Julia North

How I came to write Lieutenant Hotshot

I began to write a story about a young street child in Africa after being moved by an episode on TV from Ross Kemp about glue kids in Kenya. In this episode Ross showed children as young as 9 years old eking out a meagre living by scavenging on the rubbish tips for food and things to sell, and blurring the pain of their lives by sniffing glue. It was a heart-wrenching watch.

But as Modetse developed, he took control, and the story went down a different route – that of child soldiers in Uganda. Although I knew of the problem and had read about it and watched films on the subject such as Blood Diamond, I was unaware of the scale or the darkness of it throughout the world. I cried many tears as I researched and wrote Lieutenant Hotshot. The brutality of the adults towards these children, some who are as young as 7 years old, during the violent radicalization process is on a scale of abuse that is hard to imagine.

These children deserve a voice to fight for them, and for me as a writer the best way to do this is through a story. Although Modetse and his story might be fiction it is based on solid research and facts. His life and story is the reality for countless children in our world today.

Sales from Lieutenant Hotshot are going to support the charity Warchild, one of the charities who strive to help address this terrible scourge. Others are The Invisible Children who launched a campaign that went viral in 2012 as they sought to find and prosecute Joseph Kony, General of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). This is the same group who abduct and radicalize Modetse. World Vision also provide support to those suffering from abuse and poverty in our world today. Please could I ask you to share Modetse’s story with others so that we can actively work together to make this evil known and do whatever we can to stop it.

Lieutenant Hotshot: Chapter One

My mind leaves the world of dreams with heaviness inside. It is many moons since I have dreamed of Thandi and that time. She was standing on the rubbish like a meerkat calling, “Modetse, my brother, where are you? Where are you?”

I shake the sadness from my head and try to open my eyes in the darkness. Aiee, what is this? Why can’t I open them? I rush my hands up to my face. It feels fat and there is a wide bandage across my eyes. I try to pull it with my fingers, but it’s stuck fast. My heart beats hard against my ears and my breath comes quickly in and out. What has happened to me? I must see. I must. I tear at the bandage with both hands, but it stays stuck. A sharp smell hits my nostrils and catches in my throat. I know that smell. It is the antiseptic we use to clean the wounds. I grunt and try to sit up, but a strong pain burns like fire through my back. Who has done this? I shake my head and try to remember but my mind is mud.

“Mobuto…David…” I shout.

The air stays silent. What’s happened to them? Why are they not here? My heart jumps. I have to find them. If Mobuto and David can’t come I must escape by myself. They must be held prisoner somewhere else.

There are voices…footsteps. People are running. They shout something. They are coming to get me. I cry with pain as I roll to the side. I touch cold metal. Hands grip my shoulders. They push me back down. I scream and hit out with my fists but the hands are too strong. They hold me tight. I can’t get away.

“It’s okay; it’s okay, son. Calm down,” says a man’s voice.

“Who’s this?” I scream. “Where am I? What’s happened?”

Cloud pictures rise in my mind. The government pigs attacked us. There were helicopters, too many helicopters. I see again the gunships with their dark bug eyes…they were shooting, killing; burning us with their flames. I groan. My ears fill again with their noise. My throat closes with the iron smell of blood. There was too much blood. Blood like a river flowing… “Steady, son. It’s okay,” says the man’s voice, “it’s okay. Don’t scream.”

His voice pulls my mind away from these pain pictures. I feel his hand tight around my arm and then I feel a sharp prick. I try to pull my arm away, but it grows heavy.
My head begins to spin. My spirit is falling far away into blackness…

REVIEWS

Review: Lieutenant Hotshot

This is the type of book you don’t get to read very often. Impossible to put down, relevant, and heart-wrenching, Julia North does a fantastic job of getting you to empathize with most all of the characters. Far from the typical love-triangles and apocalypses of many Young Adult reads, this is one that I recommend everyone should try!

Review: Lieutenant Hotshot

Review from World Vision UK : This book opened my eyes and heart to both the pain and trials that so many children have faced through the LRA’s regime in Uganda. The story is gripping, a great read- I read it cover to cover in a day. Coming from a development background, this book brings such familiar sights and sounds to life, and I felt I was walking each step of the way with the brave Modetse as he desperately longs to be reunited with his family. A must- read.