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RA MacAvoy Books in Order

Explore R. A. MacAvoy books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, reading paths, and helpful background for choosing where to begin.

Last updated: July 14, 2026

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RA MacAvoy books in publication order

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15 books

Tea with the Black Dragon

by RA MacAvoy

1983

When musician Martha Macnamara arrives in San Francisco to find her missing daughter, she joins forces with Mayland Long, a man who may be a dragon in human form. Their search leads into computer crime, danger, and an unexpected bond.

Damiano

by RA MacAvoy

1984

In an alternate Renaissance Italy where magic is real, young alchemist Damiano Delstrego leaves home to save his city from war. Guided by the Archangel Raphael and his music, he must face a dark inheritance he never wanted.

Damiano's Lute

by RA MacAvoy

1984

Damiano tries to abandon the dark magic tied to his family, but the past follows him into plague-ridden France. With Raphael's guidance and his lute, he must confront a force determined to claim him.

Raphael

by RA MacAvoy

1984

The Archangel Raphael is stripped of his powers and sold into slavery, leaving him frighteningly human. Damiano's friends set out to find him, while an old battle with Lucifer reaches a dangerous turning point.

The Book of Kells

by RA MacAvoy

1985

Canadian artist John Thornburn opens an unexpected path to tenth-century Ireland while tracing an old Gaelic design. With historian Derval O'Keane, he enters a world shaped by Viking raids, art, faith, and a young girl's desperate need for help.

Twisting the Rope

by RA MacAvoy

1986

Martha Macnamara and Mayland Long are touring with a Celtic music group when a band member is found dead. A murder, a kidnapped child, and a dangerous psychic force leave them racing to uncover what is really happening.

The Grey Horse

by RA MacAvoy

1987

In nineteenth-century Connemara, a magical grey stallion enters the life of horse trainer Anrai O'Reachtaire. The horse is Ruairi, a shape-shifting púca pursuing love as village tensions and Irish resistance to English rule deepen.

The Third Eagle

by RA MacAvoy

1989

Wanbli, a young warrior from a remote colony world, leaves home dreaming of becoming a shimmer star. His travels among distant peoples lead instead to a mission that could decide the future of his ship and his planet.

Lens of the World

by RA MacAvoy

1990

Outcast orphan Nazhuret is taken in by the mysterious Powl, who teaches him lens making, languages, philosophy, and combat. Sent into the wider world, Nazhuret discovers his past may matter to the fate of a kingdom.

King of the Dead

by RA MacAvoy

1991

Nazhuret wants a quiet life with Arlin, but assassins and a disputed inheritance force them into danger. Sent as unofficial ambassadors to Rezhmia, they find themselves caught between political tensions and the threat of war.

The Belly of the Wolf

by RA MacAvoy

1993

Living in exile with his daughter, Nazhuret learns that his old friend, King Rudof, may have been murdered. He returns to a Velonya sliding toward civil war, where ghosts, wolves, and rival factions complicate every choice.

In Between

by RA MacAvoy

2009

Chinese American painter and martial artist Ewen Young is drawn into danger when criminals target his uncle. After a brush with death, Ewen discovers that his unusual inner refuge may be a real place between life and death.

Death and Resurrection

by RA MacAvoy

2011

Artist and reluctant kung fu teacher Ewen Young can enter the realm between death and rebirth. As threats close in on his family, he joins veterinarian Susan Sundown and her remarkable cadaver dog to face human and supernatural evil.

Albatross

by RA MacAvoy

2017

Physicist Rob MacAulay is framed as a terrorist in a brittle near-future Europe. Forced to flee, he becomes the focus of a police hunt led in part by technical consultant Thomas Heddiman, who begins to doubt the case against him.

Shimmer

by RA MacAvoy

2018

Cleared of terrorism charges, physicist Rob MacAulay tries to build a life in America while teaching and researching at Harvard. But his unusual power, and the intense attention surrounding him, keeps pulling his loved ones into unpredictable danger.

Where to start with RA MacAvoy

For a modern fantasy mystery: Tea with the Black DragonTwisting the Rope
For Renaissance magic and music: DamianoDamiano's LuteRaphael
For a coming-of-age fantasy epic: Lens of the WorldKing of the DeadThe Belly of the Wolf
For near-future science fiction: AlbatrossShimmer

Albatross books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Albatross"

    Albatross

    by RA MacAvoy

    2017Albatross, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Shimmer"

    Shimmer

    by RA MacAvoy

    2018Albatross, Book 2

Albatross books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Albatross"

    Albatross

    by RA MacAvoy

    2017Albatross, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Shimmer"

    Shimmer

    by RA MacAvoy

    2018Albatross, Book 2

Black Dragon books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Tea with the Black Dragon"

    Tea with the Black Dragon

    by RA MacAvoy

    1983Black Dragon, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Twisting the Rope"

    Twisting the Rope

    by RA MacAvoy

    1986Black Dragon, Book 2

Black Dragon books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Twisting the Rope"

    Twisting the Rope

    by RA MacAvoy

    1986Black Dragon, Book 2

Damiano books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Damiano"

    Damiano

    by RA MacAvoy

    1984Damiano, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Damiano's Lute"

    Damiano's Lute

    by RA MacAvoy

    1984Damiano, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Raphael"

    Raphael

    by RA MacAvoy

    1984Damiano, Book 3

Damiano books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Damiano"

    Damiano

    by RA MacAvoy

    1984Damiano, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Damiano's Lute"

    Damiano's Lute

    by RA MacAvoy

    1984Damiano, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Raphael"

    Raphael

    by RA MacAvoy

    1984Damiano, Book 3

Lens of the World books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Lens of the World"

    Lens of the World

    by RA MacAvoy

    1990Lens of the World, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "King of the Dead"

    King of the Dead

    by RA MacAvoy

    1991Lens of the World, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Belly of the Wolf"

    The Belly of the Wolf

    by RA MacAvoy

    1993Lens of the World, Book 3

Lens of the World books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Lens of the World"

    Lens of the World

    by RA MacAvoy

    1990Lens of the World, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "King of the Dead"

    King of the Dead

    by RA MacAvoy

    1991Lens of the World, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Belly of the Wolf"

    The Belly of the Wolf

    by RA MacAvoy

    1993Lens of the World, Book 3

Standalone RA MacAvoy books

  1. Book cover for "The Book of Kells"

    The Book of Kells

    by RA MacAvoy

    1985
  2. Book cover for "The Grey Horse"

    The Grey Horse

    by RA MacAvoy

    1987
  3. Book cover for "The Third Eagle"

    The Third Eagle

    by RA MacAvoy

    1989
  4. Book cover for "In Between"

    In Between

    by RA MacAvoy

    2009
  5. Book cover for "Death and Resurrection"

    Death and Resurrection

    by RA MacAvoy

    2011

Author bio

R. A. MacAvoy was born Roberta Ann MacAvoy in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1949. She studied at Case Western Reserve University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1971, before taking a less predictable route into fiction.

Before she became a full-time writer, MacAvoy worked in college financial aid and then as a computer programmer at SRI International. That mix of practical work, technical thinking, and curiosity about people later found its way into stories that can move comfortably between magic, mystery, history, music, and science.

She turned to writing full time in 1982.

Her first novel, Tea with the Black Dragon, arrived in 1983. It introduces Martha Macnamara, a middle-aged musician searching for her missing daughter, and Mayland Long, a mysterious man who may be far more than human. The book blends a missing-person case, a quiet romance, computer culture, and Chinese dragon lore without making any one element feel out of place.

It also gave MacAvoy a quick start in the field. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1984, and Tea with the Black Dragon was recognized by several major genre awards. Readers who pick it up now often find that its real strength is its pair of grown-up leads, who meet danger with patience, humor, and a pot of tea.

MacAvoy's books tend to follow people who would rather live ordinary lives but are pulled toward difficult responsibilities. In the Damiano novels, a young Renaissance alchemist and musician faces war, plague, angels, and dark magic. The Book of Kells sends a modern artist into tenth-century Ireland. The Grey Horse brings a shape-shifting horse fairy into an Irish village under political strain.

Then there is Lens of the World, the opening of a fantasy trilogy about Nazhuret, an outcast trained as a lens grinder, thinker, and fighter. The series has travel, court politics, and magic, but it stays close to Nazhuret's attempt to understand who he is and how he should use the skills he has been given.

She also wrote science fiction. The Third Eagle follows a young warrior through a far-flung human future, while the later Albatross books, written with Nancy Palmer, place a physicist in a near-future political crisis. Across these very different settings, MacAvoy returns to music, martial arts, cultural memory, spiritual questions, and the tricky work of caring for other people.

Her writing life was interrupted after she developed dystonia in the 1990s, a painful neurological movement disorder. Treatment eventually made it possible for her to return to writing, and she later published In Between and the expanded novel Death and Resurrection, about artist and martial artist Ewen Young and his unsettling link to the world of the dead.

MacAvoy has also raised Connemara ponies, practiced martial arts, dived in Pacific waters, woven textiles, and grown orchids. Those interests do not sit outside the fiction. They help explain why her novels pay close attention to bodies, animals, craft, discipline, and the odd details that make an invented world feel lived in.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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