But this thesis is an account of one person’s passage through time and space. Mine. This thesis reflects the pain and sadness, the humour and delights of my life and the part that those experiences played in guiding—sometimes compelling—me along the pathway toward this creative product. It is a documentary of a creation in context. How others might interpret what is written herein is an entirely different matter, and part of my objective here is to record what others—my legitimate readers—think of my writing. The thesis is presented in five sections; it is a story within a story within a story, of my life, my professional obsessions, and the imaginings that spawned an adventure full of unexpected bounty, and unwanted curses. The stories unfold without the flourish of an abstract or synopsis (apart from this opening statement) allowing the events and the pathways to reveal themselves as they occur.