Random Thoughts

Scott Esposito has a fun column on litblogs up on Rain Taxi. Aside from having some insights into this odd medium, he gives some pointers to a couple of blogs I've never heard of that look pretty good.

There's also a very interesting charity project up for The First Amendment Project. Sixteen very different authors, ranging from popular genre, mainstream, and literary, offer up the chance for your own name (Yes, you!) to appear in one of their works if you win the auction. Proceeds go towards the First Amendment Project, a non-profit onprofit advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of information, expression, and petition. I won't list all of the possibilities, but here are a few:




Jonathan Lethem

What he's offering:
"I need the name of a Columbia University professor for a comic book I'm writing for Marvel. It can be your name or the name of a friend -- but if it's a friend, I need to hear from them with their permission."

Neil Gaiman

What he's offering:
"My next novel will be called THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. It's a children's novel, and will be published, er, when it's published. Maybe in 2007 or failing that, 2008. It will have lots of gravestones in it. Your name, or the name of someone you love (who won't mind) can be on a gravestone."

Dave Eggers

What he's offering:
"The winner will be featured in a strange illustrated story I'm working on called The Journey of the Fishes Overland. The winner, or someone of her/his choosing, will be encountered by the traveling fish in question, as they travel over land. It could also be a family, a house, an address, whatever. I get to decide why the fishes see this person/place, and what's said by/to or done by/to the person/place. This story will be finished and published in the fall. The name/s have to be tasteful and be undisruptive to the narrative. I reserve the right to refuse using a name I find offensive."

Anyway, it's a good cause. Consider bidding, even if you don't have an interest in having your name in someone else's book.

Excelsior.