In his collection of short stories “Blind Willow: Sleeping Woman” (p. 289) the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami (2007) writes “Death is not the op- posite of life, but a part of it” (np). It is that complex, almost paradoxical, juxtaposition of life and the end of life, and how that becomes manifest through the events that mark such connections, that acts as the locus of our attention in our book. It is also that curious juxtaposition that constitutes a work’s introduction. Quite often it forms the last substantial piece of writing for a book. As the work comes to an end, we begin the process of articulat- ing its beginning. With that in mind, we will begin by sharing something of the birth of the book you are now reading.