A Bid to Create a Cast of Characters

Want to impress your friends?

How about having your name--or even your friend’s name--appear in a novel by a best-selling author?

Opportunities to name characters in upcoming novels by Elizabeth George, Clive Cussler and Michael Palmer are among the items to be auctioned in “A Bid of Excitement Game Show Edition,” a Cal State Fullerton fund-raiser Oct. 25.

The auction in the student union will follow a quiz show hosted by Alex Trebeck of “Jeopardy!” fame.

George, whose novel “Deception on His Mind” hit the No. 1 spot on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list this summer, is no stranger to Cal State Fullerton: She earned a master’s degree in counseling there in 1979.

But this is the first time the Huntington Beach author has auctioned off an opportunity to become a literary extra.

“The winner can select any name he wants to have in the book--his own, his best friend’s, his worst enemy’s,” said George, adding that she surprised the students in the small writing group that meets in her home by using their names in her last novel: “They were all policemen or witnesses.”

Cussler, whose “Flood Tide” is a No. 1 bestseller around the country--he autographed more than 800 books at a signing at Book Carnival in Orange last week--originally turned down the university’s request to participate in the auction.

But Larry Zucker, associate vice president of university advancement, said Cussler, who once lived in Costa Mesa and now has homes in Telluride, Colo., and Scottsdale, Ariz., “called up out of the blue and said, ‘Tell me more about this.’ When he knew Elizabeth George and Michael Palmer were doing it, he said he’d do it too.”

Zucker said Palmer, a Boston physician and author of “Extreme Measure,” was invited to participate because a character in one of his previous books had graduated from Cal State Fullerton.

“So I wrote him and asked him why he mentioned us--and encouraged him to do that again in the future,” Zucker said. “He said he liked our baseball team and that’s why he liked Cal State Fullerton.”

Zucker said those who make the winning auction bids can suggest any name they want as a character. “As long as it’s a normal name, it’s not going to be a problem,” he said.

Palmer, for one, has expressed some concern.

In his letter agreeing to participate in the auction, Palmer talked about having done this sort of thing once before.

The winner, Palmer explained, “submitted both his and his wife’s names, Bill and Debbie Elovitz. Elovitz??? How am I going to slip an Elovitz past my editor, let alone two?”

The university fund-raiser, which includes dinner, is $50 per person. Call (714) 278-3480.

This Week

* Robert V. Hine, author of “Second Sight,” will sign at 2 p.m. today at Lido Book Shoppe, 3424 Via Oporto, Newport Beach.

* Robert Davis, author of “The Plutonium Murders,” will sign from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at Paradies gift shop in John Wayne Airport, 18601 Airport Way.

* Janice Steinberg, author of “The Dead Man and the Sea,” will speak and sign at 1 p.m. today at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster.

* Heike Hendler, author of “Stories of True Love,” will speak and sign at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Barnes & Noble, 1372 Jamboree Road, Irvine.

* Louann W. Murray, author of “Romantic Weekends Southern California,” and Martin J. Smith, author of the suspense thriller “Time Release,” will speak at a luncheon meeting at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Huntington Beach Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. $12. For reservations, call (714) 842-4481, Ext. 2213.

* Burke Leon, author of “Insiders Guide to Buying a New or Used Car,” will speak and sign at 7 p.m. Saturday at Borders Books and Music, 429 Associate Road, Brea.

* A used-book sale will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at Canyon Hills Library, 400 Scout Lane, Anaheim Hills.

Send information about book-related events at least 10 days before event to Dennis McLellan, O.C. Books & Authors, Life & Style, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.