THE DEVIL THREE TIMES: Rickey Fayne in conversation with Cynthia Pelayo

“A debut of enormous ambition” spanning eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee as they are repeatedly visited by the Devil (Nathan Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness of Water)

Join us at Southwest Library on May 22nd to hear from debut novelist Rickey Fayne about his novel, “The Devil Three Times”! Rickey will be discussing his book with Chicago author Cynthia Pelayo (“Vanishing Daughters”), answering questions from the audience, and signing books!

This event is free but you can guarantee your seat by registering at the button below and purchasing a copy of “The Devil Three Times” from Blue House Books.

About “The Devil Three Times”:

Yetunde awakens aboard a slave ship en route to the United States with the spirit of her dead sister as her only companion. Desperate to survive the hell that awaits her at their destination, Yetunde finds help in an unexpected form—the Devil himself. The Devil, seeking a way to reenter the pearly gates of heaven, decides to prove himself to an indifferent God by protecting Yetunde and granting her a piece of his supernatural power. In return, Yetunde makes an incredible sacrifice.

Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde’s mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 years, the Devil visits Yetunde’s descendants in their darkest hour of need: Lucille, a conjure woman; Asa, who passes for white; Louis and Virgil, who risk becoming a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandra, who speaks to the dead; James, who struggles to make sense of the past while fighting to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvation, all the while wondering: can he save himself, too?

Steeped in the spiritual traditions and oral history of the Black diaspora, “The Devil Three Times” is a baptism by fire and water, heralding a new voice in American fiction.

About the Rickey Fayne:

Rickey Fayne is a fiction writer from rural West Tennessee whose work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Guernica, The Sewanee Review, and The Kenyon Review, among other magazines. He holds an MA in English from Northwestern University and an MFA in Fiction from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. His writing embodies his Black, Southern upbringing in order to reimagine and honor his ancestors’ experiences.

About Cynthia Pelayo:

Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet. Pelayo writes fairy tales that blend genre and explore concepts of grief, mourning, and cycles of violence.

She is the author of “Loteria”, “Poems of My Night”, “Into the Forest and All the Way Through”, “Children of Chicago”, “Crime Scene”, “The Shoemaker’s Magician”, “Forgotten Sisters”, as well as dozens of standalone short stories and poems.