Author Stephenie Meyer poses at the premiere of the movie Twilight in November, 2008.© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters[/Reuters
Stephenie Meyer, author of the hugely successful Twilight teen vampire romance series, will release her first new title in two years, and it gives voice to a vampire character from her Eclipse novel.
The 36-year-old American author will release a 192-page novella for young readers called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner on June 5 in the United States and Britain, publishers Little, Brown said on Tuesday.
"I'm as surprised as anyone about this novella," Meyer said in a statement, explaining that she wrote the story to give the point of view of the newborn vampire Bree, who is featured in the third book in the Twilight series, Eclipse.
Meyer said she initially created the vampire drama about the darker side of the world that Bree inhabits as a short story until it "grew longer than I anticipated" and it was no longer suitable to include as planned in The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide.
"I'd always considered The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner as something for the fans," said Meyer. The English-language version of the novella will be available to read online at www.breetanner.com from June 7.
The character of Bree is also shown in the next movie adaptation of the book series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which is due to hit North American cinemas in June.
The last movie adaptation of the book series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed more than $707 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com.
In book form, Twilight and its sequels New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, have sold 100 million copies worldwide, according to Little, Brown.