Whether you love or hate the Twilight series and all of the commercialism, screaming teenagers, and plummeting numbers of people who read classic literature that go with it, you have to admit that Stephanie Meyer is one successful lady. She started out with a single dream she had, fleshing it out into a lengthy novel of questionable quality—yet unquestionable popularity and marketing ability—and launched it into one of the biggest book phenomena ever known. In fact, aside from Tolkien’s books and the Harry Potter series (which is not of unquestionable quality, but simply excellent quality—at least until Harry starts naming his kids), I can’t think of a single series that has careened off into the world of t-shirts and action figures and body pillows like it.

For those who might be interested—and it’s safe to wager that there are a few, if not a few million—Meyer has posted a new novella up about a supporting character from one of the Twilight books. Titled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, it chronicles just what the title says—the very brief life of a young vampire created for a purpose she didn’t know about until right before her own death.

Now this is compelling stuff. (Spoilers ahead.)

True, Tanner is still Meyer's typical lackluster lead female, failing to act or matter or do anything other than exist until a male enters her life. This is as disappointing as her other works, in that respect. However, Tanner is at least interesting in ways that Swan was decidedly not (until she, too, became a vampire, which makes you wonder—is it celibacy and marriage the author is promoting, like so many believe, or simply vampirism?). She has actual opinions, does a little bit of thinking, and engages in much more interesting, dangerous activities (other than being a wallflower victim).

If you’ve read the Twilight series, you already know that Tanner’s fate is a tragic one. Still, her story is much more interesting than Swan’s; I’ve heard several people say that they wish Meyer had written Swan more with Tanner in mind already. This novella also portrays vampires in a more realistic light—one that we might expect from monsters, rather than the glittery Ken Dolls we’ve seen both in the book and in stores. To compare the characters yourself, you can read The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner for free here for a limited time.