Realistic near-future sci-fi
Techno-thrillers for readers who care about science and engineering.
Free novella · 15,000 words
Close Approach
Helsinki, 2030. A piece of debris no one should know exists. Eight engineers. One night to keep a fleet of satellites in orbit.
A standalone orbital-debris thriller. Real engineering, real consequence, no easy outs. Read it before Moon Shadows, after, or instead — it's free either way.
- ~15,000 words. A long evening's read.
- EPUB and PDF, delivered instantly.
- Standalone — no spoilers either way.
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Coming June 23, 2026
Moon Shadows
The Moon has been a commercial destination for less than a decade, but its orbit is already contested ground. When a fourth American lander disintegrates on a clean descent, the failures aren't failures.
The Moon has been a commercial destination for less than a decade, but its orbit is already contested ground: a silent ledger of half-billion-dollar wrecks that nobody in Washington, Brussels, or Moscow is willing to explain. When a fourth American lunar lander disintegrates on a clean descent, investigative journalist Alex Carter stops calling it bad luck and starts pulling threads that lead, one by one, toward a conclusion no government will print: the failures aren't failures. Above him, in the dead quiet of lunar orbit, a hull that does not reflect radar is tracking the next descent and waiting.
Now writing
Killing the Sun
My next novel follows Alex Carter — the investigative journalist at the heart of Moon Shadows — onto a different thread: a coordinated suppression campaign against space-based solar power. Drafting begins late 2026.
Get notified when it's readyAbout
About Daniele
I'm an Italian aerospace engineer. I write near-future thrillers about people solving hard problems, anchored in real science and researched engineering. My debut novel, Moon Shadows, follows investigative journalist Alex Carter as he traces a pattern of American lunar lander failures toward a conclusion no government will print. Close Approach, a standalone novella set in the same world, is available free.
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