R. A. MacAvoy

R. A. MacAvoy is an American SF writer.

Her novels include:


 * Tea with the Black Dragon (1983): Martha MacNamara arrives in San Francisco to visit her computer programmer daughter Elizabeth, only to find that Elizabeth has disappeared. She investigates, with the assistance of her new friend Mayland Long, an enigmatic Chinese gentleman who has made his home in the hotel where she's staying. Then Martha disappears too...
 * Damiano (1983), Damiano's Lute (1983), and Raphael (1984): A trio of historical fantasies with a Renaissance Italy setting.
 * The Book of Kells (1985): A modern artist is mysteriously transported to 10th-century Ireland.
 * The Grey Horse (1987): When Henry Raftery, horse-trainer of Connemara, brings home a grey stallion he met wandering the hills, he finds he has let himself in for much that he did not expect.

R. A. MacAvoy's works provide examples of:
""From the Rhymer?" He leaned forward and lifted his eyebrows in mock wonderment. "How could that be? ... I have the story from the boy, of course. The Rhymer's son. "Beautiful boy," he added, after a moment. "Resembled his mother.""
 * Don't Be Ridiculous: During Martha's first conversation with Mayland Long, he tells her a version of the tale of Thomas the Rhymer, which continues past the usual ending point to talk about Thomas' son. When he finishes, she remarks that he tells it with such authority she could almost believe he'd had it from Thomas in person.

"She stepped into the street. A bus pulled into the crosswalk behind her, concealing her from Mayland Long's sight. A black Lincoln stopped at the corner parallel to her path, then turned right into the crosswalk. The light changed as Mr. Long reached the corner. He raised his eyes over the roofs of the cars, seeking the blue dress along the next block. She was not there."
 * Emergent Human: The title character in Raphael.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: The protagonist of The Book of Kells.
 * Genre Busting: Tea with the Black Dragon is a contemporary cybercrime adventure story, but the dragon of the title is not just a metaphor.
 * Historical Fantasy: Damiano and its sequels.
 * Humanity Ensues: In Raphael, the eponymous angel is forced to live on Earth as a human.
 * Mythical Motifs: The dragon in Tea with the Black Dragon.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Tea with the Black Dragon starts with Chinese legends, and adds a few wrinkles of its own.
 * Our Fairies Are Different: The Grey Horse takes its cue from Irish legends.
 * Punk in the Trunk: Mr. Long after being abducted in Tea with the Black Dragon.
 * Shout-Out: Anne McCaffrey's house has a cameo appearance in The Book of Kells.
 * Translator Microbes: The hero of The Grey Horse can magically understand and speak any language as long as he has his feet on the ground (paved roads and houses with proper floors don't count as on the ground).
 * Two-Part Trilogy: The Italian fantasy trilogy is the rarer inverted version, with a two-volume story followed by a one-volume sequel.
 * Vehicle Vanish: Martha's disappearance in Tea with the Black Dragon: