'G.W. Birdwheel-Frights, here he was, rather older than other-wise: all a-gangle, nose and knee, these the protuberances upon the rest of his flesh was draped, then stretched, then turned almost to oak by salt wind and interstellar UV. Rather chinless, rather small, with the wiry frame of a ditch-digger, say; not one to cut a striking figure in a gallery of epic adventurers—not the picture of the champion as commonly imagined.' (Introduction)