Some really, really great news in the Twilight world today - a whopping $1.5 million dollars was raised from The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and given to the American Red Cross on behalf of Little, Brown Books and author Stephenie Meyer. Check out the press release below:

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a division of Hachette Book Group, and Stephenie Meyer have donated 1.5 million dollars to the American Red Cross International Response Fund from their proceeds from The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella. As previously announced, one dollar for each book sold in the US from the first printing would go to the American Red Cross. The donation was made today by Hachette Book Group CEO David Young and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publisher Megan Tingley to The American Red Cross Senior Vice President of International Services David Meltzer.

“I’m so grateful that Little, Brown, the American Red Cross, and my fans made this generous gift possible,” said Stephenie Meyer. “It’s amazing to have the opportunity to help those so greatly in need.”

“We’ve had the incredible great fortune to have one of the biggest publishing phenomenons in recent years along with The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner becoming one of the top selling titles of 2010,” said Hachette Book Group CEO David Young. “Giving back is extremely important to the company, so it is particularly gratifying to be able to share our success with an organization as worthy as The American Red Cross.”

Read the full press release here.

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Some exciting news from across the pond today. Twilight has officially passed the two million dollar mark in the UK, being only the 13th book in history to do so. Read more below:

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, the first instalment in the US novelist’s hugely popular dark romance series of the same name, has become only the 13th novel to sell more than two million copies in the UK since the turn century.

Stephenie Meyer follows in the footsteps of J K Rowling, Dan Brown and Mark Haddon - the only other authors to have achieved the two-million-in-the-21st-century feat.

Last week, the book sold 16,672 copies in the UK, taking its total sales to date to 2,005,609. Just over £9.7m has been spent on the book since it was first published in the UK in 2006 - a year in which it sold just 1,684 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

Read more here.

(Thanks to Boo for the heads up!)

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Happy Saturday! We’ve got another installment of “Stephenie’s Playlist” coming your way this morning, and this week we’re highlighting the very last song for you from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book playlist. For this week’s playlist highlight, TA Staffer Rebecca brings us a video for the song “Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)” by Billy Joel. In addition to the video, Rebecca gives us a little background information on the artist, his music, and how exactly he fits into the Twilight universe. As always with Stephenie Saturday, Rebecca has added some questions for consideration for you to think about and respond to.

Questions:

- Where do you think this song fits into ‘Twilight’?
- Are you a fan of Billy Joel? If so, were you a fan before Stephenie included them on her playlist for ‘Twilight’, or did you become one after?
- Why do you think Stephenie included “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” on her playlist?
- What’s your favourite Billy Joel song?

About Billy Joel:

Billy Joel was born on 9th May 1949 in Bronx, New York, USA. His birth name is William Martin Joel. Billy began learning to play piano at aged 8 when his mother insisted he did. At an early age Billy was bullied at school for his interest in music rather than sport.

After seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 Billy decided to pursue as full time musical career and set out to find a band to join in Long Island. He eventually found a band named Echoes and they became a popular New York attraction. At this time he was still in High School aged 14. Billy left the Echoes in 1867 that had changed their name to Emeralds. He left the band to join another Long Island band named The Hassles, they released two albums and 4 singles none doing very well commercially. Following the bands break up in 1969he formed a doe with The Hassles drummer Jon Small.

Billy Joel got his first solo record contract with Family Productions and recorded his first solo album named Cold Spring Harbour (1971).

Albums Include:

- Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
- Piano Man (1973)
- Streetlife Serenade (1974)
- Turnstiles(1976)
- The Stranger (1977)
- 52nd Street (1978)
- Glass Houses (1980)
- The Nylon Curtain (1982)
- An Innocent Man (1983)
- The Bridge (1986)
- Storm Front (1989)
- River of Dreams (1993)
- Fantasies & Delusions (2001)

Official Billy Joel Website:

http://www.billyjoel.com/

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Happy Stephenie Saturday! We’ve got another installment of “Stephenie’s Playlist” coming your way today, and this week we’re highlighting another song for you straight from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book playlist. For this week’s playlist highlight, TA Staffer Rebecca brings us a video for the song “Tremble For My Beloved” by Collective Soul. If you remember, this song was actually also featured on the Twilight movie soundtrack! In addition to the video, Rebecca gives us a little background information on the band, their music, and how exactly they fit into the Twilight universe. As always with Stephenie Saturday, Rebecca has added some questions for consideration for you to think about and respond to.

Questions:

- Where do you think this song fits into ‘Twilight’?
- Are you a fan of Collective Soul? If so, were you a fan before Stephenie included them on her playlist for ‘Twilight’, or did you become one after?
- Why do you think Stephenie included “Tremble for My Beloved” on her playlist?
- What’s your favourite Collective Soul song?

About Collective Soul:

Collective Soul formed in 1993 in Stockbridge, Georgia, USA.

Before forming Collective Soul Ed Roland studied composition and guitar at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since the mid 80s he had been involved in uunderground music but performing and making unpublished demos. In 1991 he recorded his own demos and released his independent solo album Ed-E Roland.
In the lat 80s/early 90s ha had a band named Marching Two-Step with Shane Evans, Michele Rhea Caplinger, Matt Serletic. After a few years, never making it past the club scene and not getting signed by any record labels the band went their separate way but were still involved in music

Ed Rowland continued to play in clubs and in 1993 his song “Shine” became an underground hit on an influential college radio station in Orlando. At around this time Ed brought in Shane Evans, his brother Dean Roland, Will Turpin and Ross Childress and they became the official line up for Collective Soul.
The exact Collective Soul song “Tremble for My Beloved” to Stephenie Meyer chose for her playlist to the Twilight novel, was chosen in 2008 to be on the Official ‘Twilight’ Soundtrack, shown in the movie in the scene where Edward saves Bella from being crushed by Tyler’s van.

Albums Include:

- Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid (1993)
- Collective Soul (1995)
- Disciplined Breakdown (1997)
- Dosage (1999)
- Blender (2000)
- Youth (2004)
- Afterwords (2007)
- Collective Soul (Rabbit) (2009)

Band Members:

- Ed Roland - (1992 - Present) - vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards
- Dean Roland - (1993 - Present) - rhythm guitar, vocals
- Will Turpin - (1993 - Present) - bass guitar, vocals
- Joel Kosche - (2001 - Present) - lead guitar
- Cheney Brannon (2008 - Present) - drums, percussion

Former Band Members:

- Ross Childress - (1992 - 2001) - lead guitar
- Shane Evans - (1992 - 2005) - drums, percussion
- Ryan Hoyle - (2005 - 2008) - drums, percussion

Official Collective Soul Websites:

- www.CollectiveSoul.com

- www.Twitter.com/Collective_Soul

- www.Myspace.com/CollectiveSoul

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Welcome to another edition of Stephenie Saturday! We’ve got another installment of “Stephenie’s Playlist” coming at you and this week we’re highlighting another song for you straight from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book playlist. For this week’s playlist highlight, TA Staffer Rebecca brings us a video for the song “Dreams” by The Cranberries. In addition to the video, Rebecca gives us a little background information on the band, their music, and how exactly they fit into the Twilight universe. As always with Stephenie Saturday, Rebecca has added some questions for consideration for you to think about and respond to.

Questions:

- Where do you think this song fits into ‘Twilight’?
- Are you a fan of The Cranberries? If so, were you a fan before Stephenie included them on her playlist for ‘Twilight’, or did you become one after?
- Why do you think Stephenie included “Dreams” on her playlist?
- What’s your favourite The Cranberries song?

About The Cranberries:

The Cranberries were formed in Limerick, Republic of Ireland in 1989. They were first named The Cranberry Saw Us and later changed to The Cranberries by vocalist Dolores O’Riordan.
The band was formed by brothers Noel and Michael Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler joined them. The lead singer Dolores O’Riordan became a member of the band after answering an advertisement that band members placed.

They rose to international fame in the 1990s with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? and sold over five million copies in the USA . They were one of the most successful rock acts in the 90s and sold over 14.5 million albums in the USA alone.

Band Members Include:

- Dolores O’Riordan (1990 - Present)
- Noel Anthony Hogan (1989 - Present)
- Michael Gerard Hogan (1989 - Present)
- Fergal Patrick Lawler (1989 - Present)

Former Members Include:

- Niall Quinn (1989-1990)

Albums Include:

- Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (1993)
- No Need to Argue (1994)
- To the Faithful Departed (1996)
- Bury the Hatchet (1999)
- Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001)

Official The Cranberries Website:

http://www.cranberries.com/

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Happy Stephenie Saturday! We’ve got another installment of “Stephenie’s Playlist” coming at you and this week we’re highlighting another great song for you straight from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight book playlist. For this week’s playlist highlight, TA Staffer Rebecca brings us a video for the song “Time is Running Out” by Muse. In addition to the video, Rebecca gives us a little background information on the band, their music, and how exactly they fits into the Twilight universe. As always with Stephenie Saturday, Rebecca has added some questions for consideration for you to think about and respond to.

Questions:

- Where do you think this song fits into ‘Twilight’?
- Are you a fan of Muse? If so, were you a fan before Stephenie included them on her playlist for ‘Twilight’, or did you become one after?
- Why do you think Stephenie included “Time is Running Out” on her playlist?
- What’s your favourite Muse song?

About Muse:

Muse formed in Teignmouth, Devon, England, UK in 1994 while the members were at Teignmouth Community College and Coombeshead College. The band used the name Rocket Baby Dolls when they entered a local Battle of the Bands and won, but smashing their equipment during the contest. After winning the contest the members decided to quit college and their jobs and change the name of the band to Muse, they also moved away from Teignmouth.

Stephenie Meyer, author of the ‘Twilight Saga’ has said in interviews that she is a big fan of Muse and without knowing it they helped her write ‘Twilight’. Muse frontman Matthew Bellamy has said that Stephenie was the one who approached them about ‘Twilight’ before the movie was even announced while she was at their concert in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

One of their more popular songs “Supermassive Black Hole” was featured on the ‘Twilight’ soundtrack in 2008 in the famous baseball scene. In September this year it was released that Muse would also be on the second movie in the ‘Twilight’ saga, ‘New Moon’ with a new version of the song “I Belong to You”. Muse have also said they are interested in featuring on the ‘Eclipse’ soundtrack too.

On the 4th and 5th September 2009 Muse did a special one-off concert in their hometown Teignmouth that was dubbed ‘A Seaside Rendezvous’, where 30,000 more people turned up than bought a ticket

Muse has been awarded 24 awards including 5 MTV Europe Awards, 5 Q Awards, 6 NME Awards and 2 Brit Awards.

Band members include:

- Matthew Bellamy – vocals, guitar, piano & keyboards, primary lyricist
- Christopher Wolstenholme – bass guitar, vocals, keyboards
- Dominic Howard – drums, percussion

Albums include:

- Showbiz (1999)
- Origin of Symmetry (2001)
- Absolution (2003)
- Black Holes & Revelations (2006)
-The Resistance (2009)

Official Muse Website:

http://Muse.mu/

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We’re coming at you with another edition of Stephenie Saturday and today we’re taking a blast to the past. Since we’ve covered all of the FAQs on Stephenie Meyer’s official website, last week we began looking at Q&A sessions that Stephenie took part in throughout her career. This week we’re taking a look at a piece called “Dawn of the Undead” which was done by Rolling Stone Magazine back in August of 2008. The Q&A covers topics like Stephenie’s book playlists and of course the books themselves. As always, we’ve added some questions for consideration at the end so we can get your thoughts on each topic.

So for this week’s edition of Stephenie Saturday, TA Staffer Valerie brings us “Dawn of the Undead”.

To read (and respond to!) this week’s topic, click here.

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