Kent Anderson (novelist)

Kent Anderson (born August 20, 1945) is an American author, Vietnam War veteran, former police officer and former university professor born in 1945 in North Carolina. He has written novels, various articles and scenarios.
Life.
Kent Anderson grew up in North Carolina. At age 19 he joined the Merchant navy as an Ordinary seaman for two years. In 1968 he enlisted in the US army and successfully applied and tested for the Special Forces. He was then assigned to Special Forces camp A-101 Mai Loc from 1969 to 1970. He earned two Bronze Star medals for his service in South Vietnam
After his service in Vietnam, he worked as a police officer in Portland, Oregon from 1972 to 1976. Kent Anderson then joined the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Montana where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction in 1978. He worked again as a police officer in Oakland, California in 1983 before resigning to write his first novel, "Sympathy for the Devil," about a young Special Forces soldier in the Vietnam War. He then worked as an assistant professor of English at UTEP in El Paso, Texas and at BSU in Boise, Idaho.
Kent Anderson also worked as a screenwriter for Newline cinema, for which he wrote the scenario of "Motorcycle Gang" directed by John Milius. In 1996, Kent Anderson published his second novel, "Night Dogs", where the protagonist of his first book joins the Portland Police Bureau as a police officer in the late 70's. This book was selected by the New York Times in the Notable books of the Year in 1998.
Currently, Kent Anderson lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he continues to write.