"Twilight" author drops new book after Web leak

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) - Stephenie Meyer, author of the best-selling young adult "Twilight" books, has put the fifth and final installment in the series on hold in protest after a partial draft was posted on the Internet.

Meyer, the U.S. author of "Twilight" and its sequels "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn," said she had a good idea of how the leak of "Midnight Sun" had happened, since so few copies had left her hands and each was unique.

The novel tells the love story of a human teenager named Bella and her vampire lover, Edward.

"The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that, as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution," she wrote in a posting on her website.

But Meyer, 34, said this was a huge violation of her rights of an author as well as her rights as a human being because she owns the copyright and has say over when the book should be made public.

She said that musicians and filmmakers have the same rights over their work, and that it is dishonest of anyone to download material off the Internet and to reproduce and distribute it.

"This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control," Meyer wrote.

"I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on 'Midnight Sun,' and so it is on hold indefinitely."

Meyer said the draft that was released on the Internet was incomplete, with messy and flawed writing, but she was making that draft available on her site because it added a new dimension to the "Twilight" story.

Reuters/Nielsen