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Epilogue hosts release party for latest in vampire book series

Friday, August 1, 2008

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By Margaret Hair (Contact)

Steamboat Springs — On the Web site for “The Twilight Saga” young adult book series, a map of the United States is covered in red.

Hundreds of sanguine balloons indicate the locations of midnight release parties for “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final book in Stephenie Meyer’s wildly popular series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire.

In Colorado, dozens of balloons dot the Front Range, and one sits off to the left — a marker for the contest- and giveaways-packed party at Epilogue Book Co. on Lincoln Avenue. The store is hosting the party tonight in the two hours and one minute leading up to the book’s official release.

The event was the brainchild of Epilogue’s staff — a group largely composed of teenage girls, who also happen to make up a key portion of the “Twilight” fan base. To go along with the themed desserts they prepared, employees will screen clips of an upcoming “Twilight” movie — due out in December — and judge a costume contest, said 15-year-old Epilogue staff member Marilyn Harris.

“Stephenie Meyer, the author, she’s such an addicting writer, and they’re just such compelling teen novels,” Harris said of the series, which she got hooked on after friends in a math class introduced her to it.

“They’re just really fun, and my friends and I get really into them,” she said. “The Twilight Saga” follows Bella, an Arizona teen new to a small Washington town. Bella falls in love with Edward, an eternally 17-year-old vampire who’s sworn off eating people, and she befriends Jacob, a werewolf who’s head-over-heels for her.

“It’s an easy sell, believe me, to get kids to read it,” said Alison Lambart, teen services librarian at Bud Werner Memorial Library. Although some of the story’s driving points are rooted in fantasy, most of the characters and themes are relatable to teenage girls and boys, as well as adults, said Lambart, who is a fan of the series.

“It’s kind of cool the way she leaves that (the fantasy elements) in there, because basically they’re just teenagers in high school who just want to be normal. And then she has Bella who happens to be in love with a vampire and her best friend happens to be a werewolf,” Lambart said. “She weaves the normal in with the fantasy.”

Although the books are geared toward teenage girls, they exist in many ways on the same ageless and sexless level as the “Harry Potter” novels, Epilogue owner Erica Fogue said.

“We have grown men ordering the books, and we’re like, ‘Really?’ … They (the books) are impulsively addicting,” Fogue said, admitting that after starting the series last week, she’s already on the third book.

Pre-ordered copies of “Breaking Dawn” will be available at 12:01 a.m. Saturday at Epilogue, and the party will go until they all are sold. Fogue said she hopes to have extras for those who attend the party but did not pre-order, and she definitely will have copies of the book on hand to sell during the day Saturday.