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Now's your chance to die in a Stephen King novel or be portrayed "in a good light" in the next thriller from John Grisham -- while championing the cause of free speech.

That's the idea behind a charity auction on eBay that starts Sept. 1 and features 16 authors selling character names to the highest bidders. All proceeds go to the First Amendment Project, a nonprofit legal group dedicated to free speech.

In addition to King and Grisham, writers agreeing to sell a name in their upcoming books include Amy Tan, Peter Straub, Nora Roberts, Lemony Snicket and Dave Eggers. All have penned summaries of what they plan to offer in an auction preview at http://www.ebay.com/fap .

Not all are selling characters. Neil Gaiman has offered to include "your name, or the name of someone you love" on a gravestone in his upcoming novel. Snicket, a popular children's writer, is offering "an utterance" by a certain character, but concedes the spelling may be "mutilated."

The most priceless preview comes from horrormeister King, who writes that he will want his buyer to provide a physical description and nickname ("can be made up, I don't give a rip," he writes) and that "a buyer who wants to die must in this case be female.'' The winning bidder will appear in King's book "Cell" next year or in 2007.

In all cases, anyone named must grant their permission, said David Greene, executive director of the First Amendment Project. Each auction will last 10 days. To deter fraudulent bidding, once bidding goes over $1,000, participants will be contacted to verify that they intend to pay, said Eric Gazin, president of AuctionCause, the company managing the event.

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I doubt this will stay in my price range for more than an few minutes, but it sounds fun, doesn't it?
 

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Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
 
That's such a cool idea! I love it!
 

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Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
 
didn't Chris post something about this a few days ago?
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
Possibly. I didn't see it, but it wouldn't surprise me if he found out about this before I did.
 

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Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
 
Why can't I be rich!? ARG!
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
Now, I know we've had this already... Here we go.
 

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Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
 
See, from Chris' thread, I didn't catch the bit about it going to support free speech. So I learned something from this thread Dag!
 

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Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
 
Just restating my desire to be King's female victim LOL
And yeah, this won't stay anywhere near what any of us can afford for long.
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
Unless one of us is secretly Bill Gates or Ivonna Trump.
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
Ah, see, I'm not a huge Gaiman fan, so I didn't go into that thread.
 

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Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
 
I'd rather put the name of someone I hate on a gravestone.
 

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Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
 
I'd pay to be in a Lemony Snicket book!
 

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Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
 
Rarely do I wish I were rich, but I do now.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Dagonee:
Ah, see, I'm not a huge Gaiman fan, so I didn't go into that thread.

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