The First Amendment Project has partnered with AuctionCause to raise money in an interesting program: using eBay, fourteen authors are auctioning off “roles” in future works.

Seven author auctions are open now, and Chris Ware is way out in front. Even though his auction closes after the others, the bid for his offer is over $3000 at the moment. I wonder if that’s a vote on his relative popularity, or whether the prospect of appearing in illustration as well as print is more attractive. Speaking of which, Kevin J. Anderson’s offer also looks pretty interesting:

“I will name a character after you (or the person of your choice) in the my novel THE LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON, for HarperCollins books and DC Comics, a science fiction epic that tells of the destruction of Superman’s home planet. Note, that because Krypton names are alien (Jor-El, Kal-El, Zod, Cera-Si), your name will have to be ‘alienized,’ but still recognizeable. The book is due to be published in Fall 2007.”

I’m not sure how my name would be ‘alienized’.

Participating Authors (links are to the auction pages; unlinked authors’ auctions haven’t opened yet.):

• Carl Hiassen
• John Lescroart
• Elinor Lipman
• Francine Prose
• Edward P. Jones
• Chris Ware
• Kevin J. Anderson
• Emily Barton
• Phillip Margolin
• Douglas Preston
• Tim Green
• Lorrie Moore
• Stephen Elliott
• Patricia Polacco