David H. Rothman is also the author of a Washington novel, The Solomon Scandals, which The Washington City Paper praised for "the same dark zeal Hammett held for Frisco or Chandler had for Los Angeles." 

A former poverty-beat reporter, Rothman has long been interested in the technological side of international development and the topic of human rights. His family lost distant relatives during the Nazi era in Germany, and he is a judge in a major journalism competition on rights abuses, which, to this day, continue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and countless other countries, including the United States.

But how does a pale-skinned white novelist in Alexandria, Virginia, get inside the head of a genius child soldier in the Congo? Through Lemba's tech side, partly, along with plenty of online and offline research.

Rothman had help from another technology fan, Junior Boweya in Kinshasa, a translator, software localization expert, and businessman who fact-checked Drone Child and otherwise offered an invaluable Congolese perspective. So did Jean Félix Mwema Ngandu, a former Mandela Fellow. A prominent civic activist, Jean Felix has shared his thoughts on the actual Congo of today.

For more information, go to DroneChild.com. You can reach Rothman directly at davidrothman@pobox.com.

Video credit for this Web site: Bavarart at Fiverr.com.