Mark Van Name’s latest SF novel, Children No More [buy isbn=”9781439133651″], deals with the difficult subject of child soldiers. What’s more, Mark has decided to donate 100% of the profits from the hardcover version of the book to a charity, Falling Whistles, that works to rehabilitate child soldiers who have fought in the current war in the Congo. I quote from their website:

The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to the world’s largest and most deadly war. During the past 10 years, roughly 6 million people have died, and nearly 1,500 people continue to lose their lives daily. Sexual violence is more rampant here than anywhere else in the world, and thousands of children are involved in the war.

I’m very pleased to see more attention being paid to this issue. And if you are interested in such things I can also recommend Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s superb novel, Effendi, which looks at water wars further north in Africa, and Nnedi Okorafor’s equally superb Who Fears Death, set in the Sudan.