midnight sun is forever dark

I wax poetic, no?

This post will mean nothing to you folks who don't follow the Stephenie Meyer's series of "Twilight". It will mean nothing to you who don't obsess as I do over the writer, books, movies, actors, websites, merchandise, and more. It'll be worthless to you, so you might as well skip it.

But for everyone else, for you Twilighters, Twihards, TwiMoms, Twitubers and more, you understand why the last 24 hours have been so sad.

The publishing of "Midnight Sun" has been put on hold indefinitely.

The Twilight saga has four books out, and for a year, we have been promised that sometime in the next couple of years, "Midnight Sun" would join them. It is Book One, but from Edward's perspective as opposed to Bella's. The fans have all been very excited about this book, because Edward is so much more interesting than Bella, and his perspective will give us so much, teach us so much about him, help us understand him more.

After the somewhat disappointing Book Four release of "Breaking Dawn", fans at least had comfort in the fact that "Midnight Sun" was still coming.

The first 12 chapters were sadly leaked onto the world wide gossipy web, and after a week of heartbreak and indecision, the author, Stephenie Meyer decided to stop the work on this book, put it on hold indefinitely, and included a link on her website to the leaked 12 chapters. She admitted that it is unedited, a rough copy, and actually asked her fans not to read this version.

We were all shocked and saddened that someone would do such a malicious thing, and so completely sad for Stephenie who worked very hard on this, her next baby of sorts, only to have it desecrated and unlawfully shared. I can't imagine her sorrow or grief, her disappointment at this betrayal of her trust. Fans are so sad to not ever get the completed version of this book which promised to be so intriguing and interesting.

So now...do we read?

I for one, have decided yes, I will. For the following reasons:

#1. She put it right out there for us to read on her website. Now had she said "12 leaked chapters are out there, please don't go looking for them out of respect for me", then I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have scoured the internet, though it would have been hard. But since she linked it on her webpage, I almost feel that she gave us permission.

#2. If she truly is never going to publish it, then what is the harm of reading it? I want to know what her plan was for this, I'm curious about it! If she doesn't publish it then I'll never get this piece of the Cullens' world.

#3. Following up on #2, millions will be reading this online, I am sure of it. And it's already all over the message boards, chat rooms, blogs, youtube posts and so on. Even if I don't read, the content will be out there, and spoilers are bound to run rampant. I might as well read it!

#4. As a fan, how can I NOT? I love Edward and this world that Stephenie has created and I need to know how his story goes!

I feel for her. She must feel very frustrated and disappointed with whomever did this (and she mentioned that she knows who leaked the chapters) and I can imagine that she's disgusted enough to just stop writing for a while and take time off to heal, which is sad news for everyone.

Will you read it?

I'm about 5 chapters in, and I have to admit, I'm loving it. I'm going to be so sad to come to the end of chapter 12, knowing that it may be years before I ever read the resolution, if at all!

My support goes out to this amazing woman who made a world loved by so many. Take all the time you need, Steph. We'll still be here to support and love your characters when you're ready.