Friday 56 & #BookBeginnings: The Hangman's Replacement #RRSciFiMonth + Giveaway! / guiltless reading

The bus ride from the village of Gwenzi to Harare takes fifteen hours. When it rains, massive swamps prevent vehicles from passing through. When it is dry, the sun bakes the earth into a rock-hard platform that consumes the barefooted like a candle lit from beneath.

- p. 13, PDF version

For Friday 56:

“So you walked away from those girls?”

“No, Vaida. I walked towards my dream job. I felt the same outrage that you feel right now. But what was I supposed to do? Exhaust my failing body by fighting off a dozen men? Abel Muranda only has enough strength to prevent such a nightmare from befalling one family. Winning this job will ensure that my daughters don’t end up like those girls. My children’s aspirations will not be strangled by the selfishness of any man’s sexual desires.”

- p. 56, PDF version

About The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption by Taona Dumisani Chiveneko:
Zimbabwe’s last hangman retired in 2004. As the nation drifted towards abolition, no determined effort was made 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.