RICHARD STEPHENS / PVT Paul Genesse is a 1992 Beatty High School graduate who recently published his first book. Here, he signs copies at the Summerlin Barnes and Noble. Advertisement

LAS VEGAS -- Watchers of Las Vegas Fox 5's early morning news program May 23 saw former Beatty High School graduate Dave Hall interview former schoolmate Paul Genesse, who was in Las Vegas on a book tour promoting his first novel, "The Golden Cord." He graduated from BHS in 1992.

Genesse has published several short stories in fantasy collections in the past, but the publication of this novel represents at least eight years of passionate work and effort. He explained to Hall that only one in 100,000 novel manuscripts gets published in today's market.

A love of fantasy literature came early to Genesse, who read "The Hobbit" three times in fourth grade. He loves the genre and also says it gives writers an opportunity to deal with moral, political and social issues that would be difficult to talk about in non-fiction. "You can tell a lot of truth in fantasy," he said. "You get to see the choices people make and the repercussions."

Genesse said that, as a boy, his heroes were soldiers, "and my mom didn't want me to be a soldier." He then said he began to notice doctors and nurses, and said they became his heroes because they were saving lives.

Today, besides being a published author, Genesse is a registered nurse who supervises other nurses in a cardiac unit in Salt Lake City. He says he loves being a nurse and plans to always stay in the profession even though his writing career is taking off.

Giving advice to young writers at a book signing at the Summerlin Barnes and Noble, he said, "The secret to good fiction is to have tension. You have to be mean to your characters."

"The Golden Cord," at 398 pages, is the first volume of a five-book, 555,000-word series. Genesse said it took three years to write the first book and five more to complete the whole series. Although the five books are all written, his next task is to work with copy editors to polish the second book for publication.

Genesse characterizes this series as "PG-13" for violence, and the publisher has aimed it at the age 12-adult market.

He was pleased when the publisher agreed to commission famous fantasy illustrator Ciruelo Cabral for the cover.

He has already started work on a very different novel, "Medusa's Daughter," an alternative telling of the Medusa legend for which he did research in Greece. This book, he suggests, will be more "R" rated.

When asked what he found most memorable about this book tour, he said it was the young people he met while visiting schools. "I have hope," he said. I have seen these kids -- amazing kids. They give me such hope for the future."

"The Golden Cord" is published by Five Star, a division of Gale Cengage Learning, and is available at major booksellers, such as Barnes and Noble. An author name search on Amazon.com will also list books in which Genesse's short stories have been published.