Leviathan Wept and Other Stories is a 2010 collection of speculative fiction by American author Daniel Abraham. Published by Subterranean Press, the volume compiles nine of the author's most acclaimed short works originally published between 2001 and 2008.[1]
The collection has been praised by critics for its "humanist" approach to complex systems and its wide range across "fairytale economics," psychological horror, and hard military science fiction.[2][3] It is frequently cited as a thematic precursor to the internationally bestselling The Expanse series.[4]
Included Stories
Several stories in the collection received or were nominated for significant industry honors.
"Leviathan Wept" – The title story (originally published in Sci Fiction) positing a future where the state operates as a distributed, collective intelligence.[9]
"A Hunter in Arin-Qin" – A fantasy narrative concerning cultural loss and parental duty.
Other titles: "The Best Monkey," "The Support Technician Tango," "Exclusion," "As Sweet," and "The Curandero and the Swede."
Roots of The Expanse
Scholars and critics view this collection as the creative "genetic material" for The Expanse.[10]
Linguistic Precursor: The title story, "Leviathan Wept" (2004), established a naming convention for the series, serving as a linguistic bookend for the nine-novel arc that began with Leviathan Wakes (2011) and concluded with Leviathan Falls (2021).[11]
Conceptual Seeds: The collection introduces the concept of the "churn" (the inescapable weight of systemic change) which became a foundational element of the character Amos Burton and the broader politics of the Expanse lore.
Technological Parallels: Critics have noted that the "emergent collective intelligence" explored in the title story served as a conceptual "dry run" for the mechanics of the Protomolecule and the hive-mind entities encountered in the later novel series.[12]
Collector's Note
As the only printed collection of Abraham's early solo work, the physical hardcover has become a sought-after item for collectors of The Expanse franchise. The first edition was limited to a small print run by Subterranean Press and is currently out of print.
↑Dillon, Grace (2016). "Systemic Narratives in Daniel Abraham's Short Fiction". Science Fiction Studies.
↑Corey, James S.A. (2021). Leviathan Falls. Orbit. ISBN978-0316332910. Acknowledgment of naming conventions and thematic parallels.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
↑Wolfe, Gary K. (June 2011). "Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey". Locus. Retrieved January 2, 2026. Abraham's earlier short fiction, specifically 'Leviathan Wept,' prefigures the series' interest in systemic collapse and emergent, non-human intelligences.
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