James Cook, author of this manuscript, passed away in July 1940, during a bombing raid in the Battle of Britain. Only a few months earlier, according to his half-nephew Jack Darling, he had captained a small boat in the Dunkirk evacuation, in spite of his poor health. This information was gleaned from The Times’ obituary, which, due to the war effort, was extremely brief. The manuscript itself was never published, for reasons I cannot explain. Very few individuals knew of its existence, presumably, until its rediscovery in a small American college library by myself, when I was perusing the stacks for another book. I was employed by the library at the time, and when I showed the manuscript to the professor in charge of the collection, he told me to “keep it if you find it interesting.” I did. It was very worn and the handwriting faded and quite difficult to read. I therefore took it upon myself to “restore” several sections, and any resulting confusions or doubts that you, dear reader, might have, I take full responsibility for.
Where James Cook is buried I do not know. I only know that he chose Death over Eternity, Change over Certainty, and Pain over Happy Oblivion.
We all should be so fortunate.
—John Leonard Pielmeier