Roberta Ann MacAvoy (born December 13, 1949) is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author. Several of her books draw on

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

themes. She won the

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

in 1984.

Biography

R. A. MacAvoy was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. She attended

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

and received a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1971. She worked from 1975 to 1978 as an assistant to the financial aid officer of

Columbia College of Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest Undergraduate education#United States system, undergraduate college of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the ...

and from 1978 to 1982 as a computer programmer at

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...

before turning to full-time writing in 1982. She married Ronald Allen Cain in 1978. R. A. MacAvoy was diagnosed with

dystonia Dystonia is a neurology, neurological Hyperkinesia, hyperkinetic Movement disorders, movement disorder in which sustained or repetitive muscle contractions occur involuntarily, resulting in twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal fixed po ...

(a neuro-muscular disorder causing painful sustained muscle contractions) following the publication of her Lens of the World series in the early 1990s. She now has the disorder under control and has returned to writing.

Bibliography

The Black Dragon series

* '' Tea with the Black Dragon'' (1983) * ''Twisting the Rope'' (1986)

The Damiano series

* '' Damiano'' (1983, Bantam) * '' Damiano's Lute'' (1984, Bantam) * ''Raphael'' (1984, Bantam) * omnibus edition titled ''A Trio for Lute'' These books were adapted by Bantam Software into a text adventure, ''I, Damiano: The Wizard of Partestrada'', for MS-DOS and Apple IIe computers.

The Lens of the World series

* ''Lens of the World'' (1990) * ''King of the Dead'' (1991) * ''Winter of the Wolf'' t ''The Belly of the Wolf''(1993)

Ewen Young

* ''The Go-Between'' (2005) – Amazon Shorts e-book, republished with editorial changes as ''In Between'' (2009) * ''Death and Resurrection'' (2011,

Prime Books Sean Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for founding the publishing house Prime Books and for co-editing three magazines, ''Clarkesworld Magazine'', '' ...

) – includes ''The Go-Between/In Between''

Other novels

* ''The Book of Kells'' (1985) * ''The Grey Horse'' (1987) * ''The Third Eagle'' (1989) * ''Albatross'' (with Nancy Palmer) (2016) * ''Shimmer'' (with Nancy Palmer) (2018)

References

External links

*
RAMacavoy.com
– blog

at ''Ansible''.co.uk, by editor

David Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and Literary criticism, critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macavoy, R. A. 1949 births 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American science fiction writers American women novelists John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners Living people American women science fiction and fantasy writers People with dystonia