A two-parter today. The real world and the literary one have both given us something to chew on.

As any news junkie probably knows, a large fire has broken out north of L.A. on the county line between here and Ventura. The rain of last week turned out to be nothing but nature’s tease, and the Santa Ana’s are blowing in, picking up the smallest spark and setting off the raging fires that put in an appearance nearly every year. Miraculously, so far only one home has been entirely lost. 17,000 acres of brush gone. But only one house. Entirely a credit to the local fire departments.

For all the talk post-Katrina of poor coordination of various relief agencies and departments, it’s remarkable to see how quickly L.A. County, Ventura County, L.A. City and other surrounding fire departments came together and leapt on this fire. Engine companies from as far away as Long Beach were streaming in, and late last night as the crews were making a stand around some threatened homes, there were two engines for each house with hoses and men at the ready. Despite the danger, helicopters continued making water drops on hot spots throughout the night – something normally stopped at sundown. And the aerial assault has only picked up after day break.

Hats off to all those men and women beating back the flames. They’ve done an incredible job. And those helicopter pilots, perhaps the unsung heros who never get interviewed on the local news but fly blind into plumes of smoke and hover low, taking the full brunt of the heat and the flames, risking night flights and power lines. God bless. Only one house lost is almost unbelievable given the circumstances. Those are the people I’d want protecting me.

In other far less urgent news, a handful of authors including Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Michael Chabon and John Grisham have auctioned off character names for charity. This practice – agreeing to name a character after the highest bidder – has become the most profitable and popular author-related, money-raising device. And while the charities are undeniably deserving and the authors people I respect, as a writer, it kinda freaks me out.

This is largely irrational, I know. My main character-naming process is to flip through baby name books and a collection of old phone books I keep for the purpose. Certainly there’s nothing very holy about that. And it’s also true that in nearly every piece, I name a character after my best friend and copy editor, so she’ll keep working on my stuff for free. Clearly, I’m not above a little bribery. But somehow, selling a character off makes me feel a little like when I first learned about product placement in movies. Should the creative process, even a little bit of it, be for sale?

The charity of it makes a difference, for sure. All for the greater good, doing your part, being a decent citizen. And it sure does rake in the dough. The winning bidder for a Stephen King character paid a little over $25,000. Try making that with a signed hardback and dinner with the author.

But still, something about it wiggles around in my gray matter and makes me feel a little uneasy. Would Boo Radley have been the same if his name was Jason? What if Carrie of “Carrie” had been Tiffany instead?

I don’t know, guys. I just don’t know. But I think for now, I’ll just write a check to my favorite charity instead.