Crowd Funding: Vultureman

Last year I had the pleasure of reviewing The Hangman's Replacement: The Sprout of Disruption by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko.  The book had minor SF elements but an interesting mystery and fascinating setting (Zimbabwe).  Well, the author's doing a fundraising campaign on Pubslush to raise funds for editing, printing and promotional services for book 2, Vultureman, set to come out next summer.  For a $10 pledge you get ebook copies of the first 2 books.  Here's the cover blurb for book one.  You can read several pages on Amazon (which is what convinced me to review the book).

Zimbabwe’s last hangman retired in 2004. As the nation drifted towards abolition, no determined effort was launched to find a replacement. However, the discovery of carnivorous flame lilies at the Great Zimbabwe monument triggered a spirited search for a new executioner. Those who know why this discovery energized the recruitment effort refused to talk.

The frantic attempts to find a new hangman were impeded by the lack of suitable candidates. Well-placed sources confirmed that the fear of ngozi was a deterrent. According to this traditional belief, the spirit of a murdered person torments the killer and his family for generations. However, this is only half the story. Several promising applicants did come forward. None met the minimum requirements for the job. The selection criteria were designed to exclude the mentally ill, the vindictive, and the sadistic. However, they did not rule out the desperate.

And for those of you who have read the first book, here's the cover and synopsis for book two.  You can read an extract on his blog.

After Abel Muranda secured the job as Zimbabwe's newest hangman in Book 1 (Sprout of Disruption), his life is now in worse danger than the convicts he was hired to execute. While his faceless masters are eager to empty death row, Abel Muranda's recruitment has also stirred a contrariam force that is determined to ensure he does not live to attend his first day of work.

As human and animal predators stalk each other across the Zimbabwean landscape, the most fearsome is a creature that appears to belong in neither camp. A being that no one has ever seen but all had hoped did not exist: The Vultureman.