Mandy Anne Murray

In this week’s edition of Friday’s Bits: A little Twilight, a little political action, a lot of robots and an apology.

Growing Up Cullen is hi-larious. I can totally picture Edward being this way. Which is sad, because I love him so.

oxymoronassoc: i bet he went through a phase where he knitted shit
oxymoronassoc: to keep from strangling emmett
oxymoronassoc: everyone got a lumpy pullover for xmas that year
saint_renegade: ESME GOT SOMETHING WITH A CAT ON IT
oxymoronassoc: EMMETT’S HAD NO NECK HOLE AND EMMETT TRIED TO PUT IT ON ANYWAY AND STRUGGLED AROUND A LOT UNTIL HE JUST RIPPED HIS HEAD THROUGH

Neat:

Also on the political front: Wowza. McCain Said to Choose Alaska’s Palin. Looks like no matter which way this election goes, we’ll have changes in the White House. Good for you McCain.

Erin from Robot-A-Day does it again: Nerd Bot and Astronaut Bot. Where’s the lottery win when I need it?!

My special edition Vampire Bot, Cullen Bot, came in the mail a couple of days ago, just when I needed him the most:

He’s a big Breaking Dawn fan. So much so, he felt the need to give it a hug. He was worried its feelings had been hurt by all the BD naysayers.

Isn’t it sweet? Can’t you just feel the inanimate object love?

Earlier this week, chapters one-12 of Stephenie Meyer’s next Twilight project, Midnight Sun (Twilight written from Edward’s POV), were released into the Internets without her permission.

August 28, 2008 (part II)

As some of you may have heard, my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher.

I have a good idea of how the leak happened as there were very few copies of Midnight Sun that left my possession and each was unique. Due to little changes I made to the manuscript at different times, I can tell when each left my possession and to whom it was given. 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.

I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being. As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public; this is the same for musicians and filmmakers. Just because someone buys a book or movie or song, or gets a download off the Internet, doesn’t mean that they own the right to reproduce and distribute it. Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. 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.

So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn’t like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn’t dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.

I’d rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I’ve decided to make the draft available here. This way, my readers don’t have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest. I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward’s head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That’s what inspired me to write it in the first place.

I do want to take a moment and thank the wonderful fans who have been so supportive of me over the past three years. I cannot begin to tell you how much each of you means to me. I only hope this note will stop all the confusion and online speculation so that the Twilight universe can once again become the happy escape it used to be. After this incredibly busy year, I am now focusing on spending more time with my family and working on some other writing projects.

–Stephenie

I am one of those naughty people that saw the link, downloaded the chapters and sent it on to my closest Twi-friends. I know that hundreds, thousands and maybe millions of people did the same thing, but I can’t help but feel bad, like being a pirate (not the good ARRRGH-saying, eyepatch-wearing kind, mind you) contributed to SM’s feelings of betrayal. I hadn’t read the chapters yet. I haven’t had the time, but I was also going back and forth with the two sides of my conscience on whether to read them or not. I don’t have to play that game any longer, since SM’s posted them on her own, but reading them will be tainted with the though that I helped make the completion of Midnight Sun something unsure. For that, I am sorry.

I’m not typically the kind of person to worry or apologize for piracy. I’ve been known to download my fair share of music. But, I feel like with books it’s a different story, particularly ones I’m so entranced with. Plus, I think SM seems like a wonderful and real human being, so it feels more like I hurt a friend rather than took some pennies out of a rock star’s pocket.

So that this post doesn’t end on such a downer:

oxymoronassoc: i imagine alice has a map on the wall and tracks edward via the postmarks on his letters
oxymoronassoc: and emmett moves them to places like the middle of the ocean
oxymoronassoc: and alice gets pissed off
saint_renegade: she ~knows~ where he is
oxymoronassoc: I CAN SEE WHY EDWARD TIRED OF YOUR BEHAVIOR EMMETT
oxymoronassoc: I DO NOT NEED TO MAKE A VISUAL REPRESENTATION
oxymoronassoc: I KNOW WHERE HE IS
oxymoronassoc: THIS IS FOR THE FAMILY, YOU SELFISH FUCK
saint_renegade: emmett leaves him messages on his voicemail of himself like burping
oxymoronassoc: HEY WARDO IT’S ME. I’VE COMPOSED SOMETHING TO CHEER YOU UP
oxymoronassoc: and then he burps the alphabet

:)