In the fall of 2013 he began teaching creative writing at Smith College while working full-time in the human services field.
Early short stories appeared in the literary magazines Other Voices (1991), The Beloit Fiction Journal (1991) and West Branch (1993).
The New York Times remained enthusiastic, stating that "his audacity is irresistible,"[10] while the UK's The Guardian newspaper noted that "by fleshing out the story on its own terms, [Maine] conveys the amplitude of its moral horror.
"[11] But some critics, perhaps uncomfortable with the equation of "moral horror" in regards to much-loved Sunday school parables, remained muted.
August 2011 saw Maine independently releasing an eBook entitled The Gamble of the Godless, an epic fantasy which marked another major shift in focus for his published work.
One blogger went so far as to say that "David Maine has created a wonderful cast of characters and an elaborately detailed world – one of the most engaging I've experienced.