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Southern Gothic author Ariel Slick invites readers to experience blues music as the antidote to hatred and love as the challenge to control with her new novel “The Devil Take the Blues”, Thursday, April 23, at The Story Peddler bookstore.
Set in a small Louisiana town in the 1920s, “The Devil Take the Blues” fol lows Beatrice Corbin’s race to find her sister’s predicted murderer while ignoring her budding feelings for a Black musician. Slick said fans of the movie “Sinners” will enjoy her book’s interplay between social commentary, music and love. Slick, a Texas-native, said she chose the Southern Gothic genre to love and critique her home.
“[Historical fiction] holds up a mirror to contemporary society,” Slick said. “…Sometimes people don’t learn from history, so hopefully by studying history, we can see like these are the mistakes we made in the past. Let’s not keep making them.”
The prediction of the murder of Agnes Corbin, Beatrice’s sister, comes from the trickster Devil named Frank Charbonneau. Beatrice wagers her soul to Charbonneau that she can find her Agnes’ murderer in seven weeks. Slick said Charbonneau does not operate as the main antagonist of the story but rather a supernatural spokesperson on evil in a way “maybe humans otherwise couldn’t.”
“This was my chance to…critique some aspects of religion and really to try to answer essentially the problem of evil,” Slick said. “Essentially, why does evil exist and what possible use could it have? And the problem of pain, not just evil, like why do bad things happen?”
Beatrice becomes entangled in a growing romance with a Black musician who also made a deal with Charbonneau. She struggles with internalized racism set against the backdrop of systematic racism in the rising blues industry. Slick said blues music unified people across races, stirring hatred against powers that profited off of separation and segregation.
“By bringing people together, this music, that was a direct threat to their power,” she said. “I tried to show like music is like this powerful force, and sometimes it’s like bumpy and messy, but art is a very powerful antidote to hate.”
Beatrice’s growing desperation drives her to become overprotective and overbearing to Agnes, ultimately pushing her further away. The sisters’ relationship becomes strained, especially when a secret of Agnes’ own comes into play. Slick said writing the book taught her about letting go of trying to control others.
“I think it taught me how to process when bad things happen and how to accept when bad things happen. It’s the classic, ‘I can only influence what I have direct control over,’” Slick said. “I can’t try to change other people. They have to make choices for themselves. However, I can focus on my emotions, my actions, my reactions.”
Slick also alluded to Agnes’ battle with a toxic relationship in her new marriage. Connecting to the theme of control, Slick said the best thing to offer those struggling is love and support. She said she wants readers to finish her book and feel empowered to leave toxic relationships.
“I hope it would give [readers] that bravery to basically cut off toxic relationships, because a lot of times people stay out of loneliness or out of fear,” Slick said. “Really what I’d love people to know is you don’t have to stay. You have support. You do have help.”
Slick will read an excerpt from “The Devil Take the Blues,” answer audience questions and sign copies of her book, Thursday, April 23, from 6-7 p.m. at The Story Peddler bookstore at 538 West Main Street, Bellville, TX 77418.
