The 14 essays in this volume explore Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular Twilight series in the contexts of literature, religion, fairy tales, film, and the gothic. Several contributors examine Meyer's emphasis on abstinence, considering how, why, and if the author's Mormon faith has influenced the series' worldview. Others look at fan involvement in the Twilight world, focusing on how the series' avid following has led to an economic transformation in Forks, Washington, the real town where the fictional series is set. Other topics include Meyer's use of Quileute shape-shifting legends; Twilight's literary heritage and its frequent references to classic works of literature; and the series's controversial depictions of feminity.

Winner of the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry 2009 With poems that combine the self-scrutiny of Philip Larkin with the measure of Elizabeth Bishop, Amy M. Clark burnishes her first collection, Stray Home, with exquisite understatement and formal control. Sweeter than Larkin and more intimate than Bishop, these poems address the suppressed pain and shame of living as a childless woman in a world of mothers, the dissociation attendant on depression and fraught family relationships, and the search for a sense of belonging in the face of dislocation. Stray Home cuts deeply to discover the buried emotions and insights universal to all suffering and compassionate human beings. "Clark is able to imbue our small, usually overlooked moments with unexpected grandeur. A quiet humor is employed in service of her twin gifts, imagination and metaphor. This is an accomplished, deft, and important debut."-Beth Ann Fennelly, author of Tender Hooks and judge AMY M. CLARK grew up in San Luis Obispo, California. She is a graduate of Carleton College, and holds degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno, and Spalding University's MFA Program. She works as an editor and divides her time between Concord, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. Her poems have been published in The Cincinnati Review, Cream City Review, and 32 Poems. Number Seventeen: Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry