jaxlightstairs - Tumblr blog

[jaxlightstairs]

the mortal instruments was a wild ass series. gay wizards. cunty vampires. angels nailed to basement floors. the heroine's father claims her boyfriend is his long lost son for like two or three books. werewolves run a chinese restaurant.

[jaxlightstairs]

Thomas has.. Such Thomas face. I can't explain. It's like even if I didn't know about Thomas's character and someone asked me to picture some random Thomas's face I'd IMMEDIATELY picture our Thomas. He just fits his name perfectly, I don't have proofs or evidences but it's a scientific fact

[jaxlightstairs]

“we know that The Wicked Powers will feature a plot inspired by and very loosely based on Arthurian legend, following the "parallels" tradition of other series, I wanted to know if it will be the same as TMI and TDA being a small thing or equal to TID or TLH…..?”

[jaxlightstairs]

I just think TTPD is not an album you can understand and fully digest in one listen or even a few listens and that's what makes it so great. It is accessible in terms of its melodies and high-level storytelling but the lyrical details are poetic and complex. I'm really just so excited to spend a lot of time with this album.

[jaxlightstairs]

At this hearing, I stand before my fellow members of The Tortured Poets Department with a summary of my findings. 

Album tonight. 

Fortnight music video tomorrow at 8pm et.

https://taylor.lnk.to/thetorturedpoetsdepartment

[jaxlightstairs]

i couldn’t have found a normal artist to enjoy it just had to be this freak

[jaxlightstairs]

WHOS AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME HAS CHANGED MY LIFEEEEE

[jaxlightstairs]

the tortured the poet

[jaxlightstairs]

this felt appropriate

[jaxlightstairs]

TSC characters auditioning for Simon's band

I did another thing

P. S - Christopher is auditioning twice because he wanted to and asked me to add him

[jaxlightstairs]

cordelia & james be like:

(cordelia w/ cortana and james just swooning😌)

[jaxlightstairs]

Artists represented @hanelizabeth @thorndale @camisala01-art @jaxlightstairs @charliebowater not sure of the rest I'm sorry

[jaxlightstairs]

Thoughts on the midnight heir James?? I personally wish he’d been a bit more like that in TLH - not in like a he would’ve been an arsehole way bc him being so sweet is like one of the best things about him, but just that sense of darkness around his character

And then cordelia as the light - it would’ve created a v interesting relationship dynamic. I think

I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't mourn TMH James. Like yeah, he was interesting, but the perfect gentleman that we get in TLH is kind of a refreshing change of pace from a lot of protagonists. I also think his TLH personality has a better relationship dynamic with Cordelia - instead of being the darkness and the light, he gets to be calm, cool waters while Cordelia is all fire. I think a big part of Cordelia's arc is taking her bright personality and making herself a bit... harder, but not in a bad way. Letting her dancing flame blaze up, I guess, if you want to be poetic.

The only thing that makes me sad is that we didn't get the evolution of that little bookish kid in NBS to guy who thinks he's damned shooting a gun at chandeliers. I was so curious about that transformation pre-TLH, and the process would have been Interesting. But I also don't mind that we didn't get it, because I like TLH James. I don't even really WANT it now that we have TLH. This is just a fun hypothetical I'd read a fic about now haha

[jaxlightstairs]

Friendly reminder that after Chain of Thorns there are many more Christmas balls yet to come. (As if Will Herondale would have it otherwise). Balls, where the TLH gang is truly happy and without any worries regarding saving the world or unrequited love. Thomas and Alastair will dance with little Zachary, James and Cordelia will dance the night away, only having eyes for each other and Anna and Matthew will talk about their travels (and their new waist coats oft course). And at the end of the evening the Merry Thieves and all their beloveds will return to Curzon Street where they spend the rest of their night chatting and laughing about the good old days as well as of their future plans.

[jaxlightstairs]

Hi Cassie! So excited for your new publisher news!! I can’t wait to see what you have in store with this new partnership! With the news, I’m curious about one thing! Are you hoping to maintain book appearance consistency for The Wicked Powers to ensure it aligns with the previous 23 books of the Shadowhunter series? All the best, Sam ❤️❤️❤️

Absolutely! I made a post about this yesterday on Insta — we are planning to keep the same artist and design so the books will have the same look.

[jaxlightstairs]

I need to read the end of chain of gold in alastairs pov please it would be so fucking funny

[jaxlightstairs]

A bit of publishing stuff (if you get my newsletter you've already seen this)

So by now you lovely people have all seen the announcement about what books I have coming up next. Ragpicker King is coming March 4, 2025, and The Last King of Faerie is coming early 2026.

I know a lot of you were hoping for LKOF to come earlier. It’s going to be a big gap between the last Shadowhunter book and the next — three years. Previously the longest gap between Shadowhunter books was two years, between Mortal Instruments and the Dark Artifices.

I announced last year that I was taking time off — six months. It was the first time I’d taken any real time off since 2005. The pandemic had just happened and I was wiped out physically and mentally. I also needed to take stock of where I was in my publishing journey and really think about what I wanted — it had been years since I’d had time to consider whether I was happy, because I always had another deadline and that was always more important.

  When I came to the end of The Last Hours, I was “out of contract” — meaning I didn’t have any further Shadowhunter books that were owned by or owed to a publisher.  it was the first time that had happened since, again, 2005. Being out of contract is your one chance to change anything you want to change about your career, and I knew I was going to leave my longtime US publisher of the Shadowhunter books and move to Random House, who published Sword Catcher.

This isn’t a small decision for any writer to make. It sometimes happens when a writer has been at a publisher for a very long time that the nature of the publisher changes. Maybe all the people you worked with when you first came to that publisher have gone elsewhere, so your team has inherited you rather than having chosen you. Maybe your publisher has been sold to another company whose vision for that publisher doesn’t fit with yours. Maybe your publisher isn’t interested in your genre anymore. 

I spent a lot of time agonizing over the decision—I certainly could have stayed where I was, but I knew that was no longer the best decision for the books. So those of you who pay attention to these kinds of details will note that where the other Shadowhunter books have all been published by McElderry Books, these next ones will be published by Knopf. (Who are an amazing imprint. They make great books.)

Normally a writer wouldn’t really address switching publishers — it happens a lot, and most readers don’t care who publishes a book. I’m talking about it now because I know there will be a lot of people who are angry and don’t understand why Ragpicker King is coming out before Last King of Faerie. The short answer is: Ragpicker King has been under contract since it was sold along with Sword Catcher, years ago now, and I’m obligated to get it done when I said I was going to. The books of The Wicked Powers are only just now securely under contract enough to be announced, as you just saw! So Ragpicker King is planned to be turned in in a couple of months, and after that I will be able to focus entirely on The Last King of Faerie (which I already began, but since it was only sold to Knopf last October, I was only able to get started after that).

And it takes a a year at least to write a book and another good year or so to publish it, and that gets us to the pub dates we’ve got. I would love if I could get it to you earlier, but multiple factors have brought us to this point, and in the end, not rushing through them is the best thing for the books, and will produce the best version of those books. I always want to get you my best work — that’s what is important to me above all things.

In terms of other publishers in other countries — I’m staying with all my longterm Shadowhunter publishers. Nothing’s going to change for y’all — Walker Books is still publishing Shadowhunters in the UK, even though a different publisher is going to publish In Fire Foretold there (due to spiciness.) ;) 

For those of you who backed the Kickstarter, that will mean you do get new Shadowhunter content between now and early 2026* — which was part of the reason I did it! I’m also talking to my new publisher about bringing Better in Black out — with at least a six month gap for the Kickstarter backers to have it to themselves — so fingers crossed. There’s also Black Volume of the Dead, the final Eldest Curses book, which is still planned and which I am still excited to write, but since it is set after Last King of Faerie, it hasn’t been scheduled yet. More news on that as it develops—for now, I wanted to talk directly about the schedule in the next couple of years, since I feel confident it is set and will reliably happen this way, something I can’t yet say about 2027 and beyond. The point is, I’m really excited to bring you Wicked Powers just as soon as it is ready, and I know enough about it to say  it’s going to be quite a ride!

And also an early look at In Fire Foretold.