Dan Moren

A covert operative and a washed-up pilot team up to track down a mysterious superweapon before it catapults the galaxy into open war.

The galaxy is mired in a cold war between two superpowers, the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust into this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth’s preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly soldier happily scrubbing toilets on Sabaea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems.
Kyle Rankin is a lie. His real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Simon Kovalic knows Caledonia is the site of a top-secret weapon project and that the past Brody so desperately tried to abandon can grant him access to people and places that are off limits even to a professional spy like Kovalic.
Kovalic needs Eli Brody to come home and face his past. With Brody suddenly cast in a play he never auditioned for, he and Kovalic will quickly realize it’s everything they don’t know that will tip the scales of galactic peace. Sounds like a desperate plan, sure, but what gambit isn’t?

Praise for The Caledonian Gambit

A wisecracking caper that nevertheless doesn’t skimp on the details and human cost of interstellar war, like John Le Carré meets The Stainless Steel Rat. Moren is one to watch.”
Antony Johnston, creator of Atomic Blonde and The Coldest Winter

…the action scenes, both on the ground and in space, show a focus on thoughtful planning and careful pacing. The characterization delves just enough into emotionality to give the characters realism without moving the focus away from fights, intrigue, and spycraft.
Publishers Weekly

Immersive, intergalactic spy-fi. Moren gives us a Cold War thriller with wormholes and anti-grav fields.
John August, screenwriter of Titan A.E. and Big Fish

…a great spy story, with tidbits of science explaining the intergalactic travel and even a hint of romance to come.
Booklist

Hypercool. It’s like the Golden Age of sci-fi got an upgrade, with all the big honking space cannons and some desert planet dry humour thrown in for the bargain.
John Birmingham, author of the Axis of Time series

…highly recommended, snarky sci-fi adventure.
Joe Zieja, author of Mechanical Failure