"A great mind and a formidable personality, Brahe is also the world's most illustrious noseless man of his time. Told by Brahe and his assistants--a filthy cast of characters--Sublunar is both novel and almanac. Alongside sexual deviancy, spankings, ruminations on a new nose--flesh, wood, or gold?--Brahe (a choleric and capricious character) and his peculiar helpers ("I would rather watch her globes tonight than icy stars") take painstaking measurements...