(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2019-06-13) Buchanan, Aaron
Sidereal Time is a novel in stories spread through time: from the defining moment
with the church ceremony in 1985 until the initial character is brought back in the final
chapter in 2019 to sew together earlier characters and events. The novel is as much about
its rural Rustbelt location, St. Thomas County, Michigan, as it is about how its
inhabitants deal with death, loss, nostalgia, and wonder. It is steeped in mysticism,
fundamental Christianity, the occult; living oracles and foreboding omens. The
characters, the place, and the magic explore time and place (space), and connect ancient
figures in metaphorical and literal fashion—Marcus Aurelius’ blood, Saint Thomas
Becket’s bone—to St. Tom County’s present. All of this while the Dog Star shines
brightest in the summer sky.