The Infernal Devices #1  August 2010 On Sale: August 31, 2010 Featuring: Tessa Gray 496 pages ISBN: 1416975861 EAN: 9781416975861 Hardcover $19.99 Add to Wish List Young Adult Romance, Young Adult Adventure Buy at Amazon.com Favorite YA RITA nomination Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still. When sixteen-year-old – crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Down-world, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gas-lit streets. Only the Shadow-hunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos. Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Down-worlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own. Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadow-hunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon…

A long time ago, an agent told me I would never succeed in the publishing biz unless I picked one already-established genre and stuck with it for several years. I didn’t listen to her despite the fact that I was trying to sell something unheard of – science fiction blended with steamy romance. Today’s readers know it better as futuristic romance. I had also written a suspense thriller containing steamy romance and a comedic category which had plenty of…you guessed it, steamy romance. I received a lot of rejections but eventually I got a foot in one door, then another and another. After I sold all of those, I spread my writing even further, into time-travel, alternate universe, ghost and angel stories and had a screenplay produced. More recently, I did a few non-fiction metaphysical works. And now I’ve added erotic romance to my bibliography. So it’s perfectly normal for me to be working on a new erotic romance series that involves time-travel, ghosts, and an old luxury hotel on an island that’s actually an inter-dimensional portal controlled by supernatural beings. In ZENITH RISING, the first book in the Crystal Island series released by Ellora’s Cave, I got to do…

I love chatting with book groups, and one of the topics they ask about most often is how much liberty I’ve taken with Victorian society. They point out that my characters don’t always fit in with the stereotypes we have of how people in the 19th century behaved. I have married characters who enjoy working partnerships with each other; I also have characters who engage in illicit sexual relationships. I have women making their own decisions about money, and I have characters who are gay. Sound outrageously modern for Victorian times? You might think so, but the truth is that Victorians were far more like us than we often think. The 19th century was a time of tremendous change in every possible aspect of daily life. From technology to property rights, the Victorian age was marked by vast changes. A person born at the start of Victoria’s reign would have been accustomed to candlelight and ox carts; by the end of her life, electricity and motorcars were fast becoming the norm. They invented department stores and escalators; they started the practice of seaside holidays and ski vacations. Women who would have scorned cosmetics in the early 19th century were discreetly…