In September, a month-long auction launches on ebay where anybody, yes anybody, can enter literary history. If you’re the high bidder:
Stephen King‘s zombies will rip you limb from limb,
or Andrew Sean Greer will name a soda shop after you,
or Rick Moody will mention you more than once,
or you will be dubbed a Columbia Professor in a comic book by Jonathan Lethem,
or Lemony Snicket‘s Sunny Baudelaire will utter your name as an oath,
or Neil Gaiman will bury you,
or you will meet a traveling fish courtesy Dave Eggers,
or another author will take care of you in the best way they see fit.
It’s all to benefit the First Amendment Project, which has scored a coup with a cool idea that’s getting it tons of press. Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s March auction of naming rights for a cruise ship in the upcoming Anansi Boys, benefitting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and motivated by Michael Chabon‘s plea to help the struggling FAP, a couple of smart heads got together to offer placement in the work of 16 authors, from Amy Tan to John Grisham to ZZ Packer.
FAP has a new blog that keeps tabs on the erosion of first amendment rights. Unfortunately, it’s got plenty of material.
