Where to Start: The Recommended Reading Path
For readers new to David D. Levine, the absolute best starting point is his signature Adventures of Arabella Ashby trilogy, starting with Arabella of Mars. This series showcases Levine at his absolute best, combining the manners and tone of a Jane Austen Regency romance with the planetary romance of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne. It is a highly accessible, award-winning entry point that establishes his gift for meticulous world-building and character-driven stakes.
If you prefer gritty, modern space opera and heist stories over steampunk and alternate history, you should start instead with his standalone novel, The Kuiper Belt Job (2023). It requires no prior reading and offers a completely different, fast-paced, and cynical tone compared to his Regency space adventures.
The Adventures of Arabella Ashby
This is Levine's premier series, set in an alternate 19th century where the solar system is filled with a breathable ether, allowing wooden sailing ships to traverse the void between Earth, Mars, and Venus. The books follow Arabella Ashby, a young woman growing up on Mars who must disguise herself as a cabin boy to sail back to Mars and protect her family's estate.
The Main Trilogy (In Reading Order)
The main trilogy follows a strict chronological narrative. You should read the core books in their order of publication:
- Arabella of Mars (2016) – Introduces Arabella, her life on a Martian plantation, her journey aboard the airship Diana, and her battle against her scheming cousin.
- Arabella and the Battle of Venus (2017) – Shifts the setting to the swampy jungles of Venus, where Arabella must rescue her captured fiancé, Captain Singh, from a French prisoner-of-war camp.
- Arabella the Traitor of Mars (2018) – The final installment, where Arabella faces the ultimate conflict between her loyalty to the British Empire and the growing Martian native resistance.
Prequel and Companion Short Stories
Before publishing the first novel, Levine established the rules of this universe in shorter fiction. While you do not need to read these to understand the trilogy, they offer excellent background lore for fans:
- "The Wreck of the Mars Adventure" (2013) – Originally published in George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois's anthology Old Mars, this prequel story takes place centuries before the trilogy, imagining an 18th-century expedition to Mars led by Captain William Kidd.
- "The End of the Silk Road" (2014) – Published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, this story expands on the early history of the airship voyages and the global trade routes through space.
Standalone Novels: The Kuiper Belt Job
Published in 2023, The Kuiper Belt Job is a standalone heist novel. It centers on the "Cannibal Club," a motley crew of retired interstellar grifters who reunite in the outer solar system for one last, highly dangerous job. It stands completely separate from the Arabella Ashby universe, trading historical charm for hard science fiction elements, orbital mechanics, and classic caper tropes.
Short Story Collections and Key Standalone Shorts
Levine is an incredibly prolific short-story writer, with dozens of stories appearing in magazines like Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Fact. If you want to explore his short fiction, here is how you should proceed:
Space Magic (2008)
This is Levine's primary short story collection, which won the prestigious Endeavour Award in 2009. It gathers fifteen of his early works, showcasing his range across fantasy, hard science fiction, and humor. A must-read highlight in this collection is "Tk'Tk'Tk" (originally published in 2005), which won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2006. It follows a human salesman trying to sell software on an alien planet, only to find himself slowly adapting to their incomprehensible culture.
The "Infinity Plus Singles" Clarification
Readers consulting book databases will frequently see David D. Levine associated with a long list of digital titles under the Infinity Plus Singles line (such as The Bone Flute, Head Shots, or Lizard Lust). It is important to note that these are not books written by Levine.
Infinity Plus Singles was an ebook imprint run by the digital publisher Infinity Plus, which released standalone digital versions of stories from many different science fiction authors. Levine's sole contribution to this digital singles series is "Fear of Widths" (published as Single #20, originally written in 2003). The other books in this line belong to authors like Lisa Tuttle and Conrad Williams and are entirely unrelated to Levine's bibliography.
Other Notable Short Stories
- "Damage" (2015) – A Nebula-nominated short story about the consciousness of a sentient military spacecraft processing its purpose, trauma, and bond with its pilot.
- "Second Chance" (2010) – A standalone science fiction short story exploring memory and regret.
Contributions to the Wild Cards Shared Universe
In 2009, Levine joined the legendary Wild Cards consortium, a long-running shared-world superhero anthology series edited by George R. R. Martin. In this universe, an alien virus released over New York in 1946 mutates humans, turning most into deformed "Jokers" and a select few into superpowered "Aces."
Levine's stories should be read as part of the overarching Wild Cards publication order, but fans of his writing will want to look out for the original characters he created and wrote:
- Franciszek Majewski (Stopwatch) – Introduced in Levine's story "Powers" (which appeared in the 2010 expanded edition of the first Wild Cards volume). Stopwatch has the ability to stop time for up to eleven minutes, but doing so takes a massive toll on his health and ages him rapidly.
- Eddie Carmichael (The Cartoonist) – A street-level artist who can bring sketches to life. He is featured prominently in Levine's contributions to the Jokertown police procedural volume, Fort Freak (2011), specifically in the story "The Elephant in the Room."
- Adesina (Morpho Girl) – A shape-shifting character featured in Levine's story "Prompt. Professional. Pop!" in the mosaic novel Lowball (2014).
Levine has also written stories for several other volumes in the series, including Mississippi Roll (2017), where he wrote the perspective of Ed Bryant's classic character Sewer Jack, as well as Joker Moon (2021) and Full House (2022).
What to Know Before You Start
Levine's stories are praised for their optimism and focus on human empathy. Even in his grittier works like The Kuiper Belt Job or his Wild Cards entries, the narrative prioritizes character relationships and resilience over bleakness. The Arabella Ashby trilogy is fully complete, meaning you can read it from start to finish without worrying about cliffhangers or unfinished storylines. While his short stories are widely scattered across anthologies, picking up the Space Magic collection is the simplest way to sample the bulk of his award-winning shorter fiction.