I haven’t read either of Alex Bledsoe’s novels set in his Tufa series — The Hum and the Shiver and The Wisp of a Thing — but they have been on my radar for a long while (so has everything else of Bledsoe’s, actually). I have, however, read most of Teresa Frohock’s excellent work. The two authors have teamed up to write a Tufa story, which will be published on December 4th, 2015 2014. What sparked this post was the cover reveal. Now, December 2015 is a long way away,* but it does mean I’ll have time to read the first two novels in the series before it comes out. Frohock is also working on a novella for the series, which will be published before the novel.
Here’s the synopsis for Hisses and Wings:
Janet, a young woman whose forebearers were a race of banished faeries, learns of a song that might allow the Tufa to return to their ancestral home. But the song is guarded by Diago, one of the Nefilim, a race descended from angels.
Diago knows only too well that the song’s power may be misused. Can Janet convince him to give up the song, and if so, does she have the wisdom to use it?
You can learn more about the series by visiting Alex Bledsoe‘s and Teresa Frohock‘s websites, and following them on Twitter. In the interest of completeness, here are the covers for the first two Tufa novels (both are published in North America by Tor Books)…
… and the synopsis for The Hum and the Shiver:
An enchanting tale of music and magic older than the hills…
No one knows where the Tufa came from, or how they ended up in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Enigmatic and suspicious of outsiders, the Tufa live quiet lives in the hills and valleys of Cloud County. While their origins may be a mystery, there are hints of their true nature buried in the songs they have passed down for generations.
Bronwyn Hyatt, a pure-blood Tufa, has always insisting on doing things her own way, regardless of the consequences. Even though Tufa rarely leave Cloud County, she enlisted in the Army to escape the pressures of Tufa life—her family, her obligations as a First Daughter, and her dangerous ex-boyfriend. But after barely surviving a devastating ambush that killed most of her fellow soldiers, Private Hyatt returns to Cloud County wounded in body and in spirit. But danger lurks in the mountains and hollows of her childhood home. Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, and a restless “haint” lurks nearby, waiting to reveal Bronwyn’s darkest secrets. Worst of all, Bronwyn has lost touch with the music that was once a vital part of her identity.
Now Bronwyn finds the greatest battle to be right here at home, where her obligations struggle with her need for freedom, and if she makes the wrong choice, the consequences could be deadly for all the Tufa…
But wait: there’s more! While collecting information for this post, I also found information for Bledsoe’s third Tufa novel, Long Black Curl, which will be published by Tor Books in March 2015. Here’s the synopsis:
In all the time the Tufa have existed, only two have ever been exiled: Bo-Kate Wisby and her lover, Jefferson Powell. They were cast out, stripped of their ability to make music, and cursed to never be able to find their way back to Needsville. Their crime? A love that crossed the boundary of the two Tufa tribes, resulting in the death of several people.
Somehow, Bo-Kate has found her way back. She intends to take over both tribes, which means eliminating both Rockhouse Hicks and Mandalay Harris. Bo-Kate has a secret weapon: Byron Harley, a rockabilly singer known as the “Hillbilly Hercules” for his immense size and strength, and who has passed the last sixty years trapped in a bubble of faery time. He’s ready to take revenge on any Tufa he finds.
The only one who can stop Bo-Kate is Jefferson Powell. Released from the curse and summoned back to Cloud County, even he isn’t sure what will happen when they finally meet. Will he fall in love with her again? Will he join her in her quest to unite the Tufa under her rule? Or will he have to sacrifice himself to save the people who once banished him?
***
Correction: Hisses and Wings is published in December 2014, not 2015. (Now reflected in piece above.)
* December 2015 will also see the release of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. So, we have an embarrassment of riches to look forward to…
Miserere was my debut novel in 2011, and as such, it had some problems. The prose was too purple, the descriptions too long, and the villains were a bit over the top. Thirteen years and four novels later, I’ve learned a lot about writing fiction, and I’ve grown, not just as an author, but as a person.
Civilian Reader 