He was born to Richard Joseph Moran and Marilynn Joyce Moran. He has three sisters, Kari Lynn Moran, Jodi Anne Moran and Kathleen Moran.

A native of Southern California, he formerly lived (with his former wife Holly Thomas Moran) in North Hollywood. DKM, his third wife Amy Stout-Moran, and their sons Richard Moran and Connor Moran, along with Amy's two daughters and one son later lived in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

In early 2005 Keys Moran lost vision in one eye due to wet macular degeneration.

Moran currently maintains an active blog, and has in the past maintained two web sites. Queen Of Angels (1999—2004) was his official web site, and Lakers Talk (2002—2006) was a fansite for the Los Angeles Lakers. Much of his work is available for sanctioned free download at the Daniel Keys Moran Mirror.

Moran had ambitious plans for a 33 volume series, The Tales of the Continuing Time, three novels of which (Emerald Eyes, The Long Run, The Last Dancer) were published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Moran has also authored several short stories and essays that were featured on National Public Radio.

The Great Wheel of Existence

The multi-verse in which most of DKM’s work is set.

• “The Gray Maelstrom” ... Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Vol. 7 No. 2 (whole no. 62) February 1983. Story art: John Pierard.

Human/Praxcelis Union

1. “All the Time in the World” ... Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Vol. 6 No. 5 (whole no. 52) May 1982. Story art: Laura Buscemi/Artifact.
2. The Armageddon Blues (expansion of "All the Time in the World") ... Bantam Spectra paperback (April 1988). ISBN 0-553-27115-6. Cover art: Jim Burns.Quiet Vision hardcover ISBN 972-1-57646-576-5 (April 2001), tradepaper ISBN 1-57646-637-X (June 2002). Cover design: DKM.
3. “Realtime” with Gladys Prebehalla ... Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Vol. 8 No. 8 (whole no. 81) August 1984. Cover art: Hisaki Yasuda. Story art: Ron Lindahn.
4. The Ring ... Bantom Doubleday hardcover (October 1988). ISBN 0-385-24816-4. Jacket art: Shusei. Jacket design: Jamie S. Warren.based in part on a screenplay by William Stewart and Joanne Nelson.

The Continuing Time

1. Emerald Eyes ... Bantam Spectra paperback (June 1988). ISBN 0-553-27347-7. Cover art: Paul and Stephen Youll.Quiet Vision hardcover ISBN 1-57646-577-2 (June 2001), tradepaper ISBN 1-57646-638-8 (June 2002). Cover art and design: DKM.
2. The Long Run ... Bantam Spectra paperback (September 1989). ISBN 0-553-28144-5. Cover art Jim Burns.Quiet Vision hardcover ISBN 1-57646-578-0 (August 2001), tradepaper ISBN 1-57646-639-6 (April 2002). Cover design: DKM.
• Emerald Eyes ? “The Star” ? The Long Run ... Queen Of Angels limited edition hardcover omnibus (August 1998). Jacket art and design: DKM.“The Star” is a new short story set between the two novels, and is also included in the Quiet Vision printings of Emerald Eyes.
3. The Last Dancer ... Bantam Spectra paperback (November 1993). ISBN 0-553-56249-5. Cover art: Manuel Pérez Clemente Sanjulián.Quiet Vision hardcover ISBN 1-57646-579-9 (March 2002). Jacket art and design: DKM.
4. Players: The AI War ... (unpublished ... first three chapters available on-line at DKM's blog or the semi-official DKM fan site) In May 2007, Moran described his intention to clean up and publish AI War.
5. Lord November: The Man-Spacething War ... (unpublished ... first two chapters available on-line at the semi-official DKM fan site)

The Sunset Strip

1. Terminal Freedom ... with Jodi Moran. Queen Of Angels hardcover (March 1997). Jacket design: DKM.Quiet Vision tradepaper ISBN 1-57646-643-4 (February 2002). Cover design: DKM.
2. In Cool Blood ... with Jodi Moran. (unpublished)

Other stories

• “Given the Game” ... Aboriginal Science Fiction. Nov.—Dec. 1990 (No. 24). Cover and story art: Charles Lang.
• “Hard Time” ... Story, with Lynn Barker. Deep Space Nine, episode 4×19. (April 15, 1996).
• “On Sequoia Time” ... Asimov’s Science Fiction. Vol. 20 No. 9 (whole no. 249) September 1996. Story art: Steve Cavallo.
• “Roughing it During the Martian Invasion,” ... with Jodi Moran. Global Dispatches anthology, edited by Kevin Anderson ... Bantam Spectra paperback (May 1997). ISBN 0-553-10353-9.
• A series of commentaries for NPR Sirius’ The Way In, airing in 2001:
• “The Road Goes Everywhere”
• “A Freeway in My Back Yard”
• “The Vast and Endless Sea”
• “It’s Great to Be Me”
• As of early 2006, Moran was working on a couple of books (Symphony in Black & The Hotel California) in the vein of Travis McGee.

Star Wars

all three short stories below were published in Bantam Spectra paperback anthologies, edited by Kevin J. Anderson, with cover art by Stephen Youll.

• “Empire Blues: The Devaronian’s Tale” ... Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (August 1995). ISBN 0-553-56468-4.
• “A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett” ... Tales from Jabba’s Palace (January 1996). ISBN 0-553-56815-9.

Published under a pseudonym, about which Moran had the following comment on his website. ... “Editorial changes that were unacceptable to me were made to ‘A Barve Like That,’ which is why the ‘J. D. Montgomery’ pseudonym, but on balance it is perhaps not a bad story, and I won't disown it if people understand that the final product is only perhaps 80% mine.”

• “The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett” ... Tales of the Bounty Hunters (December 1996). ISBN 0-553-56816-7.

Daniel Keys Moran’s Continuing Time stories cover an abnormally large number of standard SF/F themes and story devices. There are multiple universes, time travel, cyberpunk, alien invasions, martial arts, dance, paganism, the politics of world government, an interesting twist on non-violent protest, and any number of everyday technologies that were unheard of in 1985 but are surprisingly common today.

The Crystal Wind

This fanciful name for the virtual space created by a global network of interconnected computers is Moran’s extrapolation of what the Internet would become. Aside from its everyday uses in his stories it also provides another environment in which good and evil can do battle. Surprisingly, the most significant battle in the series is a fight against excessive governmental control of this fundamental quasi-public space.

As part of Moran’s description of how a ubiquitously available Internet would affect society (The Long Run, 1989), he introduced the concept of Internet addiction disorder, which he called “data-starve”.

Images

Characters who have a significant presence in the Crystal Wind are called Players, one such is ‘Trent the Uncatchable’ in The Long Run. But when Players ‘Dance’ in the Crystal Wind they can easily incur the wrath of the authorities, corporate entities, or other denizens of the Crystal Wind. All competent Players carefully craft an Image that they use to interact with the virtual world. This Image is a set of customized code that the Player slowly builds and improves over time. Its primary tasks are to filter the overwhelming amount of available data into understandable information, and to put into effect (through complex technical means) the wishes of the Player. In this way, the Player automates as much of the slow human search, analysis, actions and reactions that are much faster using suitably advanced Image algorithms and hardware. In effect, they create a computer version of themselves that requires only occasional input from the slower but more complex Player.

Prior to the beginning of the stories, the aforementioned Trent character spent some years developing an Image called ‘Ralf the Wise and Powerful’. The juvenile nature of the name reflects Trent's youth as he was not yet a teenager at the time. As the events in the stories unfold, it is a seemingly minor point when an eleven year old Trent is forced by circumstance to abandon his Image code in the net. Trent's impressive capabilities are confirmed by the fact that his Image was sophisticated enough to make the leap (with some assistance) to becoming a full sentient AI. As Trent’s Image it was an online representation of his skills, outlook, ethics and morals. As an independent being Ralf closely adheres to his origins, and acts to support Trent in his efforts to serve the greater good according to his pacifistic moral code. It should be pointed out that the Trent character is portrayed as an exceptional Player, perhaps the best ever. After leaving 'Ralf the Wise and Powerful', Trent created (and later semi-merged with) 'Johnny Johnny'.

The living flame

A force of life which can be "brought down" into the mundane world by gifted individuals, mostly through dancing. As of the most recent stories it is unknown what effects the flame has apart from giving the witnesses a deep feeling of spirituality.Denice Castanaveras is, as of the end of "The Last Dancer" the only person alive who knows how to invoke the flame.

The great wheel of existence

The foundation of reality, it holds the different timelines together.In the middle of the wheel, there is an entity known as "the chained one" which works as the wheel's source of power.

Neither of Moran’s co-authors has published independently, and there is little public information about them. The information below was posted by Moran on his website.

Jodi Anne Moran

DKM's younger sister, born March 9, 1964. She is the author of an unpublished novel, Devlin’s Razor.

Gladys Prebehalla

A woman approximately the same age as DKM's mother whom he met in a writing class when he was about 20 years old. They collaborated on a story, “Maggie Archer”, about an older woman forced to have a computer in her house