Jon Mark Beilue: Tunnels of boyhood adventure

WT’s tunnel system used as hook for Hardy Boys-style novel

Tim Lewis, wanting to study the history of the Texas Panhandle, moved to Canyon in 1990. It was about that time he began to walk for exercise, and the West Texas A&M University campus was ideal for that. Those were some of the early miles of now more than 27,000 that Lewis has walked over more than 30 years.

For someone like Lewis who has long had a creative bent, walks were also a way to stir the thought process. He wrote stories as a kid, but he had not seen himself as a writer. In fact, he went to Sam Houston State in the 1970s as an agriculture student.

A teacher at a church he attended in Huntsville wrote a play. She knew Lewis had an interest in the theater, and at her urging, they collaborated on a musical, one of six they wrote together. He changed his major to music, and then dabbled in plays and novels.

One play was about Sam Houston, which was performed at Texas’ sesquicentennial in 1986 in front of an audience that included Gov. Mark White. He continued to write more shows, including one for the Amarillo Little Theatre and one with the Otwell twins of Tulia, “Can’t Get Enough of Texas.”

Lewis’ mind rarely rests. Like most writers, it just wanders. He came from a walk one evening in the 1990s when he saw a report on ABC News that college campuses were easy pickings for bicycle thefts. Most would watch that story and forget. As for Lewis?

“I thought it would make for a good middle-grade novel,” he said.

About that same time, Lewis was walking around campus. He had heard about “secret tunnels” at WT, stories that turn out to be more urban legend than anything.

“One day I look down the grates of a drainage system, and the light was just right,” Lewis said. “I could see gum wrappers, leaves and dirt and thought, ‘what if?’”

What if there were a series of bicycle thefts on a college campus, and what if a young boy had his skateboard careen down one of these grates, and what if he and his buddy squeeze their way in there only to discover bicycle tracks and what if they begin to put together the pieces of a stolen bike puzzle.

Lewis researched tunnels on university campuses and found that colleges had their own treasure trove of underground pathways. The University of Texas had some steam tunnels designed in 1928, the subject of a 2005 documentary, “Subterranean City: The UT Steam Tunnels.” Texas A&M University has its own steam tunnels, Lewis said, some as wide as five and six feet. There was one area large enough to be dubbed “The Beach.”

WT’s little-known tunnels

Photo: Author Tim Lewis, right, chats with shopworker Neysa Clark at Burrowing Owl Books in Canyon.

But what of WT? The place that Lewis got the bones for his Hardy Boys-style novel is not without its own meanderings underground.

Constructed in 1977, tunnels transport utilities throughout campus as well as IT networking and cabling. A video produced by WT media students in 2012 described tunnels going from Jarrett Hall to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum to the Sybil Harrington Fine Arts Complex.

Lewis exercised poetic license when writing his book; the real-life tunnels at WT are in no way as accessible as those he describes.

“All of this formed the plot of the novel,” Lewis said. “Kids love mysteries. Kids love tunnels and bikes. They love skateboards. I just put all those things together and thought it would make a good Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew story especially when the bikes are taken in the light of day and the protagonist would have to find out where they went and how they got off campus. It’s all part of the story.”

The main character is a 12-year-old boy Hal Tanner, whose older brother is editor of the campus newspaper at fictional Southern State University. Hal doesn’t know if he’ll ever be as good as his older brother.

There’s a campus maintenance man, Wiley, a former combat solider whose war injury left him with conduction aphasia, a speech disorder characterized by unintended syllables or words and poor speech repetition that affects some veterans. He befriends Hal and his best friend, Jerry.

“I wanted to get Wiley’s dialogue correct. I talked with a speech therapist at the VA hospital who allowed me to sit in with some men with conduction aphasia who were in therapy,” Lewis said. “When I finished the book, she read the dialogue to the men and they said that I had it exactly right. The men in the session were thrilled I’d put a character like this in the book.”

Among the other characters is a bad campus cop surrounded by a number of good ones. His name is Bratton, named for a cowboy Lewis ran across while researching the XIT Ranch at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.

The name of the book is “The Glitter Effect.” The title is taken from a kid’s use of glitter and how it was used to help track down the thieves, whose names were inspired by sidewalk art at WT.

“It’s about self-discovery and accepting the person you are,” said Lewis. “Hal discovers the true meaning of success and has to risk his life to do it. He gets lost in the tunnels, is caught by the criminals, and it gets dangerous for him.”

Book went unpublished for 25 years

Photo: Author Tim Lewis poses next to his new book "The Glitter Effect" among books by other authors of regional interest at Burrowing Owl Books in Canyon.

Though the book was published in December by Elk Lake Publishing Inc., in Plymouth, Mass., the manuscript had been sitting on Lewis’ shelf for about 25 years. In the interim, he and renowned romance novelist Jodi Thomas co-founded the West Texas Writers Academy that has been held for many years on the WT campus. He taught writing in WT’s continuing education curriculum for six years.

He has written six books, and published two. The other was “Forever Friday,” a romance novel in 2013 that was translated into three languages and was atop its own category on Amazon.

“The Glitter Effect” originally came to a standstill in the late 1990s when a New York publishing company decided abruptly not to publish the book because marketing showed sales lagged for the audience of young boys. Lewis’ agent retired, and his new one didn’t represent children’s books.

“So it went back to the file cabinet,” Lewis said.

Then last year, Lewis, 68, decided to take it out again. Skateboards were back in vogue, and if not now on the book, then when? He pitched it himself, found Elk Lake Publishing, and not only did they like it, they want a series of four books from Lewis. He also has two other novels at various stages for them.

Lana Ziegler, Tim and wife Dinah’s daughter, was just 10 years old when the manuscript was first completed. Now a graphic artist, she auditioned her work to Elk Lake, was approved and designed the cover.

The book is No. 1 on Amazon in both the categories of Children’s Mystery and Detective stories and Children’s Christian Action and Fiction. It has been nominated for a Christy Award, which recognizes novels of faith in contemporary culture.

Barbara Bain thought enough of “The Glitter Effect” that the former elementary school teacher and prominent WT supporter bought 12 copies and placed them in the Barbara Bain English Language Arts and Social Studies model classroom in WT’s Old Main building.

“Like all my Christian writings, I don’t have God in your face, but faith is important to my characters,” Lewis said. “I write for kids because it’s natural for them to be imaginative and curious. It’s how they solve problems.

“Kids have certain tools and techniques and it’s part of the job description of being a kid. It’s part of that childlike courage and faith.”

“The Glitter Effect” by Tim Lewis is available at Barnes and Noble, Burrowing Owl Books in Amarillo and Canyon, and on Amazon.

Top photo: Tim Lewis poses on the campus of West Texas A&M University next to a manhole cover whose inscription inspired a clue in Lewis' new book "The Glitter Effect."

Do you know of a student, faculty member, project, an alumnus or any other story idea for “WT: The Heart and Soul of the Texas Panhandle?” If so, email Jon Mark Beilue at jbeilue@wtamu.edu .