,” said Jem. “It will help you sleep.”

“All I’ve been doing is sleeping!”

“And very amusing it is to watch,” said Jem. “Did you know you twitch your nose when you sleep, like a rabbit?”

“I do not,” she said, with a whispered laugh.

“You do,” he said. “Fortunately, I like rabbits.” He handed her the cup. “Drink just a little,” He said. “It is right for you to sleep. Brother Enoch says to think of the wounds and shocks to your spirit as you would think of wounds and shocks to your body. You must rest the injured part of yourself before you begin to heal.”

Tessa was dubious, but she took a sip of the tisane anyway, and then another. It had a pleasant taste, like cinnamon. Barely had she swallowed the second mouthful when a feeling of exhaustion swept over her. Jem took the cup and she lay back against the pillows, listening to his soft voice telling her a story about a beautiful young woman whose husband had died building the Great Wall of China, and who had cried so much over his loss that she had turned into a silvery fish and swum away across a river. As Tessa drifted off into dreams, she felt his gentle hands take the cup from her and set it down on the bedside table. She wanted to thank him, but she was already asleep.

I’m on Team Jem, so I love it! What do you think?

Hi, everyone! In the weeks leading up to the release of City of Fallen Angels, there are going to be a few videos coming our way to build up the hype. The first video is embedded below and it catches you up on the first three books (and also totally makes you want to reread them for the next few weeks!). Check it out and let us know what you think! (The videos are done by VLC Productions. Let her know what you think, as well!)