iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 15h

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

1132

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 16h

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

060

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

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

050

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

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."

060

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

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.”

0170

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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

070

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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.

0130

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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.”

1141

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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.

000

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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.

0150

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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

021

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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.”

0180

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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

060

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

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.

0140

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

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

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

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.

0130

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. Chaos comes standard. Meet Patch. 5ft2 in combat boots, fanatically curious. I love her. #booksky #scifiseries

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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???”

0140

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. Meet Kael, former military golden boy with apocalyptic destiny issues. #booksky #scifiseries

062

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. Meet Spook; it's not a case of whether she *can* break your ribs. It's *when*. #booksky #scifiseries #writerlife

050

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Just because you refuse to speculate, doesn't mean it didn't happen. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

She stalked over to the fridge and pulled out a tube of water.
“You want?” She glanced back at Ed, who was still lying on the floor.
“Sure.”
She tossed a second tube at him and he snatched it out of the air. Seemingly without looking.
Show off.
The water was cold, but it did little to cool her down. Her body was still too keyed up. Still craving violence. Craving something, at any rate.
At some point during the fight, something had shifted. Again. The air changed, just briefly. A look, a feeling, she didn’t know. Refused to speculate.
Was definitely not admitting anything.
She poured some water into her hand and splashed her face. Which also didn’t appreciably help.
“Did you let me win?”
In her peripheral vision, she could see him tilt his head back to look at her.
“You needed to win. But no, I fought and lost, fair and square.”
“You almost got me with that choke.”
“And lost focus. Lesson learned.”

0151

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. We have trauma, weapons, and apparently, freshly-made croissants. Go figure. #booksky #scifiseries #amwriting

050

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. A morally gray space opera where everyone should be supervized... but won't be. Meet the spymaster. He already knows your secrets... and how to leverage them. #booksky #scifiseries #amwriting

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Meet my favorite character (but don't tell him that, he's already insufferable). #booksky #writerlife

030

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Meet the cast of the Inbetween Archives. Wraith: Ex-prisoner, current menace. Runs of spite, loyalty, and increasingly bad decisions involving the people she loves. #booksky #scifibooks

060

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I took the weekend off and just played video games. Productive? No. Restorative? Yes. Happy Monday, everyone. May your coffee be strong and your enemies weak.

010

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Inbetween Archives Disciplinary Memo Recommendation: stop assigning missions to personnel who treat authority as a negotiation prompt. #booksky #inuniverse

DISCIPLINARY MEMO: GHOST COMMAND

Violation: failure to follow orders.

Response: orders were unclear.

Clarification: orders were extremely clear.

Response: emotionally unclear.

Outcome: mission success.

Recommendation: stop assigning missions to personnel who treat authority as a negotiation prompt.

051

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

SHIPBOARD COMMS TRANSCRIPT // PARTIAL Kael: Why is there smoke in the cargo bay? Patch: Technically, it’s vapor. Wraith: Why is there vapor in my cargo bay? Rina: Depends what exploded. Phantom: I am begging everyone to stop using “technically” as a legal defense. #booksky #amwriting

151

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

GHOST COMMAND TRAINING ADVISORY: Do not spar with Wraith unless cleared by Medical. Do not spar with Rina unless cleared by your next of kin. Do not spar with Shade unless you understand the rules may become theological. Do not spar with Geist. You have been warned. #booksky #amwriting

031

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

REQUISITION REQUEST: Ghost Command - 12 combat knives - 4 encrypted comm units - 1 illegal shield modulator - coffee, “non-negotiable” - replacement bulkhead - replacement replacement bulkhead - plausible deniability STATUS: Denied. RESPONSE FROM GHOST COMMAND: Already acquired. #booksky

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Writing book 4 of the Inbetween Archives, and it has a large cast. Currently writing a scene with almost all of them and the chaos is real 🤣

000

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

INCIDENT REPORT: Cause of incident: unclear. Responsible party: disputed. Property damage: moderate. Political damage: extensive. Emotional damage: pre-existing. Outcome: mission success. Recommendation: never ask Ghost Command to define “acceptable losses.” #booksky #amwriting

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

SHIPBOARD NOTICE: The mess is not an interrogation room. The cockpit is not a therapy office. The cargo bay is not an arena. The MedBay is not a nap room. The captain would like everyone to stop proving these notices necessary. Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. #booksky #amwriting

0121

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

WELCOME, SEEKER. You are not joining a cult. You are merely developing a healthy academic interest in ancient cosmic darkness, interdimensional travel, emotional collapse, and one very charming man with terrible impulse control. Please sign here. Welcome to the Inbetween Archives. #booksky

260

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Just finished writing a bonus short story: What Sam did on Metharios Station. Which can be summed up as: Got laid. Got shot. Got drugged. Got kicked. Cracked a fake safe. Paid an asshole surcharge. Almost apologized. Didn’t. Got laid slightly less than intended. Went home. Very productive trip.

110

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

SID INTERNAL GUIDANCE: If Captain Raine appears calm, assess threat level as high. If Captain Raine smiles, assess threat level as critical. If Captain Raine says “interesting,” evacuate non-essential personnel and reconsider the choices that brought you here. #booksky #amwriting

Infographic for the Strategic Intelligence Division Internal Guidance, repeating the post tet and rating wach as High, Critical, and Extreme.

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

RECOVERED ARCHIVE FRAGMENT: Do not enter the Inbetween without a Navigator. Do not enter the Inbetween with an untested Navigator. Do not enter the Inbetween with Wraith unless she likes you. Actually, if Wraith likes you, you may be in more danger. Further study required. #booksky

160

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

New week, new chaos. Hi, I’m AJ Pryor, and I write space opera about found family, war criminals, political conspiracy, cosmic weirdness, trauma with knives, and characters who should absolutely be supervised. They will not be. Welcome to The Inbetween Archives. #booksky #amwriting

150

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The Inbetween Archives is for readers who like space opera with: ~ found family with knives ~ political conspiracy ~ cosmic weirdness ~ emotionally dangerous loyalty ~ characters using sarcasm as load-bearing architecture ~ the phrase “technically, this isn’t treason” Welcome aboard. #booksky

Sci‑fi book cover: three confident futuristic warriors—centered silver‑haired armored woman with facial scars, flanked by two men—stand before a swirling blue cosmic portal; title "The Inbetween Archives" and tagline "Some Ghosts should stay dead..."

030

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Pick your sci-fi found family role: A) morally questionable strategist B) traumatized pilot with excellent reflexes C) chaos gremlin D) exhausted one holding everyone together E) person who says “bad idea” while doing it anyway I’m probably C pretending to be D. #booksky #writerlife

020

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

My favourite kind of found family is the kind where everyone is damaged, dangerous, and lying about being fine. Not “we complete each other.” More: “I know exactly what you are, and I’m still coming with you.” #booksky #foundfamily

040

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I thought I was writing about war criminals in space. Turns out I was writing about people learning how to be loved after surviving impossible things. Still with spaceships, knives, political treason, ancient cosmic entities, and extremely questionable coping mechanisms, obviously. #booksky

Sci‑fi book cover showing three determined spacefarers in futuristic armor standing before a swirling blue portal, titled The Inbetween Archives with the tagline "Some Ghosts should stay dead..."

020

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I think one of the worst parts of being an indie author with low readership, is feeling one's time is wasted as it's not economically active. I've written almost 20k words this week. But as it's done nothing to bring money in, it feels like I should have been spending the time "more wisely" #booksky

230

AJ Pryor @thatvoidauthor.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Shade would like everyone to know that his cult leadership was purely accidental. Geist would like everyone to know the word “accidental” is doing a lot of legal work there. Wraith would like both of them to shut up because she is trying to fly the ship. #booksky (image is AI, character is not)

060