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I read this story in High School, sometime before 1993, in English in the USA.

Unfortunately, I don't remember much about it at all, other than that I loved it and almost panicked after I returned it to the library, because I had immediately forgotten the title and author and couldn't ever find the book again!

It is not the Doonfarers of Coramonde by Brian Daley, although that has been suggested as the solution to me more than once over my years of looking. I'm like 97% sure of that.

I do not recall if this is a short novel or a short story from an anthology, although my impression is that it was a short novel, of the yellow-spined DAW Sci-Fi type.

What I remember of the story is that a person (maybe more than one person?) from the modern world was transported to a misty realm where legendary, mythical cities from Earth existed - Avalon and Tara are the two whose names I can remember, but there were more. Maybe seven.

There was a scene where some modern-ish (but outdated - possibly time-displaced Viet Nam War-era) soldiers showed up briefly and got into a firefight with some mythical creatures - one was attacked and impaled by a Unicorn.

And that's it - that's all I remember. I know it's not much to go on, and I don't remember the beginning or the end, but I'd love to find it again. Hopefully those clues are enough to jog someone's memory!

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Whoah, much to my surprise, I've found the answer myself!

It was the "Amber" suggestion that set me down the right track - something there tickled my memory, so I did a little Google-ing and found it!

The book is titled, "Here Abide Monsters" by Andre Norton!

Here's a link to the Goodreads page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/462468.Here_Abide_Monsters

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    Oh you beggar! I was going to suggest Here Abide Monsters but (a) it isn't misty, (b) Avalon and Tara are mentioned only once in passing and (c) no-one gets impaled by a unicorn!
    – John Rennie
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 15:45
  • Nice, I don't know if I have that one, though I've heard of it. :)
    – Seeds
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 18:31
  • I must have conflated some details from other stories - possibly even from the Amber books (which I've never read, but I do own and am slightly familiar with from the Role Playing Game). It's funny how memory works!
    – Alex Bates
    Commented Aug 11, 2017 at 22:00
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This sounds like is could be a memory of one or more of the Amber books by Roger Zelazny. Possibly the ones starring Merlin, who was the son of Corwin, the main character of the first series of books. A Unicorn, Tara, Avalon, and people/monsters out of time are all factors.

Try hitting Goodreads.com and searching for Chronicles of Amber and look over the synopsis of the books.

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  • That is not it, although it's a good suggestion - the mention of Zelazny got me thinking about authors that I was reading at that time in my life, and that got me thinking about Andre Norton, which led me to the right answer - "Here Abide Monsters" by Norton!
    – Alex Bates
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 20:24
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    My recollection is that Corwin visited Avalon. I don't recall Merlin going there.
    – GreenMatt
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 21:10
  • I believe one of the characters in the later books visited a shadow of Avalon, possibly not Merlin. (or recalled a visit) ...Now I have to go back and read it again...
    – Seeds
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 18:30

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