Author Ariel Slick found herself in a situation where the answers were not coming to her, with no way to express herself the way she wanted to. She turned to her passion, writing, as a way to process her thoughts and feelings.

The Devil Take the Blues became the finished product, sharing the story of a woman living in 1920s Louisiana who makes a deal with the devil to save her sister’s life. The story became a love letter to Slick’s own sister, who at the time was in a toxic relationship. She had to come to terms with the fact that her sister was an adult who could make her own decisions and the best way to support her was to be there for her. In the time it took to finish the book, thankfully her sister was no longer in that relationship. They were able to have mature, honest conversations and that final draft showed how much she cared.

“It was a very personal story with one message, and it evolved from there,” she said. “It also became me wanting to help other people. That’s what literature is for; it’s not just good stories but providing a message.”

The story centers around 28-year-old Beatrice Corbin, who just wants to keep her family’s general store afloat while keeping an eye on her 18-year-old sister, Agnes. One day, Frank Charbonneau enters the store and turns her world upside down. She learns of her sister’s fate and tries to take on the devil, but everyone knows the devil doesn’t play fair.

Thanks to her Bachelor’s degree in history, research is something she thrives on. It was an ongoing process of fact checking the historical accuracy of food prices, current events and popular music to keep the story as accurate as possible. She even went so far as to research the KKK, wanting to understand how it was operating in the South in order to speak to the fear that it instilled.

“This is both a love letter to my sister but also to the South - its warts and all,” she said. “We have this ugly history but there’s also a lot of beauty here.”

In addition to touching on sensitive topics, Slick said that about a third of her first draft was cut in order to remove a plot that wasn’t strong enough to move forward. Although it involved a lot of extra work to fill the gaps caused by its removal, it made the final draft all the more gratifying.

The writing process for The Devil Take the Blues taught her the benefits of drafting an outline before getting into the depths of the story. She knew what happened at the beginning and the middle, but hadn’t quite connected the dots between the two before realizing her initial ideas might not work. A valuable lesson learned.

Believe it or not, having a defined genre is unnecessarily important to traditional publishers. As Slick began the process of searching for a literary agent, she found so much rejection that she began to question her own writing. She was torn between continuing the fight to find representation or turn towards self-publishing. Traditional publishers seem to be focused on how a book is marketed, and a Southern Gothic historical paranormal novel does not fit in any of their neatly contained boxes.

“This book is for people who like lyrical, character-driven stories that don’t wrap up nice and neat at the end,” she said.

With inspiring determination, The Devil Take the Blues was published on October 13, 2025. The novel offers a fresh take on the Faustian bargain while weaving in atmosphere and myth that linger long after the last page. It even includes a playlist inspired by the songs quoted in each chapter.

It is available for purchase here.