Twilight author releases Twilight 10th Anniversary edition with gender-swapped

Stephenie Meyer dropped a brand new “Twilight” novel on Tuesday to celebrate the book’s 10th anniversary, and it includes a major twist. Yes, it’s true. In the new tale titled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, Bella Swan is now a boy named Beau (short for Beaufort) and the brooding Edward Cullen is now Edythe.

While Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga has gained legions of teen girl fans and has become a blockbuster series, it also has its share of critics.

“The further you get in the more it changes because the personalities get different”, Meyer said (via USA Today).

“Twilight” is getting a gender swap. Rather, the author insists, the character is a “human in distress“, or as Meyer calls her, “a normal human being surrounded on all sides by people who are basically superheroes and supervillians”. Beau, for example is “more OCD, he’s not almost so flowery with his words and thoughts, and he’s not as angry”, she writes in a forward to the new story.

Speaking about the news, she said: “It’s the same story but a new version of it”.

Meyer was set to release “Midnight Sun”, a spinoff told from Edward’s point of view, years ago, before a draft of the book leaked online. “I’ve always maintained that it would have made no difference if the human were male and vampire female – it’s still the same story”.

Meyer explained how her decision to swap the characters’ genders had been partly encouraged by her readers’ feedback and also her desire to do something “fun” for the 10th anniversary.

A few people have criticized its alleged anti-feminist leanings, citing that its lead female character, Bella Swan, follows the dated damsel-in-distress archetype.

“Really it is the same story it’s just a love story it doesn’t matter who’s the boy or who’s the girl it still works out”.

Both the hardcover edition and the e-book of Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined will be available for purchase Tuesday.

She hopes for two things. Probably not. “I think that this is just one version with Beau”, she said.