I love this idea: Several authors are auctioning off naming rights in their upcoming work, to benefit The First Amendment Project. You could be a taxidermied rat in a new Carl Hiaasen book, or a corpse in a Douglas Preston book, or a character in a Chris Ware comic. Brilliant.

I did a little work on auctions for a children's theater group and a choral group I used to be involved in, and I was a volunteer at the doodle auction at a theater where Mme. CoolP worked in Chicago. And people would bid on fancy dinners or spa treatments, or objects and tchotkes and other tangible goods, but it was the sort of ineffable things that people got excited about, things you can't normally buy. I went crazy and contributed possibly half the total to a Runamuck auction bidding on a day in the kitchen at Charlie Trotter's restaurant for my mom. Live Bait's doodle auction would raise thousands of dollars from people looking to get a line drawing from John Carpenter or Ray Bradbury or Florence Henderson. Some of stars they contact send in signed photos instead, but they never raise as much money -- they're not as personal, not unique. But a weird monkey by John Carpenter or some sort of Carmen Miranda-esque woman by Matthew Broderick? That's cool.

In a weird way, it's a sort of triumph for the creative folks of the world: for once, people put a value on being part of an artistic endeavor. To have a walk-on role on a TV show, or to be one of the silent spear maidens on stage in an opera; to sit in on rehearsals and see what really goes on at a great theater; to be a part of the team that creates amazing meals; to have your name immortalized as a taxidermied rat... these are things money usually can't buy. And they're tremendously thrilling.

So if you have the money, bid on the naming-rights auctions. It's a great cause, and it's something no one else will have. How cool is that?