An auction of the first three copies of a new thriller by a New Zealand-based writer have raised $600 for the Christchurch earthquake appeal fund.

Exuberant auctioneer, Mike Ferguson, cajoled a packed house to bid for the first three novels of William Knight's new book, Generation, launched on Saturday night.

Standing on a soap box, waving his arms and pitting the crowd against themselves Ferguson not only kept the bids rolling in, but entertained as well.

"You can't do these things by halves," said Ferguson, "you have to put your soul into it."

The three lots contained the first three books off the press, of a limited run produced especially for the launch. As well as the books, the audience were bidding for a promotional poster, excluded and

deleted scenes from the book, and the book in digital format -- all

personally dedicated by the Author.

"I can't believe the auction raised so much," said Knight. "I'm completely thrilled. And very happy that my writing can help out, even in a small way."

The prize lot, book number one off the press, went to IT consultant Mike Lowery. "I love books and own over a thousand," he said. "I've got a prize book from 16th century, but I've never owned a first

edition, let alone the very first book printed."

Knight is a British-born journalist and technologist currently living and working in Wellington, New Zealand.

In 2003 he published his first feature in Computing magazine and has since written about the many successes and failings of high-tech for the Guardian, Financial Times and BBC Focus among many other

publications. Generation, an 'intelligent horror', is his debut novel and is available as an ebook from Amazon,

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YHZ9ZU">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YHZ9ZU</a>.