'Twilight': A look at the new work in the series by Stephenie Meyer

Stephanie Meyer has released a new version of her 'Twilight' story in which the genders of her main characters Bella and Edward are swapped. The new take on the narrative debuted with the tenth anniversary rerelease of the 'Twilight' novel.

“Twilight” fans who are looking for more stories about Stephenie Meyers’ fictional universe can now see a slightly different take on the story by Ms. Meyers herself. 

For the tenth anniversary of the publication of the first “Twilight” book, Meyers has published a work titled “Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined.” In this version, the protagonist is a teenage boy named Beau who meets a female vampire named Edythe. In Meyers’ original story, human girl Bella began a romance with the vampire Edward. 

The author wrote that she wanted to try this version of the story after various people called Bella too helpless. The character is "a normal human being surrounded on all sides by people who are basically superheroes and supervillains," Meyers writes in the foreword of the book.

The new work was published with the original novel “Twilight” and that edition was released on Oct. 6. According to the publisher, the new book includes almost 400 pages of new writing. 

Meyers released four books in her “Twilight” series and the books were adapted into a very lucrative film franchise starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.

Last year, it was announced that a panel of people including Meyers and Ms. Stewart would choose female directors to helm short movies about the “Twilight” characters. Directors Kailey and Sam Spear won the contest with their short piece.

This new version of “Twilight” is just another way authors and publishers behind young adult book series are extending the life of their properties beyond the publication of the last work. While the last “Harry Potter” book came out in 2007, “Potter” author J.K. Rowling keeps revealing new information about the series’s characters through her Twitter account and she’s writing the screenplay for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” a movie that is set in the “Potter” universe and centers on different characters. 

Cassandra Clare’s successful “Mortal Instruments” series concluded in 2014 and the first book was adapted into a movie, “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” in 2013. The film wasn’t well-received by critics and faltered at the box office, but it’s not over – a TV show titled “Shadowhunters,” which is based on the book series, is set to debut on ABC Family sometime next year. 

When movies or TV shows based on these books succeed, it’s not assumed anymore that new tie-ins will stop happening, even if the book series is over. When talk show host Conan O’Brien interviewed the “Hunger Games” cast recently, he asked them what was next, with the last “Games” movie set to arrive in theaters this November. “[Studio] Lionsgate obviously must be thinking, there’s got to be some way we can keep this going,” O’Brien said.

Lionsgate said at the time that nothing else was planned, but fans of young adult book series have more reason to hope than ever these days that another project will arrive someday.