Cassandra Clare to Extend Her New York Times Bestselling Young Adult Fantasy Series

Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, has announced it will publish City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire, the fifth and sixth installments in Cassandra Clare's bestselling young adult fantasy series, The Mortal Instruments, which currently has more than 3 million books in print. City of Lost Souls will publish in hardcover in May 2012, and City of Heavenly Fire will publish in hardcover in September 2013. The deal, which is for U.S. rights, was negotiated by Karen Wojtyla, Editorial Director of Margaret K. McElderry Books, and Barry Goldblatt of Barry Goldblatt Literary LLC.

News of the extension to the series precedes the much-anticipated publication of the fourth series installment, City of Fallen Angels, due to hit stores in April 2011.

Cassandra Clare took the world of YA literature by storm in 2007 with her debut novel, City of Bones, which immediately became a New York Times bestseller. The Mortal Instruments series books—which include City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass— have gone on to become New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestsellers.

Beginning this August 31st, Cassandra will be touring in Princeton, NJ; Exton, PA; St. Louis, MO; Naperville, IL; and Decatur, GA, for Clockwork Angel, the debut title in The Mortal Instruments' prequel series, The Infernal Devices. She will also be participating in some of the stops for the "Smart Chicks Kick It" YA author group book tour in September. Her complete schedule and wildly popular blog can be found at http://www.cassandraclare.com/.

"Cassandra Clare is an incredibly talented writer and a master in the fantasy genre," said Jon Anderson, Executive Vice President of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. "Cassandra has a huge following of fans, not only of teens but adults as well, who I'm sure will be as thrilled as we are that she decided to add two additional titles to this bestselling series."

Says Clare, "I initially envisioned City of Fallen Angels as an ending to the story begun in City of Bones, but I soon realized that in fact where my pen was taking me was into a new trilogy, one even more epic, dark and passionate than the first. In the first three Mortal Instruments books the fate of the Shadowhunters hung in the balance; now it's the fate of the world. I can't wait to share this journey with my readers as familiar characters are deepened, new faces introduced and relationships tested like never before."

In Book 5: City of Lost Souls, the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world after a betrayal by one of their own leaves them reeling. In Book 6: City of Heavenly Fire, Jace, Clary and their friends are drawn inexorably into a war that pits Heaven against Hell, angels against demons--a war that threatens to destroy our world entirely if the Shadowhunters can't end it first.

The film rights to The Mortal Instruments series have been optioned by Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne's Unique Features.