Scalzi's Next Novel Auctioned for Library Fund

My pal John Scalzi's just-completed science fiction novel, The Last Colony, isn't coming out from Tor until May 2007, but he's got one specially printed copy created at Lulu.com, and he's selling it to the highest bidder to raise funds for the John M. Ford Endowment at the Minneapolis Public Library. And there's an escalating series of bonus prizes:

• "If the bidding gets above $200, I'll throw in a copy of my signed, limited-edition chapbook 'Questions for a Soldier.'
• At $500, I'll put in a signed Advance Reader Copy of Agent to the Stars.
• At $1,000, a signed ARC of The Ghost Brigades.
• At $2,000, a signed copy of Old Man's War.
• At $3,000, I'll make you a character in an upcoming book (note: I may kill you off. Hey, it happens).
• And at $5,000, I'll write you your own short story. Because, damn, if you're paying $5K, you deserve it."

Bidding was already at $140 when I went to bed late last night; it's probably higher now. Remember, all the money raised goes to the Minneapolis Public Library's new endowment honoring the memory of the late SF/F writer John M. Ford.