Kyle Mills

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Kyle Mills answers readers' questions about sources of inspiration, the social, political and economic situation in Africa, and future stand-alone novels.

Connie from Carbondale, IL: Where you do you get your inspiration to write? Does it come from various sources?

Kyle Mills: I’m an obsessive problem solver at heart. I love the idea of taking a seemingly insurmountable dilemma like the US narcotics trade or the Arab-Israeli conflict and coming up with a quick and effective solution.

Of course, thousands of people generally die carrying out those operations, so they aren’t exactly practical. They do make you think about things you normally wouldn’t, though --- like the difference between right and wrong. Would it be worth killing a few thousand drug users by poisoning the drug supply if the payoff was saving tens of thousands of people going forward? Would the US government be justified protecting a murderer if he was the key to developing a missile defense system that could protect millions from attack?

Erin from Mililani, HI: Do you have personal experience with humanitarian efforts in Africa?

Kyle Mills: I’ve never worked in aid if that’s what you mean. My experience with the industry is derived from living in Africa and watching what’s going on there --- particularly with regard to whether people’s lives are actually made better by the Western operations.

Linda from Nashville, TN: Did you go to Africa to research this book?

Kyle Mills: I actually lived there for a while, spending a number of winters based in Cape Town.

Linda from Nashville, TN: Did you research any of the relief organizations? If so, were any discrepancies found similar to those at NewAfrica?

Kyle Mills: The discrepancies that inspired the book are the ones visible on a very large scale. Trillions of dollars have been pumped into Africa over the course of the past 50 years, and, if anything, the lives of the people there have gotten worse. This goes beyond one aid agency or another and brings into question the entire system.

Linda from Nashville, TN: Do you think that aid furnished by the USA and other countries is an aid or detriment to the peoples of Africa?

Kyle Mills: That’s a complicated question that has generated shelves full of economic analyses running the gamut from strongly pro-aid (Jeffrey Sachs) to strongly anti-aid (Dambisa Moyo).

Here’s my short answer:

In the context of short-term disaster relief and providing vaccinations to children, the aid industry has been fairly successful.

In the context of creating sustainable economic improvement and tackling large-scale problems like AIDS, the industry has probably done more harm than good.

Linda from Nashville, TN: Do the people get the supplies or the warlords?

Kyle Mills: It depends very much on the country, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong when doing things like passing out food.

For instance, it can be directed to the government’s supporters and not its opponents. It can create dependency. It can even drive local farmers out of business, because they can’t compete.

Steve from Sacramento, CA: Do you plan on writing any more stand-alone books like LORDS OF CORRUPTION?

Kyle Mills: In the sense of not having a series character? Absolutely. Having a recurring protagonist is fun in some ways, but can be confining, too. Those characters come with histories and personalities that might not fit with a concept that inspires me.

Steve from Sacramento, CA: When you are writing, does it feel like a "job" or do you truly get into it where time just flies by? (I hope it’s something you enjoy very much and keep going with it!)

Kyle Mills: Believe me, that’s directly proportional to how good my writing is on any given day.

When I’m on a roll, it’s the greatest job in the world. When I’m in one of those ruts where I’m turning out page after page of garbage, it’s the worst.