King seeks names for characters in new novel

BANGOR – Not many people get the bragging rights of having a character named after them in a best-selling author’s novel. Even fewer get to be killed off in the book, in most likely an entirely unpleasant manner.

Stephen King, along with 15 other renowned writers, is auctioning through eBay the chance to name a minor character in one of his soon-to-be published works. Bids for King characters will be taken starting Wednesday, Sept. 8, and running through Sept. 19.

All proceeds from the auction will benefit the First Amendment Project, a nonprofit organization that protects and promotes freedom of information, expression and petition.

King calls his next novel, “Cell,” which will appear in either 2006 or 2007, “a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain. Like cheap whiskey, it’s very nasty and extremely satisfying.”

King said the buyer can be male or female, but only female characters can die in the story. Physical description and any nicknames (real or made-up) must also be supplied.

Other authors auctioning off character names include Lemony Snicket, author of the popular “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” who will allow the buyer to name an utterance by Sunny Baudelaire, one of the unlucky orphans in the series, in “Book the Thirteenth.”

Neil Gaiman, writer for the “Sandman” series of graphic novels and author of “American Gods” and “Neverwhere,” is offering the buyer the chance to have his or her name on a gravestone featured in his upcoming children’s novel “The Graveyard Book” due in 2007.

Other authors participating in the auction include John Grisham, Amy Tan, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Dorothy Allison and Nora Roberts.

The First Amendment Project provides more than $400,000 in free legal services each year, representing activists, journalists and artists who have been sued for exercising their First Amendment rights, are challenging laws and policies that infringe upon First Amendment rights, or who are seeking access to governmental and court documents.

For more information, or to bid, visit www.ebay.com/fap. Emily Burnham can be reached at 990-8175 and eburnham@bangordailynews.net.