It felt as if I had been taken by the scruff of the neck, sat down in front of the computer and instructed to write. The Osiriad was one of the strangest experiences I have ever had with words. I had long wished to see some order put into the scattered myths of ancient Egypt. We know so many of their stories, but for the most part, they stand alone, fragmented and disconnected from each other and therefore making little sense. I thought I should do the research and try putting at least some of the better known stories in order.

I never got the chance. I found I was playing catch-up with the research, fact checking translations of documents written five thousand years ago, carved on pyramids or tucked away in funerary texts.

What emerged was the story of Creation, a spotlight on the workings of natural law and…