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This week's question: Where did "Fifty Shades of Grey" come from — and where is it going?

The short answer: It came out of the shadows, and it's not going anywhere but up — for now.

If you've managed to avoid any mention of "Fifty Shades" in the last three years, it must be lovely under that rock. 

For the uninitiated, the trilogy is an erotic romance that millions of fans love and many critics abhor. It's been alternately called 

.
 
With a new book just released last week and two more movies on the way, the discussion won't be dying down any time soon.

"Fifty Shades" actually began in the shadow of another hyper-successful romantic trilogy: Stephenie Meyer's vampire sensation "Twilight." 

E.L. James, born Erika Mitchell, wrote stories online — called fan fiction — that used Meyer's main characters. (At the time, James was writing under the pen name Snowqueen's Icedragon.)

Her erotic "Twilight" stories were such a success, she realized her work had publishing potential, but she needed to erase any traces of the copyrighted "Twilight" material. 

So she changed the characters' names, scrubbed out any vampire references and 

! She had an original work on her hands. 

James teamed up with a small Australian press and the love affair began. Two hundred fifty thousand e-books and print-on-demand paperback copies were sold and devoured, mostly due to online reviews and word of mouth. The risque subject matter — bondage and more — only pulled in more readers.

Vintage Books, an imprint of Random House, smelled a phenomenon in the making. James' original press couldn't keep up with demand and Vintage swooped in with a new contract. The company re-released the trilogy in paperback in April 2012 and sales skyrocketed. The original books have now sold more than 

And it's not over yet. The first of three "Fifty Shades of Grey" films debuted this winter and earned more than $85 million on opening weekend. 

The book's blockbuster success has flown in the face of critical reviews, of which there have been many. Critics have savaged the series. 

 wrote, "This is a pretty dreadful book. Put simply, author E.L. James — who is now officially invulnerable to criticism because she has more money than God — is not a very good writer."

But the book's success plays into the theory that e-readers have eroded critics' influence. When no one can see what you're reading, do your reading preferences shift? What happens in the absence of a cultural pressure to read critically acclaimed titles? 

James herself echoed this idea. "E-readers have been very liberating for people because they can read whatever they like with no judgment," she told 

Last week, James released the newest title in the "Fifty Shades" family. The book is called simply "Grey," and it's a retelling of the trilogy from the point of view of the books' 28-year-old billionaire love interest, Christian Grey. 

), but James' books may be proof that no longer matters.

Sales are at 1.1 million copies and climbing. 

With that high of a number, someone near you is very likely reading it right now. And thanks to e-readers, you'll never know.

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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Tracy Mumford

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The latest book from E.L. James has sold more than one million copies in its first week. What's behind the continued phenomenon?

Literary mysteries: What's the deal with "Fifty Shades"?

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