SIMON KOVALIC

Full Name:	Simon Kovalic
Series Name:	The Galactic Cold War
Nationality:	Unknown
Organization:	CID
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Dan Moren
Time Span:	2017 - 2022

ABOUT THE SERIES

Simon Kovalic is an agent with the CID.

In this context, that acronym breaks down as the Commonwealth Intelligence Directorate, which is the secret service for the Commonwealth of Independent Systems (CoIS). That organization is one of the two interstellar governmental systems being discussed in these adventures taking place roughly (I am led to believe) five centuries in the future [could be wrong]. The other government is the Illyrican Empire. As we learn quite quickly, the latter is apparently always on an expansionist footing, something the CoIS is very much against. While there are occasional skirmishes between the two and the threat of outright hostilities is never far from anyone's mind, when we join Kovalic and his team in the first recorded adventure, there is a Cold War between them.

Kovalic holds the rank of Captain in the CID and has been an operative for quite a few years before we start to follow him. He will find a promotion as a reward for his services but the work stays the same; another planet with another problem that he must resolve, usually with the help of a "covert-ops team of misfits".

Those teammates consist of:

Sergeant Tapper is a colleague who has worked with Kovalic for twenty years and might be now in his sixties or even older but who was still no man to mess with and get off easily.
Lieutenant Aaron Page is the intel expert, pretty darn good at gathering a lot of data and making sense of it all, not to mention quite handy in the field as well.
Lieutenant Elijah Brody who is despite his young age an exceptional pilot.
Natalie, aka Nat, Taylor, a Lieutenant Commander who is also Kovalic's wife, or ex-wife as soon as she finds the time to put "a thumbprint on those documents". She is not officially part of the team but still plays vital parts in each adventure.

BOOKS

Number of Books:	4
First Appearance:	2017
Last Appearance:	2022

There are, at the time of this typing, 4 books in the adventures of Simon Kovalic.

The first book was published by Talos Press. The next three were released by Angry Robot Books. The latter company has marked those three as the Galactic Cold War series, books 1-3. The author has listed all four under that name.

There is an upcoming book due in September, 2024 called The Armageddon Protocol, billed as the "fourth and final" in the series.


1			The Caledonian Gambit Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2017 "The galaxy is mired in a cold war between the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust between this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth’s preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly janitor happily scrubbing toilets on Sabaea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems. Kyle Rankin’s real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Kovalic knows a top-secret Illyrican superweapon project is hiding in Caledonia. He also knows that the past Brody so desperately abandoned can grant him access to people and places that are impenetrable even for him. Now Brody and Kovalic are on a mission fraught with dangerous unknowns, guaranteed to tip the scales of galactic peace. Sounds like a desperate plan, sure, but what gambit isn’t?"

2			The Bayern Agenda Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2019 "Simon Kovalic, top intelligence operative for the Commonwealth of Independent Systems, is on the frontline of the burgeoning Cold War with the aggressive Illyrican Empire. He barely escapes his latest mission with a broken arm, and vital intel which points to the Empire cozying up to the Bayern Corporation: a planet-sized bank. There’s no time to waste, but with Kovalic out of action, his undercover team is handed over to his ex-wife, Lt Commander Natalie Taylor. When Kovalic’s boss is tipped off that the Imperium are ready and waiting, it’s up to the wounded spy to rescue his team and complete the mission before they’re all caught and executed."

3			The Aleph Extraction Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2020 "Aboard a notorious criminal syndicate's luxurious starliner, Commonwealth operative Simon Kovalic and his crew race to steal a mysterious artifact that could shift the balance of war... Still reeling from a former teammate's betrayal, Commonwealth operative Simon Kovalic and his band of misfit spies have no time to catch their breath before being sent on another impossible mission: to pull off the daring heist of a quasi-mythical alien artifact, right out from under the nose of the galaxy's most ruthless crime lord. But their cold war rivals, the Illyrican Empire, want the artifact for themselves. And Kovalic's newest recruit, Specialist Addy Sayers, is a volatile ex-con with a mean hair-trigger who might put the whole mission at risk. Can Kovalic hold it all together, or will the team tear themselves apart before they can finish the job?"

4			The Nova Incident Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2022 "When a bomb explodes in the bustling Commonwealth capital city of Salaam, responsibility is quickly claimed by an extremist independence movement. But after a former comrade, an ex-spy with his own agenda, is implicated in the attack, Simon Kovalic and his team of covert operatives are tasked with untangling the threads of a dangerous plot that could have implications on a galactic scale. And the deeper Kovalic digs, the more he'll uncover a maze of secrets, lies, and deception that may force even the most seasoned spy to question his own loyalties."

NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES

Number of Stories:	3
First Appearance:	2020
Last Appearance:	2020


1			Pilot Error short story Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2020 "It’s been six months—six endless months—since former starfighter pilot Eli Brody helped Simon Kovalic and his team of Commonwealth covert operatives take on a terrorist organization on his home planet of Caledonia. But instead of being swept up in a new life of intrigue and excitement, Eli has instead been tasked with sharpening his rusty piloting skills on routine asteroid mining missions. But, as he’s about to discover, those missions can quickly become anything but routine…"

2			Showdown short story Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2020 "The job was supposed to be straightforward: find an Illyrican scientist and make sure he didn’t make his way back to the Imperium. But Commonwealth operative Simon Kovalic knows nothing ever goes to plan. So, when a duplicitous bounty hunter lives up to his reputation, Kovalic’s ready—just maybe not ready enough. Now he and his team must get offworld, before their enemies catch up with them…"

3			Homecoming short story Written by Dan Moren Copyright: 2020 "Visiting your family can be stressful. For Commander Natalie Taylor of the Commonwealth Navy, it's doubly so, since it means traveling across enemy lines to her homeworld of Centauri, occupied by the Illyrican Empire for the last twenty years. And when you're a spy with a job to do, well, it can be downright deadly."

MY COMMENTS

I love a good spy-fi/sci-fi mash-up and this one is a hoot. Each of the characters are interesting and could make for great story leads themselves but as part of the team lead by the stoic Kovalic, they really flesh out the tales.

Especially interesting to me was the allegory to life in the intelligence community during the 60s and 70s Cold War here with the US and USSR. The Illyrican Empire makes for a darn good Soviet Union-ish enemy; different enough to be unique but familiar enough to be, well, comfortable in a scary sort of way. [Of course, since I often miss the point in these things, I could be all wrong].

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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