Autumn's Song

It is becoming fall here.  Not that wonderful crisp Autumn days I am looking forward to yet.  But still the
Image via Wikipediamornings have a cool breeze that makes you long for a sweater.  And the late nights is becoming still once again.  It is during these times that my mind can float to other worlds.  The ones we make up, see in shows or read in books.  I know I am disappearing into the smokey mountains of Tennessee.

I have been reading The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe.  And it has taken me to a world not here but still not quiet far away.  One that seems to just be on the cusp of reality.  It is there in the songs from the Tufa I am floating.  A world that is part mythology, part folk tale and part reality. When the first Europeans came to the Smoky Mountains, the Tufa were already there, quietly living in the hills and valleys of Cloud County, their origins lost to history. But there are clues in their music, stories hidden in the songs they have passed down for generations.

It is interesting when you find a world that you did not know yet seems to call to your soul.  Giving a sense of peace that makes you feel protective of it. The Hum and the Shiver tells the story of Private Bronwyn Hyatt, a true daughter of the Tufa. Bronwyn has returned from Iraq, wounded in body and spirit, only to face the very things that drove her away: her family, her obligations to the Tufa, and her dangerous ex-boyfriend. But more trouble lurks in the mountains of her childhood home. Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, and a restless haint lurks nearby waiting to reveal Bronwyn’s darkest secrets. Worse yet, Bronwyn has lost touch with herself and with the music that was once part of her. With death stalking her family, will she ever join in the song of her people and let it lift her onto the night winds?

I challenge you to read this one if you like fantasy.  I challenge you to read this one if you like folk tales.  But more so I challenge you to read this if you like to travel in a book.  ALEX BLEDSOE grew up in Tennessee, and draws much of his inspiration from his homeland. He’s been a reporter, editor, photographer, and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. He is also the author of the Eddie LaCrosse books—The Sword-Edged Blonde (Tor, 2009), Burn Me Deadly (Tor, 2009), and Dark Jenny (Tor, 2011).  He lives with his family in Wisconsin.  Keep up with him on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, and read his blog here.

Related articles

• Book Review: The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (blogcritics.org)