New book by Twilight author to go online for free

A new book by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is to be placed online just days after it hits the shops - as a thank you gift to fans.

Meyer told fans that they had already bought a "ton" of her books and she wanted to give them back something for free.

Freebie: Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is placing her new novel online

The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner is Meyer's first new title in nearly two years and is being released on both sides of the Atlantic on June 5 in hardback priced at £11.99.

Meyer is also placing her 192-page novella on a dedicated website, www.breetanner.com, from June 7 to July 5, for fans from around the world to view the story in English in a "read only" format.

The Twilight Saga's translation rights have been sold in nearly 50 countries and 100 million copies have been sold worldwide, so any new work by the author is bound to be eagerly anticipated.

Its phenomenal success has also inspired movies starring Robert Pattinson as brooding vampire Edward Cullen.

"I'd always considered The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner as something for the fans," said Meyer. "They have been so supportive of all things Twilight."

The new novella is told from the point of view of Bree, a character originally featured in Eclipse.

"I'm as surprised as anyone about this novella," said Meyer. "When I began working on it in 2005, it was simply an exercise to help me examine the other side of Eclipse, which I was editing at the time.

"I thought it might end up as a short story that I could include on my website.

"Then, when work started on The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, I thought the Guide would be a good fit for my Bree story.

"However, the story grew longer than I anticipated, until it was too long to fit into the Guide."

The Twilight Saga books are published in the UK by Atom, which is also releasing the new book.

Meyer, who lives in Arizona with her husband and three sons, wrote on her website: "Since this story had always been an extra for me, and was meant to be released with the Guide, I wanted to be able to offer it to my fans for free.

"You all have bought a ton of my books, and I wanted to give you this story as a gift."

She added: "We still wanted to also produce a physical book with a cool cover that you can add to your set if you like."