By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Moapa Valley native son Ute Perkins of York, PA, has completed his first novel, “Timeless Conflict,” and has scheduled a book signing Saturday at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Books Etc., 280 S. Moapa Valley Blvd. in downtown Overton.

The 41-year-old Perkins, who graduated from Moapa Valley High School in 1988, said the new book is the initial installment of a science fiction/fantasy trilogy.

Although he had tried different genres for years, it wasn’t until he began writing “Timeless Conflict” that he excelled and the story just seemed to flow out.

Perkins’ story begins some 5,000 years ago when ancient race of immortal beings brought humanity into existence by pulling them from their grass huts and caves and into a modernistic society along the Nile river valleys. For centuries, mankind flourished under the tutelage of these immortals until a group of men became conscious of the power their living gods possessed and plotted to eliminate them… the group, the Masons, nearly succeeded.

When the remains of a missing student are found near the small college town of Missoula, MT, FBI agents Marcus Reading and Travis Russell are called in to investigate. Although local newspapers are reporting this and other attacks as animal related, the two agents believe there is something more.

As the investigation continues their only suspect, a local college student, holds the key that not even she realizes will eventually unlock a 5,000 year old secret. As events quickly unfold, one agent is violently and unexpectedly thrust into the unraveling mystery as an unintended attraction threatens the lives of everyone involved.

“I just started writing and everything seemed to click,” he said. “I sat down and finished this in six months. I didn’t know I would enjoy the writing aspect if it all but I do. I love it. It is just so much fun.”

While Perkins, who has an MBA and works for Johnson Controls, a major Pennsylvania manufacturer that supplies production parts for every major automotive company, classifies himself as a “hobby writer,” completing a novel is a major accomplishment.

“There are probably some of my teachers in the valley who will probably be surprised I can string two words together that make sense” Perkins laughs. “Although there was one high school teacher who told me I was really good at using words to paint a picture. I didn’t think much of it then, but when I sat down and started to do this, I remembered.”

His memory has apparently served him well. He has already completed the second installment in the trilogy and will soon begin writing the third.

“I want to publish the second book before I begin writing the third,” Perkins said.

Perkins grew up in Overton and enlisted in the Army shortly after graduation.

He spent five years at Fort Campbell in Kentucky with the 101st Airborne and went to Iraq during Desert Storm from 1990 to 1991 as a Blackhawk helicopter mechanic.

Perkins ties to Moapa Valley run deep. His great grandfather was Ute V. Perkins, namesake of the elementary school in Moapa, and many relatives still live in the area today.