14 DAY TRIAL // While working out a few details for Summit Entertainment’s upcoming take on “The Twilight Saga,” the third film, “Eclipse,” writer Stephenie Meyer realized she had actually written a novella that ran adjacent to the story in the third book. By means of the warmest thank-you to the millions of fans around the world, Meyer decided to release the book as the fourth in the “Twilight” series. “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” drops in stores on June 5 and becomes available online two days later.
On her official website, Meyer explains the book came as a surprise to her too since she didn’t set out specifically to write it. Instead, while working with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg and trying to iron out some details for the script for the third movie, she started building on a story she had already sketched. By the time she, Melissa and director David Slade were done, she had a book done and it obviously couldn’t fit into the movie’s book companion. Thus, the decision to put out another book, Stephenie writes.
“Then I got the news: my ‘short story’ was nearly 200 pages long when typeset. It was too long to fit into the Guide – without ending up with a tome as heavy as the Oxford English Dictionary. My publisher approached me with the idea of releasing the Bree story on its own. One of the major benefits of this plan was that it would be out before the movie, so people would get to know Bree before they saw her in the film. That made sense to me, and we decided to go ahead with it,” Stephenie explains.
After the decision to release Bree’s story as a book was made, Meyer had only one thing to ask from her publisher, namely that she be allowed to offer it to fans for free as well. Consequently, after the hardcover edition comes out, Meyer will put it up online as well, in read-only format for about a month on a dedicated website. This is her way of thanking fans for their undying support and love, a present of sorts. Moreover, Meyer will also donate one dollar for each book sold to charity.
“One other aspect of this release is the plan to give a more important gift to people who really need it. One dollar of each book purchased in the US from the first printing will be donated to the American Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti and Chile and other parts of the world where people are in great need. We’re going to have an option online as well, so you can choose to make a donation if you want when you read the story online. I hope you will. I think that we can really help a lot of people with this. I really hope you all enjoy this story. I had a blast writing it. I’m glad that after all this time cooling her heels in my files, Bree finally gets her chance to shine,” Meyer says.