The Hum and the Shiver is an urban fantasy[1][2] novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in September 2011 by Tor Books.

While these tales were folklore, the notion of a group of people nobody knew where they came from stayed with Bledsoe for thirty years before he turned it into his Tufa series.

[1] When Jessica Lynch, an American soldier was rescued during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Bledsoe wondered what if she had belonged to a clan like the Melungeons.

[8] Bledsoe explained that these stories of people of unknown origin and the Tufa tales both draw on the "fear of otherness that drives so much southern culture".

[9] Bledsoe emphasized the importance of songs to the Tufa, saying that they "manifest their faerie magic via music, and use its power to influence the world at large".

Dark-haired, dark-skinned and enigmatic, the Tufa are said to be descendants of Irish fairies and have lived in the area long before the first European settlers arrived.

In a review published in Locus, Faren Miller wrote that The Hum and the Shiver has its own "special take on fantasy", featuring an enigmatic and ancient clan, and one of their own returning home wounded after fighting for America in the Iraq War.

[13] The review opined that it as a "powerful, character-driven drama" written in "superbly lucid prose" and "an utterly convincing backdrop".

[13] A review in Publishers Weekly stated that while the book's plot "is a bit thin ... the slowly unfolding mystery of the Tufa is a fascinating and absorbing masterpiece of world-building.

"[14] A reviewer in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote that "Alex Bledsoe shows an appreciation for a life of music I've rarely seen in fiction".

[15] Lyday concluded, "I wanted to like this book because I enjoy a good fantasy read, but not at the expense of real people and history."