Arabella of Mars - (Adventures of Arabella Ashby) by David D Levine (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A fanciful romp through a cosmic 1812, Hugo Award-winning Levine's first novel is a treat for steampunk fantasy fans." --Library Journal (starred review)

Born on Mars, sixteen-year-old Arabella Ashby enjoys many more freedoms than most girls her age, tramping around the desert with her older brother. But that liberty is not to last. Finding Mars much too unladylike for her daughters, Arabella's mother takes the girls back to London, where they're sure to find suitable husbands among the ton.

Weighed down by Earth's gravity--and her own unhappiness--Arabella dearly misses her father and their shared passion for automata. When she learns of his death, she also uncovers her cousin's devious plot to travel to Mars, murder her brother, and claim the family inheritance for himself.

To foil his dastardly plans, Arabella disguises herself as a boy to gain employment on an airship to Mars. Though she is valued by the captain for her talent with the automaton navigator he invented, she must survive French privateers, mutiny, and her own unmasking, only to reach a Mars embroiled in rebellion . . .

"If Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and Patrick O'Brien had sat down together to compose a tale to amuse Jane Austen, the result might be Arabella of Mars. So. Much. Fun!" --Madeleine Robins, author of the Sarah Tolerance Regency mystery series

"A very clever and entertaining start to a memorable saga." --Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times-bestselling author

"Arabella, a human teenager born on Mars, is catapulted into adventure in a tale that cleverly combines some of the most intriguing elements of steampunk and classic science fiction." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

David D. Levine is the author of the Andre Norton Award-winning novel Arabella of Mars, sequels Arabella and the Battle of Venus and Arabella the Traitor of Mars, and more than fifty science fiction and fantasy stories. His story "Tk'Tk'Tk" won the Hugo Award, and he has been shortlisted for several other prizes including the Nebula, Campbell, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Clarkesworld magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Tor.com, numerous anthologies, and his award-winning collection Space Magic. His latest novel is The Kuiper Belt Job.