To commemorate the 10th anniversary of “Twilight,” the novel that launched a million fan fictions (including the one that became E. L. James’s “Fifty Shades of Grey”), the author Stephenie Meyer has reissued her runaway best seller with a twist. The teenage girl named Bella is now a boy named Beau, and the immortal male vampire named Edward is now an immortal female vampire named Edythe.
During an appearance on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, Ms. Meyer said she wanted to do something special for the anniversary. She said she was inspired to flip the genders of her characters, in part, by readers who would approach her at signings with concern that Bella was too much of a “damsel in distress.”
Ms. Meyer argued that Bella behaved as “anyone surrounded by superheroes” would, but decided it would be fun to change the characters. The new version, titled “Life and Death,” comes packaged in one book alongside the original.
“It really is the same story,” Ms. Meyer said. “It’s just a love story, and it doesn’t matter who’s the boy and who’s the girl, it still works out.”
Asked if she imagined a new movie version to reflect the switch, she said: “I don’t really see that happening. And a lot of the people I would put in it would be, like, Grace Kelly, so it’s a little too late for some of my first choices.”
Ms. Meyer will make two appearances in New York this week to promote the project: Tuesday at the Barnes & Noble on Broadway and West 82nd Street, and Thursday at New York Comic Con, the annual gathering at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the far west side of Manhattan.