Fame...of a sort

See Your Name in Print
Next month, authors such as Stephen King, Amy Tan, Lemony Snicket, Nora Roberts, Michael Chabon will auction the right to name characters in their new novels. The profits will go to the First Amendment Project, whose lawyers have repeatedly gone to court to protect the free speech rights of activists, writers and artists.

Stephen King told the Associated Press that the highest bidder will get to name a character in his new zombie novel, CELL, which he describes as being "like cheap whisky ... very nasty and extremely satisfying." EDITOR'S NOTE: THAT DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGE IS LIKE A STEPHEN KING NOVEL, ALBEIT BLISSFULLY MUCH SHORTER.

Bidders should note that most of the authors are clearly retaining creative control to use the names as they see fit.

On Sept. 1, eBay Giving Works, the site's dedicated program for charity listings, will go live with the electronic auction. For the next 25 days, anyone with an Internet connection can bid 24 hours a day.

The bidding schedule will be:
September 1-10: Michael Chabon, Amy Tan, Peter Straub, Andrew Sean Greer, Karen Joy Fowler

September 8-18: Stephen King, Lemony Snicket, Dorothy Allison, Jonathan Lethem, Ayelet Waldman

September 15-25: John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman, Dave Eggers, Rick Moody, ZZ Packer

EDITOR'S NOTE: AND HERE'S THAT EBAY WEB ADDRESS ----
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=auctioncause