Stephenie Meyer is the author of the bestselling Twilight series, as well as the science fiction gem The Host. This Phoenix native got the unusual spelling of her name from her father, Stephen. She went to one of those typical mean girls schools, with a Porsche in the parking lot being no strange sight, neither where they surprised by new noses on their classmates’ faces. A scholarship got her through university where she majored in English literature. She’s known her husband since she was four, but they were not very close during childhood. When they did start talking 16 years later, it only took them 9 months to get married and they have 3 boys now. She needs music to write and feels most inspired by Muse, Linkin Park, Coldplay and U2.
Twilight
According to her website, Meyer was the highest-selling author of 2008 and 2009 in the United States: over 29 million books sold in 2008 and 26.5 million in 2009. On top of that, she did something no other author had ever done before in the 15 years of the USA Today‘s bestseller list: taking up the top 4 places on the list in both 2008 and 2009! This is due to her immensely popular Twilight series of course, which has sold over 100 million copies in over 50 countries and has been translated into 37 different languages. Yes, you read that right: 100 million copies and translated in 37 different languages. I don’t even think I could name 37 different languages…
The idea of Twilight came to her in a dream in June 2013, Meyer has said. This led to her writing the entire novel in three months. She said she never meant to publish it, but that her sister’s enthusiasm prompted her to send it to literary agents. After the success of the series, Meyer had the idea to republish the first book from the perspective of Edward, the main male character. Midnight Sun has to date never been released however, since she was not happy that it got leaked online, and the project has been put on hold indefinitely. In honour of the 10th anniversary of the series, Meyer has published Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined which is a rewrite of the books, with the genders of the protagonists switched. If you want to know more about it, check out this interview with the author on this book.
When talking about Stephenie Meyer, many reviewers, authors and people in the book industry in general tend to compare her to J. K. Rowling. Both are female authors whose book series have become immensely successful, both write fantasy and both have become very influential and rich people because of it. However, these comparisons usually turn out the worse for Meyer. She seems to be one of those “you love it” or “you hate it” authors and she has earned a lot of criticism. Fans and reviewers criticise her for not finishing and publishing Midnight Sun just because she was made about the leak. They also are not at all impressed with Twilight Reimagined, comparing it to bad fanfiction. And renowned authors like Stephen King say “[she] can’t wrote worth a darn. She’s not very good.” On top of that, feminists criticise her books for romanticising physically abusive relationships and the damsel in distress persona. But, you just can’t argue with the success of her books. Meyer speaks to girls that swoon over bad boys everywhere and it works.
The Host
This science fiction novel was published in 2008 to mixed reviews. She says she got the idea for it on a long trip and worked on the outline as a way to keep herself entertained. She didn’t mean for it to go anywhere, but it became a priority when she realised what she had created.
It’s set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where we are being invaded by a parasitic alien race known as “Souls”. It follows one particular Soul called Wanderer (or Wanda for short) as she is implanted into the human Melanie and how the two affect one another. Everything else, you will have to read about in my review.
Other work
Stephenie Meyer wrote one more story set in the Twilight universe, called: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, published in 2010. This short story is about one of the side characters that features in the third book, Eclipse. It was written as a bonus for fans, and one dollar per book sold was donated to the American Red Cross to support their efforts in Haiti and Chile.
And last but not least, Stephenie Meyer has a new book coming out in November 2016: The Chemist. Time for something completely different, because it sounds like a Jason Bourne-type of thing but with a female character. It will be an adult action thriller about an ex-agent on the run from her former agency. There will be a love interest in it somewhere while she needs to take on “one last job” to free herself.
And now I’m very curious to hear from you guys! Have you read any of Stephenie Meyer’s books? Are you a lover or a hater? Please let me know in the comments.
Happy reading,
Loes M.
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