Grrr. Need to vent...
Well, the used copies of the 3 Helliconia books arrived from Ebay - all different sellers. I specifically searched high and low for copies descibed as excellent or very good condition. Turns out that they are all in very 'average' condition (i.e. beaten up, badly cracked spines, water damaged etc, and I just cannot read/own such books. Given the shipping was much more than the books themselves, I cannot return them without being more out of pocket, so I shall be throwing them out and now I still don't have readable copies of the books and I'm about NZD$50 down! Bollocks, as they say. Not that that's in any way a commentary on Aldiss or authors or SF, its just me mouthing off, but I needed to. Grrr.