Psychic Lisa Williams takes readings on the road

Her TV success has now allowed her to take her show on the road.

The stage show, which hits Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Friday night, is Williams doing about 20 readings for a lengthy three hours. With her spiky hair and empathetic yet ebullient attitude, she draws a younger audience than many of her TV brethren such as John Edward.

"I'm not as serious or intense as he is," she said. "I just hope for the best. If the audience is really interactive and chats and has a lot of fun, we can have an amazing time."

Williams, 35, has built a healthy fan base. Her book "Life Among the Dead" on Amazon gets a top five-star rating from 42 reviewers. She said Atlanta turned out strongly for her April book signing at Books-a-Million in Lawrenceville.

Amy Kocher, a Valdosta resident who operates a Lisa Williams fan site on MySpace, said she appreciates Edward because she "incorporates emotion into her work. John Edward seems to work a crowd, whereas she cares more for the individual."

Skeptic James Randi, who has a $1 million paranormal challenge for anybody who can prove they have psychic powers, isn't familiar with Williams personally but has been following the business for 30 years and believes all mediums use the same schitck.

"If the ghost of, say, my father-in-law comes to the medium, why doesn't the medium say his full name? The ghost knows his full name! Why go through the charade of throwing out letters and common first names?" Randi said.

Randi also said live shows don't tend to work as well as TV because they can't be edited, and the mistakes mediums make become more obvious.

Williams, who says even her dad is a skeptic, admits her readings aren't perfect and that she doesn't always interpret a spirit's thoughts perfectly. But she firmly believes there is an afterlife, that we all have a spiritual being separate from our physical being.

"We all have an aura," she said. "Mediums have a bright aura. Spirits come to us like bees to honey." The readings, she said, "are in many respects like therapy for people" grieving over lost loved ones.

Her Lifetime show, which averaged 1.3 million viewers last year in its second season, is being altered this fall to be more of a talk show format rather than just readings. "We'll still do man-on-the-street readings, but we'll have guests and phone-ins. It'll be more varied."