Rejoice all ye Twilight fans, and too bad for all the haters: Stephenie Meyer’s celebrating the 10th anniversary of Twilight’s release with, well, another version of the book itself.
Forget special covers and bonus scenes. This one’s got a whole new twist to it—the anniversary edition features a gender-swapped love story, where Bella and Edward are lovers Beau and Edythe.
Entitled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, the book traces Beau Swan’s—yes, because Stephenie needs to make sure you know Bella is the guy—move to Forks, WA and his eventual encounter and romance with vampire Edythe Cullen.
Sounds like the plot of somebody’s fan fiction made legit. (Now, where did that happen before?) In an interview for Good Morning America, Stephenie explains the surprise release and the staggering change. “I wanted to do something fun for the 10th anniversary and the publisher wanted like a forward (sic), and I thought well, maybe something more interesting,” she tells.
It turns out the decision to rework it goes beyond simply pleasing fans. It’s a desperate jab at the criticism toward her main protagonist Bella, who’s been deemed as a damsel in distress.
“It’s always bothered me a little bit because anyone surrounded by superheroes is going to be… in distress. We don’t have the powers,” Stephenie says. “I thought, ‘What if we switched it around a bit and see how a boy does.’ And you know, it’s about the same.”
You don’t have to wait long to find out what she means. The book’s available for purchase in the U.S. starting today. As to when it will reach our shores, we’ll have to wait and see.
Photo courtesy of Variety
