queenoffanart said: Hi Cassie, in GOTSM, will we see any flashbacks to Jem’s childhood? We see a lot of Will’s childhood in TID but not Jem, and it would be cool to see what it was like growing up in Shanghai. I imagine he was the kid who brought home starving stray animals and begged his parents to let him keep them… :) Also, so excited for Through Blood, Through Fire! Can’t wait to see how Jem is adjusting to modern life.

We will see Jem thinking about his childhood in both GOTSM and The Lost Book of the White, in which he is in Shanghai again and sees the descendants of his mother’s family, which brings back the memories of his early youth. But stories tend not to be about the times when people are totally OK: we don’t actually see much of Will and Cecily’s childhood, except that we see Will make his one terrible mistake. If we were going to see Jem’s childhood, we would see the moment it all went wrong: Jem’s parents killed, Jem tortured, which is not quite what you’re asking for. I think you’re right that Jem was definitely a kind boy. We can see Jem’s childhood, the grounding Jem’s parents gave him, from the way he deals with the many blows life gives him: I think we can infer Jem’s parents did a great job. And we promise you plenty of modern Jem in the later stories: Jem has to go through bitter waters to get to the sweet, but you will see Jem happy, and I do understand that’s what people want–and what he deserves.

sweetielloyd said: Hi cassie! I loved with all my heart SotD, and I loved reading from jem’s PoV, he is one of my favourite characters  My question is not about SotD but about the next story. I read the preview at the end of SotD and the fact that matthew called jem “uncle jem” got me thinking about their relationship. I know we are going to see more about it in the next story, but can you tell something about them? I’m really anxious! Sorry to bother you, all the love from Argentina

In CLS Matthew does not actually know Jem super well–he feels like he knows him better than he does, from all the Herondales’ stories about him. (TLH is all about stories!) Jem, of course, has to live in the Silent City, so Matthew hasn’t had the opportunity to get to know him very well, but he calls Will Uncle Will, and Uncle Jem seems to follow naturally from that. Matthew has a bit of a complex about being separate from his friends: Charlotte being Consul meant much less time in London for him, and Matthew’s friend group are all cousins except for him. Matthew tries to love all that his parabatai loves, and really wants Jem to think well of him, and hopes Jem will believe that James has an OK parabatai. So Matthew’s laying himself out to be charming, and Jem’s charmed by Matthew–people usually are! We see them get to know each other better in CLS, and by the end, Jem knows a secret about Matthew nobody else does.