Noreen Doyle Although she has written intriguingly about the pleasures of marine archeology, Noreen Doyle has published only two stories. But each one ("The Chapter of Bringing A Boat Into Heaven" and "The Dovecote" -- note that even the titles are inviting) has been so well-written, intelligent, and -- how do I put this? -- imaginatively fizzy that Noreen Doyle, before she has even qualified for active membership of SFWA, has made herself a Young Writer to Watch.  (She's pretty good to read, too.)    -- Gregory Feeley

Noreen Doyle made her publishing debut with the novelette "The Chapter of Bringing a Boat into Heaven" in the February 1995 issue of Realms of Fantasy. She followed this historical fantasy set pharaonic Egypt with a story of medieval Russia, "The Dovecote," published in Century #2 (May/June 1995), and with another Egyptian-inspired tale, this one set in rural Maine, "The Chapter of the Hawk of Gold," which also appeared in Realms of Fantasy (August 1997).  Other work is forthcoming.

Though living disguised a humble temporary clerk, much of her energy is devoted to her life as a graduate student in absentia from the Nautical Archaeology Program of Texas a&M University.  She is currently finishing her masters thesis on iconography and ancient Egyptian watercraft.  Besides being a member of the Science-Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, she belongs to the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the Egypt Exploration Society, and the American Research Center in Egypt.

Competing with her academic work for her attention are a number of fiction projects, including Egyptian historical fantasy novels for middle readers and young adults, a science-fiction novel and several picture books.  The first of the YA novels, the (mind-bogglingly good) BOOK OF THOTH is currently on submission.

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  A Few Words from Noreen's Work

"A god!  Harkhuf, my brother, what are you going to do now that you have slain a god?"
        Harkhuf sat cross-legged and wise-looking, while I cowered like a beaten dog at the stern.  Fear sat in my stomach like bad beer.  The priests had intended to bring that goose to Thebes, the great seat of the god.  What would we do now?
         "I know!" he said at last.  "My tutor has told me stories about King Unas.  Have you heard them?"
          I had not, because I did not have a tutor and, therefore, knew no history. Of course I know about these things now, else I would make a very poor scribe:  the gods Ra, Geb, Osiris and Horus ruled Egypt in the earliest times.  After them, Narmer unified Upper and Lower Egypt, and the more than fifty other kings who followed him wore the Double Crown of a unified land.  Unas was one of  those who succeeded old King Khufu and, like Khufu, built a pyramid, though not so grand as any guarded by the Sphinx.  Unas's pyramid, called "Beautiful of Places," is at Saqqara.  I have been there more than once.
         Harkhuf said, "The brother of my tutor has charge of the offerings in the mortuary temple of Unas.  He told me that in the pyramid of Unas are poems that boast of how King Unas ate the gods.  Five gods helped him:  Horn-Gasper lassoed his prey; Serpent Raised-Head held it still; He-upon-the-Willows bound it; Khonsu the Hawk gutted it; and Shesmu cooked it.  Gods trembled because Unas was a master of cunning.  Unas was the raging bull of heaven.  He ate the entrails of every god when they came with their bodies full of magic.  So Unas came to know all their magic."
         "But nobody worships Unas anymore," I said.  "Oh, he has priests who feed him, yes, but no one loves him as we love Amon-Ra or the king.  If he came to have all this magic by eating gods, it didn't do him any good.  I'm rather sorry for him."
         "Bah!  You'd be sorry for a tearful crocodile, Tashery.  How do we know that the king doesn't eat gods and men?  He's far away in Thebes and we can't know what he does.  I am going to learn things the very same way that Unas did. Amon-Ra is king of the gods and does nothing but sail all day and all night forever in his own barque.  That's what I want to do.  So I will eat this goose which is the god and know everything that he knows."
         And Harkhuf did, then and there, raw entrails and all.  Tome he offered a little bit of the heart.
         "Come, Tashery.  I'll be lonely if I'm immortal without you.  I would offer you all the heart, but that's the seat of knowledge and I want it for myself.  So take just a very little bit."
         His hands were slicked red, looking hard and shiny with blood as though made of polished carnelian.  Despite what he had just done, they did not tremble but remained as steady as stone.  Was this my brother?
         I knew my brother's temper and feared what he might do, now that he had the god's magic.  Our mother Nefert was dead, and Intef had much work in the shipyards, so Harkhuf had no one else to care for and love him but me.  It is not being fit that someone who knew no magic should care for a magician ate a very little bit of the heart of Amon-Ra.
        Also, I thought, with just a little bit of magic, I would not have to marry Widiya.
        The god's heart slipped down my throat like a living thing.  It was full of blood and as salty as the Great Green.  I was certain it was going to crawl its way up my throat again.  A dizziness seized me, and for a moment the world seemed very small and round, like a goose egg.
         "I'm a magician like the god now," Harkhuf said.  "Let's go to Perunefer tomorrow, Tashery, because I'm going to make a ship mightier than my raft.  We will sail all across the Great Green, from Sinai to Crete, and beyond."