P.I.V.O.T. Lab Chronicles

Mary and Senator Tad Williams pushed their son, Justin, to go on a date that went horribly wrong. Now, they try to figure out a way to help their son out of a coma. At almost $5,000 a day for ICU expenses, their insurance options are running out. Amber, Nick, and Jacob built a new immersive game system for the future. The only problem is, at $800 a day, no one can afford it. Dr. Dubois wrote a paper about how you might help a person out of a coma, but it was crushed under the might of the medical lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

Mary and Senator Tad Williams will learn what it means to play hard ball. Can they play just as hard? Amber, Nick, and Jacob now have the responsibility that came with their sudden decision to help a kid. Are they up to the task? Justin is acclimating inside the world. Will his need to connect with another person extend to feelings for a fake character? There is more going on here than dirty politics, questionable business ethics, and cutting-edge science that might kill.

With Prima’s help - or, perhaps, despite it - he has gotten to Insea, the capital of the Elven lands. Aided by Tina, who is desperate to help Justin recover from the accident she created, Justin decides to fight in the Tournament of Insea. The one problem? His chief rivals are a set of twins who believe they’re reincarnated gods - and they’ll stop at nothing to make sure they take power. Can Justin win? Will he awaken from his coma?

If you were dying of cancer, would you risk entering a game that saved you from pain, even if you chanced dying early? Dorothy Hunt is not willing to go out with a whimper, but rather a bang. The main problem? Not all of her family will support her decision. This time, she gets to choose a body that isn't pretty, isn't bound by the social customs of her family and generation. "Make me ugly." Unused to video games and fighting cancer, Dorothy Hunt is focused on providing the scientists something they can't acquire without her. Data on an older human who is about to die.

Dorothy spent most of her life doing the right thing. Now, widowed and with a cancer diagnosis, she’s ready to cut loose in the world of PIVOT. After learning magic and defending a caravan from a set of elves with a seriously overblown sense of superiority, Dotty had only one request: In her next game, she wanted to be uglier. So, she’s an orc now, tusks and all. And when she finds out that a group of dragons have been posing as gods to prey on orc villages, she is not going to stand for that...even if it means giving a legendary orc shaman the dressing down of his life.

Dotty’s cancer is progressing, and the world of PIVOT is one of the only things that helps her avoid the pain. With her children’s help, the PIVOT team has made her an avatar that looks just like her younger self, and Dotty is now serving as an envoy to help keep the nations of PIVOT from turning on one another.

A push to regain a little of the relationship with his best friend before kids took him out of the picture. A mountain face that was not forgiving. Benjamin Ainsworth moves from job to job aimlessly, never allowing himself to be tied down. The problem is his friends are getting married, setting up house, and looking to have children. His relationships are growing up into a world he doesn’t want. He has a chance to regain a bit of the fun when his friend agrees to go mountain climbing before the big day.

After his first adventure with tiny, floating balls of spite and chaos - or, “faeries”, as they called themselves - Ben didn’t think the world could get more upside down. He was wrong. Now ensconced in the city of Heffog, he’s still learning how to work his body again…and figuring out that he is in one of the most miserable, corrupt places that ever existed.

As Ben reaches the limits of what PIVOT can help him achieve, he finds himself in a position he would never have expected: mentor.... Guiding the twins in their quest to take down a sorceress, he prepares to rejoin the real world - jobs, apartments, friendships, and all. But where Ben used to run away from all of those things, now he has a new appreciation of what it means to fight for a better world. He’s ready to bring everything he’s learned back to his own life.

A young woman who fears sleeping. An AI on the brink of discovery. A government agent seeking what’s hidden. Who will end up healed, hidden, or found? The final chapter closed. For now....