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thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
AJ Pryor
@thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
280 followers 150 following 320 posts
Author or the Inbetween Archives - a morally gray space opera for people that like their adventure laced with dry humor and heart.
Constantly harassed by my characters.

www.theinbetweenarchives.com (First book free)
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thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · Aug 22
You can now read book 1 of my space opera series, The Inbetween Archives, for FREE on my website.

It starts with a woman too dangerous to kill and
a man too principled to leave her behind. Things get progressively worse from there.

theinbetweenarchives.com/books/start-...

#booksky #freebooks
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Reasons you're going to HATE Rivals' Folly:

The MMC's not an asshole who goes soft for one person. He's someone who was trained to treat himself like a tool. The romance doesn't fix him. It's about him discovering that being worthy and being useful aren't the same thing.

#booksky
October 3, 2026 at 4:50 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Hey #indieauthors, just in case no one has told you this recently, I am so completely, utterly, and unbelievably proud of you. Whether you've sold 50000 books, or 5, you threw your soul onto those pages and I think you're wonderful.

#booksky #writesky

Readers et al, you're pretty damn great too!
October 2, 2026 at 7:07 PM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Reasons you're going to HATE Rivals' Folly:

The MMC is an elite assassin.

He is also disabled.

The missing arm does not make him less dangerous, less competent, less desirable, or the subject of an Inspirational Journey™.

It’s just part of him.

#booksky #rivalstolovers

Coming October 27th
October 2, 2026 at 6:40 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
You can't have an accident without "dent", so I'm claiming it 😆

And Hannah and Ed (aka Cash)'s banter continues unabated.

#WIPSnips #writesky #writingprompt
The staircase was creaky, narrow, steep, and full of shadows. Ambiance on a budget. Ed had taken point, ignoring Hannah’s exasperated exhale. They had been circling down for several minutes with no end in sight. He looked over his shoulder. “You’ve been here before?” “A couple of times, yeah.” “Has she always been that—” “Terrifying? Yes.” No surprise there. He’d met a few matriarchs growing up that exuded the same “you bullshit at your own peril” energy. Messing with them was a bad idea. “What kind of name is Cash, anyway?” Damn it. He knew that was coming. “One you didn’t hear.” She snorted. “Oh, I heard it all right. It it really your real name?” “Not the one on my birth certificate, no.” “But it is yours. Grandma Az wouldn’t have let us through otherwise. I’ll find out, you know. I’m relentless.” Yeah, he knew that about her already. But there was little evidence of Cash Rutherford to be found. SID had made sure of it. Which actually worked out pretty well for him. He ran his hand along the banister, worn smooth by time and hands. “Don’t let me stop you, princess.” “Be careful about taunting me on a steep staircase, baby. Accidents can happen, after all. Or should I call you Cash?” He ignored her.
October 2, 2026 at 6:18 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
While a relatively minor injury, this lets Ed show his tender side. Mostly.

#WIPSnips #Writingprompts #writesky
Ed’s teeth clenched involuntarily. He closed his eyes and held up his hand. “And you’re mad at me?” Hannah hit the punch bag again. “I’m mad at the situation, Ed. I’m mad that Maven knows so much. I’m mad that Jonesy’s not the leak because I don’t know if Maven got her intel from SID, or Grandma Az, or if we have a mole. I’m mad that she looks at you like she has a right to you. I’m mad I can’t feed anyone to the lizards. I’m just,” she hit the bag, “fucking,” another smash, “mad!” He’d opened his eyes halfway through her rant, and saw her wince on the final hit. “You split your knuckles, didn’t you?” “Fuck you.” He shook his head, walked over to the cupboard and grabbed a MedKit. “Come here.” When she didn’t move, he rolled his eyes and walked over to her. Tucked the MedKit under his stump and held out his hand. “Let’s see it.” “I’m fine.” “Sure you are, princess.” He was still holding his hand out. She sneered at him, but put her fingers in his. Oh yeah, that was a lot of missing skin. “Come on, I need to be sitting for this.” He tugged her, gently, towards the bench. She was still radiating irritation when she sat next to him. He ignored it and put her hand on his leg while he opened the MedKit, while he painted wound sealant on her raw knuckles. She hissed through her teeth as it started to work. He lifted her hand and blew on it, cooling the wound; she gave him a bemused stare, but didn’t say anything. It occurred to him he’d been holding her hand for too long. He released it and nodded, sharply. “Right. So you heard everything, then?”
October 1, 2026 at 5:59 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Last cast introduction for Rivals' Folly, my new rivals-to-lovers space opera launching on October 27th.

Jackie's sweet, but don't underestimate her. No one tends bar solo in a merc den unless they know exactly how to handle themselves.

#booksky #scifiseries #awesomecharacters
October 1, 2026 at 5:56 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Methinks she doth protest too much...

From Rivals' Folly, my new rivals-to-lovers novel set on a lawless mercenary moon, coming to Amazon KU on October 27th.

#WIPSnips
September 30, 2026 at 5:30 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
The countdown to Rivals' Folly, and with it, here's Gabe. Functioning adult (!), former soldier, and as it turns out, bloody financial genius.

#booksky #scifiseries
September 30, 2026 at 5:14 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
When the fight becomes something more...

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
As an Ethereal, Ed had been taught how to fight. The order and the control. The predictability. The patterns. It made sense. And he was good at it. Even, as Rina called it, missing a wing. All of which helped him not at all, as Hannah landed a blow to his jaw that had him seeing stars. He shook his head to clear it, darted back out of her range, and came in swinging. Hard. Her “oof” as his fist connected with her abdomen had him grinning and her snarling. “Feeling me yet, princess?” “I wouldn’t feel you if you were the last man in the Folly.” He feinted right, ducked under her guard and managed to get behind her and wrap his arm around her neck in a choke. Which admittedly would have been more effective with two arms, as a second later he found himself flying as she tossed him over her shoulder in a well-practiced judo throw. He rolled without thinking and her follow-up stomp hit the mat instead of him. She hobbled back and he jumped up to his feet. They fought without tactics, without the precision he’d come to expect from her. And damn him if it wasn’t… arousing. That thought crawling into his skull slammed all brakes on, which was the only reason her uppercut connected and knocked his head back.
September 29, 2026 at 8:06 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Exactly 4 weeks to go until Rivals' Folly, so it's time to meet Angel, the Folly's equivalent of a poison dart frog. Beautiful? Yes. Deadly? Even more so.

#books2026 #scifiseries #meetthecast #booksky
September 29, 2026 at 5:12 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Rivals' Folly launches in one month 🎉

Meet Sam. They/them. Raven lieutenant and diplomat. Pointy-toothed menace. Fun enough to give their own after-novel bonus story.

#booksky #scifiseries #books2026
Meet the Cast: The Folly Mercs Sam Raven diplomat, professional bad inflluence, and living proof that "I have a plan" is not the same thing as "this will end well."
September 28, 2026 at 5:25 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Sam's definition of "Prime-class gossip" needs some work.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky
“We were worried.” Angel’s words knocked the smile off his face. “Yeah, so was I for a while.” Hannah stood, walked around the desk and leaned against it. “What the hell happened?” “Long story, but suffice to say, things got complicated.” Hannah waited, but he didn’t say anything else. “Complicated? That’s it?” Ed shrugged. He looked shattered. Dark circles were smudged under his eyes, far deeper than she’d have expected after just one night’s missed sleep. Gabe snorted and stood up as well. Angel just leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “What she means is,” Gabe told Ed softly, “Report, soldier!” He barked the last two words. Ed jerked, just a little, back straightening. He hunched again almost immediately, but she’d seen it and it was delicious. Then his eyes narrowed. “Which part, Gabe?” He purred the words. Hannah blinked. Not the tone she was expecting. “The bit where it turned out that Spider’s gang party was a fucking orgy, the part where I had to watch Havoc getting blown by a kid barely old enough to buy a drink, the part where I ended up in front of Maven and found out that she was a fucking Ethereal, or the part where she introduced me to Spider and told him I was the answer to their problem? And no, I don’t know what that involves. We could talk about the number of different drugs they tried to dope me with, if you like. Or how about the part where I had to negotiate with Grandma Az, so I could lose my fucking tail before heading back here?” Hannah opened her mouth and closed it again. Glanced at Gabe and Angel in turn. They looked similarly shocked. “Well, fuck. Glad I decided to head home early. That is prime-class gossip, rook. I’d have been pissed to miss it.”
September 28, 2026 at 5:21 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Rivals' Folly launches in one month 🥳, so...

Meet Hannah. She is territorial, smug, undisciplined in ways she has mistaken for instinct, and frequently insubordinate even when she is technically correct.

#booksky #readers #books2026
September 27, 2026 at 6:23 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
From my upcoming rivals-to-lovers book, Rivals' Folly (launches 27 Oct). Meet the rivals.

#WIPSnips #writesky #writingprompts
Ed found Hannah in the Nest, drawing some kind of incomprehensible mind map on the whiteboard. It had taken a long time to track her down, and his temper hadn’t been improved by the delay. Gabe’s lecture made sense. Too much sense. His hand clenched into an involuntary fist. He didn’t like that he’d needed to have it spelled out to him. Fucking hated being seen as a liability. Hannah turned to him, her face immediately settling into amusement. “What’s got your panties in a bunch?” He felt the growl in the back of his throat and quelled it. “Gym. Now. Fight first, talk later.” She laughed. She actually laughed at him. “Oh, that’s delicious. Gabe got under your skin. He’s good at that.” She stretched, giving him a glimpse of bronze skin as her shirt rode up. “Are you coming?” She grinned at him. And not in a friendly way, either. “Oh, baby. Not even breathing hard.” Oh, it was like that, was it? “You couldn’t handle me, princess.” She stalked over to him and got up in his face. “Right back at you… baby.” Then ducked past him and out into the corridor. Oh, she was dead. She just didn’t know it yet.
September 27, 2026 at 6:21 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Some people you can observe for a lifetime and still never know until you ask.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky
“Tiamat, dearest heart, is this a poor time to remind you how many people you have killed?” Annoyance flared. “That was different, Abzu, we were at war.” “At war, yes. But not always in battle.” Tia closed her eyes as memories long fogged over presented themselves in full-color clarity. Spurting blood. Gargling groans. The sharp retort of weapons fire. Acid burned the back of her throat. “I’m not the person I once was.” “Is he?” She stood up and stalked to the viewport. Felt the whisper as Abzu widened it so the auroras nearby could dance for her in breathtaking display. She’d thought she wanted perspective. Just not this particular variety. “And if he is? How do I reconcile that a man who seems to hold such warmth can also hold such coldness?” Abzu stepped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She leaned back against him. “No two people are the same, Narāmī, and this is one of those times where you could observe him for a lifetime, but you’ll never know until you ask.” Another thing she didn’t particularly want to hear. He let the silence sit and they watched the auroras together, as they had done too many times to remember over the vast horizon of their lives. Finally, he kissed her head and asked, “What are you afraid of?” She reached up to squeeze his wrists. “That he’s not the person I thought he was. The person I let myself… care for.” “You’ve not let yourself love since Ani.” “No. I suppose not. And now—” she sighed. “Now, I’m scared I’ve opened my heart again, and that it’s a huge mistake.”
September 26, 2026 at 5:45 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Rivals' Folly launches in one month, so...

Meet Ed, a recently acquired one-armed ex-spy with a martyr complex, a talent for making neat piles out of functional chaos, and the conversational warmth of a locked interrogation room.

#books2026 #rivalstolovers #scifiseries
Meet the Cast - The Folly Mercs Shows Ed with one arm holding a gun in a futuristic space station with a moon in the background. Text reads Assassin with resting disinterest face. Quiet, competent, deliberately annoying. Yes I have one arm, thanks for noticing.
September 26, 2026 at 4:53 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Nation you say? Would a Nation... Ship do? From a prequel Novella I'm playing with

#WIPSnips #Writingprompts #writingcommunity
It was hard to accept that the Confederation were as much the monsters to the Others…no, the Travelers; as they had been to Confederation. Perspective is everything. And illusions hurt when they shatter. At least now they’d moved on to comparative history. Phantom looked back down at Seori. “So the Four are four vessels, like Tiamat, that were involved in the War? How many people do they carry? Because it seemed like you had a never-ending supply of soldiers and ships.” She turned one palm upwards. “Each Kraken—” “Kraken?” She smiled. “That’s the type of vessel we’re on. Krakens. Nation Ships. Creatures of the deep.” “Appropriate. We called them Leviathans. Sorry I interrupted.” She waved his apology off. “Your name is also appropriate. And each carries millions to tens of millions of people. I don’t know very much about the war. You seem to have experienced far too much. But to my knowledge, it was only ever the Four that were involved.” “Nation ships. So the Four had civilians as well as military?” Seori nodded. Phantom rubbed his temples. That meant when that Leviathan punched out of the Void into the final battle, when Ghost Command had Tunneled beyond its shield and when Ash had died to finally destroy it, that they’d taken out millions of people. Families. Children. No wonder it had ended the War. Void help him. He felt ill.
September 25, 2026 at 5:17 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. The morally gray space opera for those who love chaos characters and cosmic shenanigans.

Meet Seori, the only cast member that has NOT killed someone. They genuinely thought she was an alien when they met her.

#books2026 #scifiseries
September 25, 2026 at 5:00 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Against the odds, I have never used the word "meddle" in any of my books. But meddling in politics seems close enough, so I chose this scene in my current WIP.

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity #writingprompts
When choosing a place to discuss government-level sedition, Geist would have preferred not to be on Kratos, the planetary seat of Confederacy power. On top of all the really good reasons to avoid it—heightened surveillance, uneditable transport logs, higher odds of being double crossed—it was just unseemly. However the person he had come to see seldom left the planet. Seeing her now was a big risk, but the return of Helios in flaming and spectacular fashion had taken all of his nicely paced timelines and turned them to ash. And she was keeping him waiting. Not unexpected. Everything on Kratos was a power play. He sipped excellent espresso and looked out past the deck he was sitting on, to the dark, craggy cliffs and bioluminescent ocean beyond. Mist swirled in the breeze, reflecting some of the ocean’s glow and dancing in a way that reminded him of the Void’s auroras. A moving sight, if one were into that sort of thing. And enough people had been to ensure that the boutique restaurant he was currently enjoying had plenty of intricate artworks capturing the view available for purchase. The door clicked open behind him and the sharp click of heels approached him. Geist stood, turned, and bowed low. Stayed bowed. “My Lady.” At five foot nothing, Lady Shajar al-Durr should not have been an imposing figure. But she wore presence and power like a cape. Her silver-streaked hair was pulled into an immaculate coil at the nape of her neck, her dark skin lined just enough to be plausible, and her black silk jacket cut so precisely it might have been armor. Her eyes, however, were the true warning; bright, assessing, and utterly lacking indulgence. She huffed out a small breath. “Get up, Zahir. Bowing implies respect, and you have little enough of that in your makeup.”
September 24, 2026 at 5:46 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. The morally gray space opera about chaos, competence, survival and relationships.

Meet Tia - one half of my my "age-gap romance" in book four. She's a little over 2,000. It's complicated.

#booksky #scifiseries #awesomecharacters
September 24, 2026 at 5:08 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Eh, tumble, stumble. Close enough 😆

From Rivals' Folly. Releasing next month.

#WIPSnips #writingprompts #writercommunity
Spider came in for another fast attack, over committing just slightly. He stumbled forward and Rina slapped her off-hand out, connecting with his arm. No one from the stands would see the puff of vaporized Firebreak that Sam and Jonesy had cooked up. Here was hoping the damn thing worked. Spider blinked and winced. Ed wondered if he knew what was happening? That the Firebreak was eating through every synthetic compound in his body in record time. That his enhanced reactions, assuming they were drug-related, were about to come to an abrupt end. Of course, if they were implants, then Rina was in trouble. Ed swallowed. Hannah’s hand was gripping his tightly. He glanced at her; her entire focus was on the fight. He squeezed back. Spider’s movements had slowed dramatically, but he was still fucking fast. And Ed almost didn’t notice the mistake when it happened. Spider’s katana cut swept wide, too wide. Rina saw the opening and made a quick, precise thrust that caught his wrist just above the guard. His hand opened reflexively. The katana spun away, bouncing across the sand. Spider stared at his empty hand, then at her. She held her saber steady, the point still aimed at his chest. Smiled. And thrust.
September 23, 2026 at 5:27 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. Meet Halo, aka Sin. Yes, Sin's his real name. Yes, he can seduce you with a smile. Yes, he can kill you just as easily.

He started out as one of my core cast's best "worst" pick-up lines, and I liked him so much he's getting his own novella.

#booksky
September 23, 2026 at 4:51 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
I'm taking meltdown as a synonym for breached reactor core. And this is the opening of a prequel novella I'm playing with.

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity #writingprompts
Phantom sat on the low bed in his cell and glared at the wall. It was white and glowed with low light. The floor and ceiling were the same. Anger prickled along his neck and shoulders. Hate churned in his gut. And grief still burned like acid through his veins. Getting captured by the Others wasn’t in his plan. If he was honest, he hadn’t had a plan beyond “find them and make them pay for taking Ash away from him”. Breaching his Wasp’s reactor core to pass through their shields and attempting to ram the Leviathan—followed he hoped, by a spectacular explosion—had not turned out the way he’d expected. He should have been dead, along with a lot of them. Instead, he was in a fucking cell on a criminally soft bed and the fucking murmuring in his head was driving him insane. It was the Others. He knew it was them, even if he’d had no idea that they were psychically inclined. Could feel the pressure of their voices. So many fucking voices. Sometimes it felt like they were trying to reach him. To talk to him. They could go fuck themselves; he was not letting them in. And if he could just figure out how to get out of this cell, then he was sure he could find some way to cause a catastrophic system failure or two before they killed him. And they would kill him. He’d make sure of it. But not without returning the favor in kind.
September 22, 2026 at 5:49 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. Chaos comes standard.

Meet Patch. 5ft2 in combat boots, fanatically curious. I love her.

#booksky #scifiseries
September 22, 2026 at 4:27 AM
thatvoidauthor.bsky.social
From the bonus extras of book 4, reacting to a certain unexpected event.

#wipsnips #writesky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
Special Report Host (stone‑faced): “In an unprecedented development, Helios addressed the public for forty‑two seconds before incinerating the entire press corps. Analysts are calling it ‘the shortest and most aggressive political message in history.’ We now go live to our Xenotheology desk because apparently we need one now.” Xenotheology Analyst (new hire, sweating): “Based on the radiance, flame signature, and vocal resonance, this is a fully awakened theophanic class entity. Its rhetoric suggests messianic contempt, territorial claim over the Void, and—uh—an interest in reclaiming a ‘vessel.’ Should I be allowed to say that on-air? Is that classified? …Why is no one answering me?” CivNet Online – Comment Section Dumpster Fire Top comment: “idk what everyone’s freaking out about, we get new doomsday cults every year. This one just has better VFX.” Reply: “THAT WASN’T VFX, MARGO. THOSE WERE REAL PEOPLE. YOU COULD SEE THE TEETH.” Reply to reply: “I literally watched my cousin on that stream. She arrived just as the fire started and lived. She says the fire had intent. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???”
September 21, 2026 at 6:05 AM