“The Dinosaur” by James Ankrom, a Parkersburg native, is about the fictional discovery of the first dinosaur bones in West Virginia and how it changed the lives of three best friends. (Photo Provided)

A fictional discovery of a dinosaur bone in West Virginia is the premise of a Parkersburg native’s new book.

“The Dinosaur” by James Ankrom is set in Wood County in the 1960s and is about three friends, all seniors at Parkersburg High School, who want to take a different path in their lives rather than work in a plant upon graduation.

“What if you had three real people who didn’t fit in the mold,” Ankrom, 75, a retired magazine editor who now lives in Newton, N.J., near New York City, said.

The idea for the book comes from real life, but is not autobiographical, Ankrom said.

No dinosaur bones have ever been found in West Virginia, Ankrom said. The earth where the Appalachians formed has eroded away over the millions of years after the dinosaurs lived and with it went their remains, he said.

“The Dinosaur” by James Ankrom, a Parkersburg native, is about the fictional discovery of the first dinosaur bones in West Virginia and how it changed the lives of three best friends. (Photo Provided)

“So I thought, ‘What if somebody did find a bone,'” Ankrom said.

Cletis Ray Randolph, one of the friends and the narrator of the story, finds a dinosaur bone on his family farm in Lubeck, Ankrom said. The discovery upon confirmation by a paleontologist begins a sensational and exciting investigation, he said.

“The Dinosaur” starts with Randolph, a retired bio-engineer with a cabin in the mountains, reminiscing about going to Parkersburg High with his best friends, Jessie Clanton, who becomes his girlfriend, and Cass Tillis, a poet, in the 1960s.

“I now exist a very long ways from Parkersburg, West Virginia, where I was born, grew up and where my narrative takes place,” Randolph, who calls himself Clete, says in the book. “When I think back to the mid-1960s, I can’t help but consider there’s hardly any criteria to compare those times with today.”

The book is not intended to slight Parkersburg, Ankrom, who said he is proud to be from Parkersburg. It’s the opposite and is the story of three friends who go a different way than others, he said.

“Parkersburg is a great town,” he said. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”

“The Dinosaur” is Ankrom’s fourth book.

The first was “Sometimes the Fearless” followed by “The River and the Moon” and “The Reaper.”

“I write about different things,” he said.

“Sometimes the Fearless” stems from the civil rights movement in America, he said.

“I couldn’t get over the bravery these people had,” Ankrom said.

Rather than a black child going to a white school, the story is about a white child sent to a segregated black school, Ankrom said.

“The River and the Moon” is about a movie star and a fan who writes her letters from Montana, Ankrom said. The star is in danger and travels to her fan in Montana, but her would-be killer follows her, he said.

“The Reaper” is a mystery and a western, he said. Growing up, Ankrom said he was a fan of Louis L’Amour, the famed western writer.

“I wrote a western, but with a dark side and a spiritual side,” Ankrom said.

Ankrom is a 1968 graduate of Parkersburg South High School in the first graduating class at the school. His first two years were at Parkersburg High.

He graduated in 1973 from West Virginia University in journalism and worked for various newspapers until he became a magazine editor at Carstens Publications for 35 years before he retired.

Ankrom and his wife, Linda, a retired nurse, have seven children, five of whom were adopted including two girls from China.

His father, Okey, was killed in Korea. His mother, Grace, remarried several years later to Earl Modesitt, and both have passed away, Ankrom, calling Modesitt “a really great guy,” said.

“The Dinosaur” is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and AuthorHouse, which published the book. The 300-page book is around $20.