Author Stephenie Meyer to release "Eclipse" novella

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Author Stephenie Meyer of the hugely successful "Twilight" teen vampire romance series will release her first new title in two years stemming from a character from her "Eclipse" novel.

The 36-year-old American author will release a 192-page novella for young readers called "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" on June 5 in the United States and Britain, Little, Brown book publishers said on Tuesday.

"I'm as surprised as anyone about this novella," Meyer said in a statement, explaining that she wrote the story to give the point of view of the newborn vampire of Bree, who is featured in the third book in the "Twilight" series, "Eclipse."

Meyer said she initially created the vampire drama about the darker side of the world that Bree inhabits as a short story until it "grew longer than I anticipated" and it was no longer suitable to include as planned in "The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide."

"I'd always considered 'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner' as something for the fans," said Meyer. The English-language version of the novella will be available to read online at www.breetanner.com from June 7 until July 5.

The character of Bree is also shown in the next movie adaptation of the book series, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which is due to hit U.S. cinemas in June.

The last movie adaptation of the book series, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" grossed more than $707 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com.

In book form, "Twilight" and its sequels "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn", have sold 100 million copies worldwide, according to Little, Brown Book Group.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)