useless little things

Interview with Will Herondale

`Tessa would like to read a book with you, of your choice.  What book do you choose and why?                                                                                                Vathek. Fabulous bit of Gothic trifle. Potions, genies, lascivious dancing, blood sacrifice, magical swords, sworn enemies. If Vathek doesn’t have her in fits nothing will. Good moral, too: “Woe to the rash mortal who seeks to know that of which he should remain ignorant, and to undertake that which surpasses his power.”

 
`If you could have one favor granted to you by the angel Raziel, what would it be and why? (No fair asking for that little matter from your past to be fixed or for Jem to be healed - too obvious).
Well, that’s not much good then is it? I would wish not to care — about anyone or anything.

`You’re planning the perfect evening with Tessa (I know you can’t be with her - you are just planning not doing). Where will you take her and what will you do there?
 Well, fortunately we Shadowhunters have slightly more relaxed rules of courtship than mundanes, for I would certainly not be allowed an evening unchaperoned with Tessa were I not Nephilim. But imagining that she wished to spend an evening with me, and that circumstances were other than what they are, I would think she would enjoy an evening at the theater, especially if it involved Shakespeare, I don’t believe she’s ever seen a play in the flesh.

`You visit Jem’s room after being out all night “at the bars or the brothel or whatever” and he’s playing his violin. You pause and listen before you enter. What’s going through your mind?
That Jem makes beautiful things and I just destroy them. That really it ought to be me dying and not him. I mean what’s the point of living if you can’t even enjoy it?  Yet Jem enjoys all the life he’s got. It isn’t fair.

`You’re fighting the Magister beside Gabriel (never mind how that came about it just did).  Gabriel falls and the Magister runs.  Do you help Gabriel or pursue the Magister?
Pursue the Magister. Not only is that the Law, but Gabriel can manage on his own, the tedious little sod.

(via fuckyeahmortalinstruments)

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Q and A with William Herondale

What is your favorite contemporary book?
I have never read a novel simply because it was sensational but I do have a weakness for a good novel with something of the sensational in it — misdirected letters, bigamous marriages, cursed diamonds and the like. Perhaps the Moonstone is the best example; I have read everything of Mr. Collins’ and I think it is his finest work. I do not like to be moralized at; I want a cracking good tale.

Who’s your favorite literary character and what literary character is most like you?
I suppose I am most like Sydney Carton though I hope I do not end up as he did, in two pieces. I was going to say Julien Sorel, but then I recalled that he ends up with his head cut off too, unless my French misleads me. I hope this says nothing about my future fate.

Give us a snip-it of a conversation you would have while dancing with a girl.
“Why, Mr. Herondale, are you going to pay me no compliments as we dance?  Perhaps say something about my beautiful eyes?”
“But they are not beautiful.”
“How can you say such a thing?”
“They are quite crossed, and a uninteresting shade of hazel. Now if you were to ask me, your finest attribute by far is your —”

Then I usually get slapped. The female sex does not overvalue honesty, I find.

What is your favorite joke?
The author says: You do not want to hear the jokes of the Victorian age. They were really bad.

If you had a son, what piece of advice would you give him on his 18th birthday?
I’ll never have a son.

What 3 things make Jem a best great friend?
You mundanes say “best friend” like you understand what being parabatai means, but you don’t. Though real friendship is of course one of the arenas in which human nature shows itself at its best, it cannot touch the bond of parabatai, in which you become something more than friends, more than family. Jem is not my friend, he is the better part of myself.

What scares you the most?
The future — after I’m eighteen. I won’t be able to live in the Institute any more. And after Jem’s gone…

If you could take Tessa back to Wales, what would you show her first?
Well, my house, where I grew up … but it’s not possible. I’d like her to see Tenby and the seaside, but … that isn’t possible either.

1830s - Illustrated by HENRY G. GASTINEAU Now

What evidence do you have that demonpox exists?
I ran across it in an old book once and it struck me with the ring of truth. What evidence have you that it doesn’t? Really, people thinking they can go around having improper relations with demons and there won’t be any consequences….

(Source: pageturnersblog.com)

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See Post tags #will herondale #cassandra clare #clockwork angel #the infernal devices

Q and A with Jace Herondale

Do you see any similar characteristics between yourself and Valentine?

That may be the question that haunts my nightmares. I’d like to think not but you can’t shake off ten years of upbringing that quickly. Some of the things he liked are things I like — piano music, old books, military strategy. Sometimes I find myself wondering what he would do in a situation. I also wonder from time to time how much he shaped my judgements of people and the world. I suppose only time will tell.

 What scares you the most?
The thought of losing her. Clary, that is.

What’s your favorite rune and why?
The Fearless rune — it lets you do things you can’t imagine you’d otherwise do, and makes other people behave most amusingly.

If you had a chance to say one last thing to Valentine, what would you say/ask?
It’s more of a hand gesture, really.

Whats your idea of a perfect date with Clary?
Some time in a room alone. Now before anyone starts pelting me with fruit for being a lust-crazed teenage stereotype, first I will have you know that I am, in fact, a lust-crazed teenage stereotype. Secondly, do you have any idea how difficult it is for us to get any time alone that isn’t in public? Jocelyn won’t have me in her house, and otherwise Clary has to come to the Institute for training, which is always full of people. And Clary has a curfew. And Maryse is entirely on Jocelyn’s side and watches us like a hawk. There’s only so much a lust-crazed teenage stereotype can take.

If you could grant a wish for Alec what would you give him?
I think he already got the thing he really wanted. But I suppose if I could give him anything else it would be complete acceptance from his family and the Clave. I think Maryse and Robert have been surprisingly supportive, but part of that has to do with losing Max — they don’t want to lose two sons. They’ll take Alec however they can have him. But I’d rather give him them not thinking of it as any sort of disadvantage at all, If that makes sense.

If you could get a pet, what would you get and what would you name it?
I’d get a cat, name him The Great Catsby, and put him in a cage match with Chairman Meow.

What are your favorite 3 things about yourself?
Only three? THREE?

Have you become less of a risk taker now that you’re with Clary?
Yes — more to live for, and besides, she hates it, and she has a terrifying temper if you haven’t noticed.

(Source: pageturnersblog.com)

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