‘Chain of Gold’ pushed back to 2020

I’ve got sad news for Cassandra Clare’s readers today. Cassie just sent an email to her newsletter subscribers to announce that Chain of Gold is unfortunately getting pushed back to 2020.
Here’s what she wrote:

So this is my least favorite kind of announcement and the kind I try to avoid having to make. Unfortunately, the time has come where the situation has pretty much been decided for me.

For most of my adult life, I’ve suffered from pretty severe endometriosis. It’s a disease that affects ten percent of women. Lots of you may be familiar with it because of that. What a lot of people don’t know is that there sometimes comes a point where the endo can no longer be controlled by hormonal drugs and surgery has to come into the picture. That’s where I am right now.

I really had hoped I could push through and finish Chain of Gold before I went into surgery. It’s not a dangerous procedure, but it isn’t a small one either. Unfortunately while I was on tour with Holly I was having more and more severe symptoms, and when I returned home I was having pain so bad that I was passing out. You guys may have noticed I haven’t been online as much as usual since about February. My symptoms have been affecting my work, my energy (endometrosis can cause anemia because of internal bleeding) my ability to even get up and go downstairs. Going to Austin for the book signing I just did was a matter of a LOT of codeine (and more blood than I would have ideally liked in my airplane travel.)

So to cut to the chase, I realized I wouldn’t be able to make it another four months without surgery. Being in so much pain has a debilitating effect not just on me but on my work. It’s hard to concentrate and painkillers can control the pain, but make me sleepy and unfocused. With the goal of both taking care of my health and being able to write the best books I can, I agreed along with my publisher that me going through surgery and recovery now was the only possible option, even though it does mean that Chain of Gold will have to be moved back. It will now be published 3/3/2020 — so in 11 months instead of seven.

Lost Book of the White will now be published next year on September 1st, 2020.

It’s only four months, but I know it’s disappointing and upsetting to hear. All I can say is that, in order to try to keep the wait from being too painful, I’ll be releasing a free short story or piece of flash fiction from/about TLH and its characters every month starting in May of this year and ending in February of next year. Those who are on my mailing list will get the stories first —a few days later they’ll be posted publicly for everyone.

It’s always hard when real-life considerations crash into the creative process. I already have a first draft of Chain that’s in revisions and I can’t wait for you to experience the story of James, Cordelia, Lucie, Matthew, Anna, and so many others. I also can’t wait for you guys to join Magnus and Alec’s new adventure in Lost Book of the White. In the meantime, hopefully you can be sustained by Red Scrolls, Ghosts of the Shadow Market (coming in June), and the short stories and teasers and fanart for Last Hours that I’m so looking forward to sharing with you!

xoxo

Cassie

While the 2020 release date is sad for readers who haven been waiting for The Last Hours, Cassie’s health always comes first and we wish her all the best for her surgery and a speedy recovery ❤ We love you, Cassie!

If you want to, you can leave Cassie your well wishes in the comments below.