Fans adore repugnant tales involving novelist's gas

Let's face it: When a lecture by a famed children's author is titled "Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence," nobody really shows up for details about fairies and fiends.

"I guess I'm most interested in fairies?" Naperville 13-year-old Michael McCarthy says sheepishly before a gleeful admission, "Nah, OK, maybe the flatulence, really. I have older brothers, so I can relate."

This leads to Irish author Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer's greatest challenge. How does one spend nearly an hour and a half talking to youngsters about various aspects of wind-breaking or gas-passing without uttering the dreaded word that rhymes with "cart?"

"That's the whole talent of it all," he said. "About 20 times a show I'll start out with the first consonant, but remember and switch the rest of the word. It's quite handy that flatulence and its naughtier cousin start with the same letter."

Colfer's lecture Saturday at North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall in Naperville focused on the inspirations for many of the characters in his wildly successful "Artemis Fowl" series and other books. The lecture and book signing was sponsored by Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville.

Colfer claims his authority on flatulence comes from being raised in a household with four brothers and no sisters, and fathering two sons and no daughters.

"If there were more girls around I suppose we might all have been more restricted," he said. "But thankfully, there weren't."

Sam McDonell, a 13-year-old fan of Colfer's from Arlington Heights, said that he came specifically for Colfer's lively storytelling.

"I heard that he would be funny," McDonell said. "It was like his books; he mixes comedy with seriousness."

Colfer delighted his young fans by revealing some details of his soon-to-be-published sixth Artemis Fowl book. The author said there's a method to keeping a serial fresh.

"I was always concerned about keeping the standard," he said. "The key is to not write them all in a row. I break them up with other books and then I go back to him and get all excited again."