'Twilight' author's new book delivered by coffin by werewolves

The first copies of one of this year's most hotly-anticipated new books, 'Twilight' author Stephenie Meyer's latest novel, were delivered today - by a group of "werewolf" pallbearers.

The hunky group carried the latest supernatural tale, 'The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner', encased in a sealed coffin amid tight security at a central London store.

The book, Meyer's first new title in two years, goes on sale at shops around the UK at 5.05am tomorrow.

Today's first batch of books were delivered to Waterstone's flagship Piccadilly store in central London and will be kept under guard before fans can get their hands on them.

The saga's translation rights have been sold in nearly 50 countries and 100 million copies have been sold worldwide.

Its phenomenal success has also inspired movies starring Robert Pattinson as brooding vampire Edward Cullen.

Eclipse, the third film adaptation from the 'Twilight Saga', hits UK cinemas this summer.

The new book will go on sale just days before the author puts it online - for fans to read for free.

Meyer will place her 192-page novella on a dedicated website, www.breetanner.com, from June 7 to July 5, for fans from around the world to view the story in English in a "read only" format.

"I'd always considered The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner as something for the fans," Meyer has said.

"They have been so supportive of all things Twilight."

The new "novella" is told from the point of view of Bree, a character originally featured in Eclipse.

"I'm as surprised as anyone about this novella," said Meyer. "When I began working on it in 2005, it was simply an exercise to help me examine the other side of Eclipse, which I was editing at the time.

"I thought it might end up as a short story that I could include on my website.

"Then, when work started on 'The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide', I thought the Guide would be a good fit for my Bree story.

"However, the story grew longer than I anticipated, until it was too long to fit into the Guide."

The 'Twilight Saga' books are published in the UK by Atom, which is also releasing the new book.

Meyer, who lives in Arizona with her husband and three sons, wrote on her website: "Since this story had always been an extra for me, and was meant to be released with the Guide, I wanted to be able to offer it to my fans for free.

"You all have bought a ton of my books, and I wanted to give you this story as a gift."

She added: "We still wanted to also produce a physical book with a cool cover that you can add to your set if you like."

Despite the free offer, Waterstone's is predicting the book will fly off the shelves.

The retailer's children's buyer, Sarah Clarke, said: "This could be the biggest-selling book of the year."