John Wesley Anderson Tells How His Writing Is Shaped By Conan Doyle and Gene Roddenberry

Ever since I was a little boy, I liked to read. The first book I remember reading cover to cover was Silver Blaze, a Sherlock Holmes short story written by Sir Author Conan Doyle. I think I was probably in the third grade. I was fascinated by the character, Sherlock Holmes, who possessed the investigative skills that allowed him to solve mysteries that even the finest detectives with Scotland Yard could not. My mother had been with the Colorado Springs Police Department and I had already set my sights on joining the Department when I graduated high school.

Author John Wesley Anderson

But before I had graduated, I had also become fascinated with the television series Star Trek. I knew at the time the writer who had created the Star Trek phenomena was Gene Roddenberry. What I didn’t know until I was on the Colorado Springs Police Department was that Gene Roddenberry didn’t start out his career as a writer; he had followed in his father’s footsteps and had been a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. When I graduated high school and joined the Colorado Springs Police Department, I too was following in the footsteps of my family, but it was Detective Lou Smit who first got me interested in one day becoming a homicide detective where I hoped to develop the investigative capabilities I had read about in the Sherlock Holmes novels. 

I had come to realize that the application of science was one of the investigative talents Sherlock Holmes had applied to solve many of his cases. When I was promoted to detective I became interested in the application of forensic science in the investigation of major crimes. I attended countless training classes and exploited every opportunity to leverage forensic science in the pursuit of justice. I served on the board of directors for several forensic sciences organizations and became recognized as a court qualified expert in Bloodstain Pattern Interpretation and Crime Scene Reconstruction, which incorporated the application of all the forensic sciences (ballistics, fingerprint analysis, wound pattern interpretation, etc.) in the investigation of violent crimes. 

After I retired from my law enforcement career, which spanned just over three decades, I went on to pursued my interests in public safety and space by working the next ten years for the Lockheed Martin Corporation, one of the world’s largest aerospace companies. My primary focus was in support of defense, homeland and corporate security initiatives; however, I spent a lot of time focused on advanced technology development, including the transfer of technologies from the warfighter to the crime fighter and firefighter. In 2010, I accepted an early retirement opportunity from the corporation and launched a small consulting company allowing me the freedom to pursue my interests in writing, history and the arts. 

Looking back, I remain amazed at the global influence two men, both authors, Sir Author Conan Doyle and Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, have had on the world over the past 150 years. Their books have inspired humankind to reach for the stars, exploit the power of science, and forever embrace the power of the written word. Following in their footsteps, my goal as an author is for my words and my books to bring honor to the people who have shaped our past and inspire those people who will shape our future.