Favorite Author: Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer

( Born December 24, 1973)

Some time back in 2006, I was doing my customary browsing on Amazon, in search of something new to read.  This is a compulsive ritual I engage in every single day.  Most of the time, I buy a book.  Other times, I merely torture myself with all the books I'd like to add to my collection, and know I won't be able to.  On that fateful day, I first came across Twilight.

As I've done on so many other occasions, I opened the site's reader, and sampled an excerpt.  As I read, my interest fascination increased to the point that I knew I needed to own this novel!  So I hurriedly closed the reader, and ordered the book .  I had never heard of Stephenie Meyer at the time, but I knew I had found something incredibly good!!

When I received it in the mail, I began at once to read it, falling headlong into Meyer's fascinating, utterly compelling world.  I felt that I was part of that world, somehow.  I lived the novel.  So, of course, I devoured the book in a very short time.  Then I ordered the next one, New Moon, only to have the same experience. 

Five years later, I have read Twilight three times, and the entire Saga twice.  I will never grow tired of the timeless romance of Edward and Bella, nor will I ever grow tired of a certain werewolf named Jacob Black, whom I love almost as fiercely as the vampire Edward Cullen.

The four books in the series are Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.  They tell the enthralling story of the love between a vampire boy and a human girl, who is also loved by a shapeshifter/werewolf. 

We are introduced to all three of them in the first book, in which Bella also has a chilling, nearly fatal encounter with a ruthless vampire who doesn't share the Cullen family's firm ethical code of not harming humans. 

In the second book, Edward leaves Bella, and she seeks solace in her deepening friendship with Jacob, the werewolf, who ends up falling hopelessly in love with her.  Later in the novel, she must rescue her despairing beloved from the clutches of the Volturi, a coven of ruthless vampires who have no qualms about killing humans for their blood. 

In the third book, the two groups -- the Cullen family and the werewolf members of the Quileute tribe -- have to form an uneasy alliance in order to deal with the Volturi, and a renewed threat to Bella's life. 

The fourth book portrays the wedding of Bella and Edward, as well as the birth of their very gifted, very unusual daughter.  Things come to a head with the Volturi as well, and the series reaches a satisfactory resolution, leaving its devoted fans happy, and yet wanting more...

Some of us -- myself included -- have even written Twilight-inspired fan fiction, so as to savor our beloved characters as many times as we wish...  We simply can't get enough of them!

Meyer hails from Hartford, Connecticut, USA, but grew up in Phoenix, Arizona.  She graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, with a major in English.  She and her husband, Christian Meyer, whom she married in 1994, have three sons -- Gabe, Seth, and Eli.

In addition to The Twilight Saga, she has written Midnight Sun , which tells the story of The Saga from Edward Cullen's perspective.   The book needs more work, but Meyer has put the project on hold because several chapters were leaked and appeared on the Internet.  It is available, however, on the author's official website, which you can access HERE. 

Other books include The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, a novella set in the Twilight universe,  The Host: A Novel, a science fiction novel for adults, and The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, released in April, 2011.

A graphic novel adaptation of the first book has also been released --- Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1, as well as The Twilight Journals, which are blank diaries adorned with quotes from The Saga. 

There are several critical analyses of the series, most of them favorable.  The one I consider best so far is Spotlight: A Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga.  The book, written by John Granger, who has also authored an analysis of the Harry Potter series, presents a penetrating look at The Saga, discussing it as serious literature. 

I was delighted when I discovered, about a year ago, that the story had started with a dream that Meyer had one night -- a dream in which she clearly saw Edward and Bella, standing in a meadow, discussing their unusual relationship.  Edward was sparkling in the brilliant sunlight...

This dream refused to drift back into the recesses of her mind.  Instead, it blossomed and grew.  As she went about her daily duties at home with her children, it stayed with her.  So she sat down one day and began to write...and the dream flowed...

The magic of literature always begins with a dream, whether the dreamer is asleep, fully awake, or in some kind of in-between state more receptive to images from the unconscious.  In this case, Meyer's unconscious proved especially fertile!

This is the beautiful white edition of The Twilight Saga,

released only in the UK.

Of course, I own one of them!

(As well as the original one, with the black covers!)

Stephenie Meyer has profoundly touched the hearts and souls of millions of girls and women.  There are those who will disagree, criticizing the books as "cheesy", poorly written, and of no literary value whatsoever.  Stephen King, for instance, whose work I enjoy detesting with every fiber of my being, has stated that Stephenie Meyer, in contrast to J.K. Rowling, "...can't write worth a darn."  These are very unfair words indeed.  Those of us who love The Twilight Saga pay such critics no mind, however.  We have been indelibly marked by the beauty and magic of these four books, and will always treasure them!

The first three books have been made into movies, and the fourth is being filmed in two parts, the first of which will be released in November of this year. 

Many of us fans would be thrilled, of course, if Meyer published more books.  However, I would venture to say that for us, there will never be anything to equal The Twilight Saga.  It will firmly retain a place in our hearts as a testament to the power of true, unconditional love!