Neil Gaiman was a rock star Friday night.
Taking center stage at Charleston Civic Center, to headline the reborn West Virginia Book Festival, Gaiman, dressed in all black with untamed black hair, was greeted to a standing ovation.
Excited fans packed sections 110 to 115 in the coliseum to listen as the author talked with West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman about his life, humor and writing style.
Eleven-year-old Ukiah Cordell was among them. The young Charleston resident wanted to see Gaiman because her favorite book is "The Graveyard Book," Gaiman's 2008 children's fantasy novel.
Cordell likes to read and write, much like Gaiman did as a child.
"My parents would frisk me before family events," Gaiman said. "Books would be put back in the car and the car would be locked."
His love for books and fairy tales started with Snow White.
"She was probably the first woman I ever loved," Gaiman said. "I worried about her. And I worried about apples."
That love grew into an appreciation of mythology and legends, his favorite stories to read growing up.
"That weird joy that you get as a kid when you hit myth and you go, these aren't adult stories," Gaiman said. "And they're not child stories. They just are."
Also in the audience was Ronn Smith, from Hurricane. A self-professed nerd, he read Gaiman's "Sandman" comic series and has liked him ever since.
"He's prolific," Smith said. "He's done so many different types of writing. I guess I like him because it's very eccentric."
Smith got a taste of that eccentric writing when Gaiman read a short story from his newest book, "Trigger Warning," which will be released Tuesday.
The story was about a genie, who is released from a lamp only to come upon a girl who wishes for nothing.
Gaiman had the audience laughing throughout the night, to the point where Harshman asked him if he tries to be funny.
"I love humor, but I've always wanted to use humor like a condiment, like salt, like a herb, rather than a dish," Gaiman said.
And while he made people laugh, Gaiman hit serious notes as well.
He told a story of his Aunt Helen, a 96-year-old woman, who survived the Holocaust.
"For years, I regarded what I did as important, but fundamentally trivial," Gaiman told the audience.
Helen is not fanciful and doesn't read fiction, he said, but while she was in the Warsaw Ghetto, she had a copy of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind."
Every night, she would read a chapter, despite risking death for owning a book, and then would teach it to the young girls she would see the next day.
"It made me completely rethink the purpose and power of fiction," Gaiman said.
"Because for these people, it was worth death."
Gaiman finished the night with a question and answer session. Some asked him to wish loved ones a happy birthday, others asked about his favorite animal or wondered about upcoming projects.
Rachel Hart, a student from the University of Rio Grande in Rio Grande, Ohio, was at the event with the her school's English Honor Society.
Hart had been waiting in line since 1 p.m., and was hoping for writing tips.
Gaiman came through.
"Write," he said. "You have to write. Elves will not come in the night and finish stories for you."
In the near future, Gaiman will be taking his own advice. He's about to stop doing public appearances and ease up on Twitter so that he can write a novel.
And change his newborn son's diapers.
Reach Dan Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886, or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.