Local author has published two books
Levi Wayne has seen dead people, among other things.
Wayne said he once rose off his bed. Another time, he saw the lights in a room flicker on and off with nobody near the switch. Then there was the time he saw lightning shaped like a spider web.
Wayne, of Pittsfield, has now written two novels that feature supernatural events. "These stories needed to come out," he said.
Wayne is trying to live a dream by writing about nightmares. After serving in the Army, driving an oil tanker and designing graphics, he hopes to make it as a full-time novelist. He has self-published two science-fiction books and sold about 2,000 of them. But Wayne, one of only a handful of novelists from Pittsfield, has high hopes; he has plans for three more books, which he would like to turn into a movie or a television series.
His novels both feature the same mild-mannered protagonist from central New Hampshire, Carl Atkins, who runs his family's general stores and relaxes by hunting in the woods and relaxing on his boat. In his 2003 book, Wisemen: The Awakening, a secret cult with supernatural powers kills a member of Atkins's family. In the second book, Wisemen: The Avengers, released last year, Atkins recruits a disaffected cult member and chases the cult through the Granite State and Maine.
Wayne, 48, grew up in Pittsfield under the name Wayne Gallup. (Levi is his middle name.) He served as an Army communications specialist for three years, then held various jobs, including driving a truck in Texas, managing a hotel in Manchester and designing graphics in Concord. But despite his seemingly ordinary life, Wayne said, he sees paranormal events that others don't.
When he was 3, he had a recurring dream in which he ran into a American Indian village during a blizzard. The villagers would flee. Then it would go dark and the dream would end. As an adult, Wayne studied American Indian religions and took part in a ceremony with the Narragansett tribe. He later discovered that an ancestor fought in a colonial militia that attacked a Narragansett village on the same day of the year, Dec. 19, that Wayne took part in the ceremony.
Wayne knows that some people won't understand him, so he lets the books speak for themselves.
"I can give you a UFO experience, but the problem is that, unfortunately, people label you as fruit juice if I tell that," Wayne said during an interview at his wife's video store, where he works when he's not writing.
He knows that being a full-time writer isn't easy. For all his writings about the supernatural, he has a more mundane professional goal: He hopes to make enough money to support himself and his wife, who runs the store on Carroll Street in Pittsfield. When asked how he has made so far, he acknowledges that he still has a while to go. "I really don't have a number worthy to give you, but I have sold a number of books," he said.
Pittsfield librarian Leslie Vogt said that residents who know Wayne or teenagers interested in science fiction occasionally borrow his books. But she said that library patrons more often check out books by better-known authors.
"(Wayne's) books are pretty violent," Vogt said. "Especially the second one."
By default, Wayne may be Pittsfield's leading author. Vogt said she can't remember another recent novel by a resident. Larry Berkson of the town's historical society said Pittsfield's last fiction author was Harriet Dustin Buffum, who wrote in the 1940s.
Wayne has received encouragement from local residents and readers farther away. On Amazon.com, where his books can be purchased, amateur reviewers enthusiastically post compliments, often full of exclamation marks.
"If ever there was a book that would make a great movie, this is it!!" wrote someone named Clouthi from Manchester about The Awakening. "Can't wait for the next episode to be printed!"
"Look-Out (Stephen) KING!!!"an anonymous reviewer wrote. "This book made me sweat from top to bottom."
Wayne said the support helps him to keep writing.
"The thing that excites people to read me is my philosophy," he said. "But the people buying me are also buying Dean Koontz, Dan Brown and Stephen King."
Source: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs ... 043/NEWS01
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