Alex Bledsoe - The Hum and the Shiver

He smiled. “I have to finish some work early to get ready for a date tonight.” He deliberately didn’t mention Bronwyn’s name.

“A date?” Don teased. “Are preachers allowed to date?”

“Yes,” Craig deadpanned. “We’re not priests.”

Don laughed. “I reckon not. Well, hope my interview and your date both work out.”

“Same here.”

The two men thanked the librarian and went outside. Don stopped as he opened his car door. “Oh, and if you’re looking for something to do on your date, I’m playing at a local barn dance. Bronwyn knows where it is. I’ve got a new song about all the recent trouble, you know with Dwayne Gitterman and that patrolman.”

“You wrote a song about it?”

He shrugged. “Seemed like the thing to do. Even the Tufa need a reporter of some kind, don’t they?” He climbed into his car and started the engine.

“Hey, wait!” Craig called. “How did you know I had a date with Bronwyn?”

Don rolled down the driver’s side window, shook his head, and shrugged. “A good reporter never reveals his sources.” As he drove away, he waved and called out, “See you tonight, maybe!”

Craig stared after him. He finally laughed and shook his head, got into his own car, and headed back into Cloud County.

All song lyrics are original except the following, which are all public domain:

“When Love Gets You Fast in Her Clutches” (composed 1795; words by Thomas Morton, music by Dr. Samuel Arnold [1742–1802])

“On My Journey Home” by Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674– November 25, 1748)

“John Barleycorn” (traditional English folk song)

A version of the song is included in the Bannatyne Manuscript of 1568.

http://www.pdmusic.org/folk/John_Barleycorn.txt

“Wildwood Flower,” aka “I’ll Twine ’Mid the Ringlets” (composed approximately 1860; words by Maud Irving, music by Joseph Philbrick Webster)

http://www.pdmusic.org/webster/jpw60itmtr.txt

Final verse modified from the traditional by the author

“Shady Grove” (traditional; eighteenth-century American variation of the seventeenth-century English ballad “Matty Groves”)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shady_Grove_(song)

“Cripple Creek” (melody, lyrics, and chords from p. 232 [#118] from The Folk Songs of North America: In the English Language by Alan Lomax)

http://www.pdmusic.org/folk/Cripple_Creek.txt

Modified from the traditional by the author

“Rye Whisky” (traditional folksong)

Mentioned in American Ballads and Folk Songs by John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax (Dover, 1994; originally Macmillan, 1934)

http://www.pdmusic.org/folk/Rye_Whisky.txt

Modified from the traditional by the author

“The White Cockade” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)

http://www2.bc.edu/~hafner/lmm/music-articles/white_cockade_ryan.html

http://www.contemplator.com/scotland/whitcock.html

“The Bird Song” by Carrie Jacobs Bond (composed 1899)

http://www.pdmusic.org/bond/cjb99tbs.txt

Modified from the original by the author

“The Grave of Gentle Annie” written by William Shakespeare Hays (1837–1907) (composed 1858)

http://www.pdmusic.org/hays/wsh58tgoga.txt

Modified from the original by the author

“Mercy’s Dream” by Septimus Winner (1827–1902) (composed 1854)

http://www.pdmusic.org/winner/sw54md.txt

Modified from the original by the author

Special thanks to Rev. Jacqueline Sharer Robertson, Dr. Elizabeth Perry, James Travis, Jen Cass, Kate Campbell, Sjolind’s Chocolate House, Schubert’s Diner, Marlene Stringer, Paul Stevens, and Valette, Jake, and Charlie.

Blood Groove

The Girls with Games of Blood

The Sword-Edged Blonde

Burn Me Deadly

Dark Jenny

The Hum and the Shiver

“This powerful, character-driven drama, set forth in superbly lucid prose, occurs against an utterly convincing backdrop and owns complications enough to keep everybody compulsively turning the page. A sheer delight.”

“With a deep love for the mountains embedded in his language, the author crafts a deceptively simple story of family and community, laced throughout with the music and beliefs of a magical reality…. Elegantly told, this series opener calls to mind the Silver John tales of the late Manly Wade Wellman and should attract a wide readership beyond genre fans.”

ALEX BLEDSOE grew up in West Tennessee, but now lives in Wisconsin. He is also the author of the Eddie LaCrosse novels, The Sword-Edged Blonde, Burn Me Deadly, Dark Jenny, Wake of the Bloody Angel, and the upcoming He Drank, and Saw the Spider.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE HUM AND THE SHIVER

Copyright © 2011 by Alex Bledsoe

All rights reserved.

A Tor ®eBook

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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ISBN 978-0-7653-2744-4

First Edition: October 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-8502-4