The Nephilim Ball: “An event enjoyed by Downworlders, Shadowhunters & Mundanes alike”

Cassandra Clare's "City of Fallen Angels" tour hit Sydney, Australia, a couple of days ago and a special event was held, the Nephilim Ball. One of our readers--Jemina--was able to attend the event and recapped the night for those of us who weren't lucky enough to be there: "The Nephilim Ball at Sydney’s ArtHouse Hotel was definitely an event enjoyed by Downworlders, Shadowhunters & Mundane’s alike. My friend Rachael & I attended, all corsets, heels & shadowhunter marks abound.  The festivities kicked off around 6pm with our UnSeelie Court Queen host (who did a fantastic job of advising everyone through the night) running through a general welcome and the events of the evening, which included autographs, trivia, best dressed comp, dancing & Q&A with Cassandra Clare. "Rachael & I met Cassie not too far into the evening to get our books signed. I had City of Fallen Angels, and Rach had City of Ashes.  I gave Cassie the prints of my paintings of her characters, & she was incredibly lovely about it and said because I had given her something, she would then give me something – I got a stele! Well, a pen, but it looks like a stele, so the fangirl in me was happy about that! Pretty neat huh? {{:oD I wish I had asked her to sign a copy of my paintings for me, but the line was huge & I didn’t want to cause a fuss or risk a ‘no’.  I do think though that you can’t have a good night out without at least one regret to make it complete! {{:o) "The effort put into some of the Downworlder & Shadowhunter costumes was amazing. I lost count of how many Izzy’s there were; she was by far the most popular character to attend the ball. We had a few Jace’s, including a girls brother who had no idea what these books were about, but had somehow been convinced to attend, sans shirt, and covered in Shadowhunter marks. There were a few Magnus Bane’s, however one of them definitely did an amazing job of their costume & won the prize for best dressed! Alot of Clary’s attended, and really, any of the guys not dressed up could have been Simon or Alec, I wasn’t checking for particulars. I saw one Tessa from Clockwork Prince, but I can’t recall seeing anyone else aside from myself & the one Tessa dressed from The Infernal Devices.  Although I didn’t win the costume competition, it was enough to be a part of something so fun that everyone in the room had an interest in.  I do wish though that I weren’t so dreadful in front of crowds; as soon as I was on the stage & Cassie asked me to explain my costume [which she said she loved! yay!], well, if you know me, it was a super-fast answer, a curtsey to the crowd, and a rush of the stage as far as my aching feet could carry me! *nerves!* "The crowd was great though. I spoke with a few random people, a girl dressed in a cape who had drawn her own marks on her arm came and chatted with us for a bit. Everyone was taking pics of everyone and the overall atmosphere was really fun and easy. It was also a bit of a musical education for me – I recognised maybe 5 songs from the whole night – Rach had to keep telling me who sang what.  Oh, the music these youngin’s listen to these days {{;o) "A goldfish bowl of questions written by attendees of the ball was given to Cassie shortly into the event and she kindly answered the questions, even the stranger ones, with alot of humour and good grace." Now for the Q & A. (Note from Jem: "The answers are not exact phrasing as I was trying to pay attention & my fingers can’t type that fast on my iphone!")

Q: Where did you get the idea for Jace’s mango?
A: It was based on a true story. A friend of Cassie’s was with her in Alphabet City..  ..they went to the shops to buy food and wound up with a mango and a can of condensed soup.   The girl [who asked Jace if she could touch his mango]; she doesn’t know where that came from.

Q: Jalec
A: [someone definitely likes the idea of Jace & Alec!]

Q: Do you have any advice for new writers?
A: Write everyday. Even if it’s only 300 words. [There was more to this answer but I didn’t get it down!]

Q: Can you please give us a clue about Tessa’s parents?
A: You will find out more about Tessa’s parents in Clockwork Prince. Tessa is not adopted.

Q: Who is your favourite character & why?
A: Simon is most like Cassie. He has no special powers, he wanders into this world & kind of gets screwed over. That’s what would probably happen to [Cassie].  Tessa is also alot like Cassie. She is such a reader.  Magnus is the most fun to write.

Q: Jalec
A: …

Q: What makes Jace so sexy? [or some question to that effect]
A: Jace thinks he is the best thing in the room, and he actually is.  [That is a direct quote, and was definitely a crowd pleaser!]

Q: What was your favourite book to write?
A: Always that one that [Cassie] is writing at the moment. [There was more to this answer but I didn’t get it down!]

Q: What compelled you to write 2 series at the same time?
A: Insanity [jks!]  [I cannot remember the exact answer, however I believe Cassie said she wrote COB, and was then approached by a graphic novel company to write a graphic novel.  Unfortunately the company ended up going bust, so she took it to Simon & Schuster, who thought it would be better as novels, instead of a graphic novel.  Please correct me if I got that wrong anyone!]

Q: Who is Tessa going to end up with?
A: I think you’ll be surprised [OMG WHA??]

Q: Jalec
A: …

Q: Tell us more about the Dirty Sexy Balcony Scene [DSBS]
A: It takes place at a party, a masquerade ball, and there may be a certain amount of confusion going on [as to who is who].  [Interesting story from Cassie about how the DSAS was actually originally called ‘dirty’ cause it was a dirty alley, not because of the ‘dirty’ scene taking place in it! lolz @ this]

Q: Do you prefer your eggs boiled or scrambled? [err..]
A: Cassie doesn’t care. She then told a story about eggs. [I was a bit confused as to the nature of the question, and didn’t pick up on the story ’til she got the part about there being a naked man cooking eggs, there was a photo taken, the man saw Cassie & her friend. The man proceeded to do a little dance. Cassie also noted that it didn’t seem quite safe to be cooking eggs without protection or some such – again, very funny!]

Q: What made you think Clary should have red hair?
A: Cassie had bright red hair as a child. She read alot of books and the heroines always were atypical blondes etc.  She felt that girls with red hair never got to be the love interest and get the sexy guy. Clary does.

Q: Jem or Alec?
A: Jem, cause Alec would not be interested in her [Cassie].  Je

m’s hot. Cassie like’s Jem.  Not that [Cassie] doesn’t like Alec, cause she does.

Q: Will & Magnus. Explain.
A: Will goes to Magnus ’cause literally he cannot think of anyone else to go to. Must involve magic. Cannot say more than that.

Q: Jalec
A: …

Q: When will Jace & Clary have sex?
A: Now [after CoFA] is really not the best time.  When the time is right.

Q: What is your playlist for writing your books?
A: http://www.cassandraclare.com/cms/playlists

Q: Jace or Will?
A: Depends.

Q: Who are you anyway? My girlfriend dragged me to this, I better get sex.
A: Just lots of laughs from everyone!

Q: You are awesome
A: No, you guys are awesome!

Some other comments Cassie made in relation to questions I missed writing down:

She always wanted Magnus to be interested in Alec – she just didn’t know he was going to be interested back.

Simon and Clary will remain friends.

Jace’s birthday is in the winter.

The word ‘Jalec’ kept appearing on maybe 6+ pieces of paper in the fish bowl. Cassie invited the girls who submitted it to come up on stage to explain. The crowd was cracking up so much through the Q&A, it was all very entertaining & Cassie was so funny with her answers.

Be sure to head over to Jeminabox.com to read more plus photos from the event.