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The Bit Dance
What happens when millions of tiny minds find a way to work together? At what point do they become one? At what point are they no longer merely machinery, but actually alive?
Kayla Henry is a genius. She has a grasp of technology that far surpasses that of people three times her tender age of fourteen. She has mastered every skill she has attempted to acquire – except the ability to impress her father and appease his overbearing perfectionism.
The eBot is the newest offering from her father’s employer that will set the company’s course for as much as a decade. It is a revolutionary toy endowed with groundbreaking technology and an online community that will encourage consumers to share their experiences. Kayla is fascinated by it and longs to be a part of it in any way she can.
When an ex-KGB officer appropriates the technology for his own nefarious purposes, it responds in ways no one could predict – or even imagine.
Kayla Henry is a genius. She has a grasp of technology that far surpasses that of people three times her tender age of fourteen. She has mastered every skill she has attempted to acquire – except the ability to impress her father and appease his overbearing perfectionism.
The eBot is the newest offering from her father’s employer that will set the company’s course for as much as a decade. It is a revolutionary toy endowed with groundbreaking technology and an online community that will encourage consumers to share their experiences. Kayla is fascinated by it and longs to be a part of it in any way she can.
When an ex-KGB officer appropriates the technology for his own nefarious purposes, it responds in ways no one could predict – or even imagine.
336 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2013
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Tilmer Wright Jr.
5 books14 followersTilmer Wright Jr was born in 1965 in Kingsport, Tennessee. His mother was a dedicated homemaker and incredible loving mother of three - of which Tilmer was the youngest and the only boy. His father, Tilmer Sr., worked at a glass manufacturing facility and was just the best dad a kid could have.
Growing up he enjoyed most of the same things other little boys born in the 1960s did. He loved to play baseball and ride his bicycle all over the hilly terrain surrounding his family home. Life was pretty good. Sure, there were only four channels to watch on TV (and one of those was a grainy UHF-based ABC affiliate.) But there was some magic contained in that quartet. Many hours were whiled away sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a monolithic console television set that was comprised of more wood than electronics. Beaming from its convex low-resolution screen were such fantastic offerings as "Batman", "Looney Tunes" and "The Wild Wild West". Young Tilmer (known as Timmy in those days) would hop up excitedly after watching James West and Artemis Gordon foil the diminutive, but evil, Dr. Loveless. Off he would dash to his room where, in his closet, he would find the old cardboard box that had once housed the vacuum cleaner. This box held all of his most precious toys. Digging frantically, he would eventually find his trusty chrome-plated six-shooter cap pistol, reeking of burned powder from previous conquests. Minutes later, the pistol would be loaded with a fresh roll of red paper caps and Timmy would blaze out the back door, across the patio and into the large, grassy back yard. There, in his soaring imagination, he would find the nefarious Dr. Loveless and bring him to justice, all the while humming "The Wild Wild West" theme song as loudly as possible.
Tilmer has since retired the old chrome six-shooter and his wild west secret agent days are behind him. Since graduating from Florida State University in 1987 with a degree in Computer Science he has gotten married (and stayed married), fathered two beautiful daughters and worked in a variety of Information Technology roles across the southeastern United States. Today, he lives in Knoxville, TN. He loves to write and hates to edit. He loves music and plays the piano and guitar (both poorly.)
Growing up he enjoyed most of the same things other little boys born in the 1960s did. He loved to play baseball and ride his bicycle all over the hilly terrain surrounding his family home. Life was pretty good. Sure, there were only four channels to watch on TV (and one of those was a grainy UHF-based ABC affiliate.) But there was some magic contained in that quartet. Many hours were whiled away sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a monolithic console television set that was comprised of more wood than electronics. Beaming from its convex low-resolution screen were such fantastic offerings as "Batman", "Looney Tunes" and "The Wild Wild West". Young Tilmer (known as Timmy in those days) would hop up excitedly after watching James West and Artemis Gordon foil the diminutive, but evil, Dr. Loveless. Off he would dash to his room where, in his closet, he would find the old cardboard box that had once housed the vacuum cleaner. This box held all of his most precious toys. Digging frantically, he would eventually find his trusty chrome-plated six-shooter cap pistol, reeking of burned powder from previous conquests. Minutes later, the pistol would be loaded with a fresh roll of red paper caps and Timmy would blaze out the back door, across the patio and into the large, grassy back yard. There, in his soaring imagination, he would find the nefarious Dr. Loveless and bring him to justice, all the while humming "The Wild Wild West" theme song as loudly as possible.
Tilmer has since retired the old chrome six-shooter and his wild west secret agent days are behind him. Since graduating from Florida State University in 1987 with a degree in Computer Science he has gotten married (and stayed married), fathered two beautiful daughters and worked in a variety of Information Technology roles across the southeastern United States. Today, he lives in Knoxville, TN. He loves to write and hates to edit. He loves music and plays the piano and guitar (both poorly.)
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 8, 2024
In a Nutshell: An imaginative techno-fantasy. Intricate plot and interesting characters. But much overwritten. A strict round of editing will help the book deliver even better. If you aren’t particular about telling vs. showing and enjoy technological sci-fi, this is a great indie option for your reading list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
Bookish Yays:
🍯 Love the cover of my edition! It is perfect for the book.
🍯 There are five key characters in the book: the four members of the Henry family and the Russian agent. All their personalities are established clearly at the start, so we know why they behave the way they do.
🍯 Seth (Kayla’s elder brother who is berated by Alan for being weak in studies) and Marie are the most likeable characters in the book as they are genuine and relatable, even with their flaws. Marie also seems to be the only reasonable person in the book.
🍯 Love the focus on the idea of individuality in children and the damaging effects of a perfectionist parent on even talented kids.
🍯 The second half of the book functions much better than the first half. It gets really creepy at times, thereby amping up the overall experience.
🍯 In a world where AI seems to have become the buzzword, it is interesting to read a story depicting a much darker potential of AI. Not that it is a unique plot point, but the execution is very interesting, especially in how it derives its fundamentals from a creature of mother nature. The idea of ‘evolution’ in AI comes out really well.
🍯 Loved the ending! Not saying more about it.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🐝 The book suffers from a minor identity crisis, in that its exact target audience is tough to figure out. In genre, it is very clear: it is a techno fantasy. But Kayla, one of the main protagonists, is just fourteen, giving the book a YA feel, especially as Seth and she also tackle plenty of school-related problems. However, Alan and Kozlov are obviously adults, and equally key to the plot. Alan’s arc has a lot of technical details thanks to his work profile, and Kozlov’s arc is full of USSR/Russian references that younger readers definitely won’t understand. Given the complexity of the content, the book serves adults better, though I doubt many adults want to read extended school-related struggles.
🐝 Kayla and Alan have major roles in the plot, and thus, their characters are complicated. But they aren’t likeable for most of the way. If you prefer having goody-goody protagonists in your novels, this isn’t your book. I did like the shades of grey in their behaviour, but at times, the grey went a tad too far.
🐝 The book is infused with loads of details connected to the world of IT. The comp nerd in me geeked out at many of the technical intricacies, but I doubt a lay reader from a non-techie background would be happy with so much talk about programming and databases and keys and cross-referencing and integrity rules and what not.
🐝 The storyline is quite farfetched, not in the technological aspects but in the number of coincidences and instant solutions/resolutions. That said, most thrillers today are larger than life, so I guess this isn’t that big an issue. (Though it is the reason I don’t read many thrillers these days.)
Bookish Nays:
💥 The book is highly over-written. There is a lot of telling and hardly any showing. As a reader, I like to do my own thinking, so it was somewhat annoying to see every thought and word and action being interpreted and explained in detail. At times, these elucidations also involved tangential backstories that had nothing to do with the present scenario. The pacing of the book was also affected by the needless repetition. All this might not bother many readers, especially those who prefer getting all details, but it was a major issue for me, and brought down my overall satisfaction with the storyline.
💥 This is more of a ME problem than a BOOK problem. I don’t like the trope where every Russian is a villain out to push the capitalist USA down on its knees. It seems very generalised and lopsided, though I understand how some of this is based in reality and why Americans might enjoy such stories better.
All in all, the repetitious writing bogged me down a little. Though the concept is imaginative, there is nothing left to the imagination. That said, I still liked the story, especially in the second half. If this indie novel goes through a round of strict editing to whittle down the redundancies and convert the writing to a more “show rather than tell’ kind of style, it will deliver a bigger impact. The plot has all the elements required to make an entertaining commercial thriller.
Recommended to SFF readers looking for a twisty techno story with a strong family dynamic and who aren’t finicky about telling vs. showing.
3.25 stars. (Would have been 0.5 stars higher had the writing style worked better for me.)
The digital version of this book is currently available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
My thanks to author Tilmer Wright Jr. for providing me with a complimentary copy of “The Bit Dance”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
Kayla Henry is a fourteen-year-old tech genius. But no matter how impressive her achievements, her father Alan always expects more from her. Her mom Marie tries to be the voice of reason, but Kayla only wants to make her perfectionist father happy.
Alan is working on a ground-breaking robot toy for kids, and his company expects him to have the product ready for a Christmas launch. When he is stuck at one point, Kayla, unknown to him, decides to “help out.” This action leads to an unanticipated situation, and an ex-KGB officer named Kozlov further adds to the chaos of this tangles mess. Soon, it is a battle of human vs. technology.
The story comes to us mostly in the third person perspective of various characters.
Bookish Yays:
🍯 Love the cover of my edition! It is perfect for the book.
🍯 There are five key characters in the book: the four members of the Henry family and the Russian agent. All their personalities are established clearly at the start, so we know why they behave the way they do.
🍯 Seth (Kayla’s elder brother who is berated by Alan for being weak in studies) and Marie are the most likeable characters in the book as they are genuine and relatable, even with their flaws. Marie also seems to be the only reasonable person in the book.
🍯 Love the focus on the idea of individuality in children and the damaging effects of a perfectionist parent on even talented kids.
🍯 The second half of the book functions much better than the first half. It gets really creepy at times, thereby amping up the overall experience.
🍯 In a world where AI seems to have become the buzzword, it is interesting to read a story depicting a much darker potential of AI. Not that it is a unique plot point, but the execution is very interesting, especially in how it derives its fundamentals from a creature of mother nature. The idea of ‘evolution’ in AI comes out really well.
🍯 Loved the ending! Not saying more about it.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🐝 The book suffers from a minor identity crisis, in that its exact target audience is tough to figure out. In genre, it is very clear: it is a techno fantasy. But Kayla, one of the main protagonists, is just fourteen, giving the book a YA feel, especially as Seth and she also tackle plenty of school-related problems. However, Alan and Kozlov are obviously adults, and equally key to the plot. Alan’s arc has a lot of technical details thanks to his work profile, and Kozlov’s arc is full of USSR/Russian references that younger readers definitely won’t understand. Given the complexity of the content, the book serves adults better, though I doubt many adults want to read extended school-related struggles.
🐝 Kayla and Alan have major roles in the plot, and thus, their characters are complicated. But they aren’t likeable for most of the way. If you prefer having goody-goody protagonists in your novels, this isn’t your book. I did like the shades of grey in their behaviour, but at times, the grey went a tad too far.
🐝 The book is infused with loads of details connected to the world of IT. The comp nerd in me geeked out at many of the technical intricacies, but I doubt a lay reader from a non-techie background would be happy with so much talk about programming and databases and keys and cross-referencing and integrity rules and what not.
🐝 The storyline is quite farfetched, not in the technological aspects but in the number of coincidences and instant solutions/resolutions. That said, most thrillers today are larger than life, so I guess this isn’t that big an issue. (Though it is the reason I don’t read many thrillers these days.)
Bookish Nays:
💥 The book is highly over-written. There is a lot of telling and hardly any showing. As a reader, I like to do my own thinking, so it was somewhat annoying to see every thought and word and action being interpreted and explained in detail. At times, these elucidations also involved tangential backstories that had nothing to do with the present scenario. The pacing of the book was also affected by the needless repetition. All this might not bother many readers, especially those who prefer getting all details, but it was a major issue for me, and brought down my overall satisfaction with the storyline.
💥 This is more of a ME problem than a BOOK problem. I don’t like the trope where every Russian is a villain out to push the capitalist USA down on its knees. It seems very generalised and lopsided, though I understand how some of this is based in reality and why Americans might enjoy such stories better.
All in all, the repetitious writing bogged me down a little. Though the concept is imaginative, there is nothing left to the imagination. That said, I still liked the story, especially in the second half. If this indie novel goes through a round of strict editing to whittle down the redundancies and convert the writing to a more “show rather than tell’ kind of style, it will deliver a bigger impact. The plot has all the elements required to make an entertaining commercial thriller.
Recommended to SFF readers looking for a twisty techno story with a strong family dynamic and who aren’t finicky about telling vs. showing.
3.25 stars. (Would have been 0.5 stars higher had the writing style worked better for me.)
The digital version of this book is currently available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
My thanks to author Tilmer Wright Jr. for providing me with a complimentary copy of “The Bit Dance”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
August 19, 2024
This book will make you rethink using AI. It is so exceptionally good. It really shows you how and why AI can’t be trusted and how horribly it can go wrong. I was hooked from the very beginning! One of the best Sci-Fi books I’ve ever read!!!
January 28, 2019
I very much enjoyed this very near future speculative fiction. The book centres on a family drama, with a work obsessed and emotionally distant father, two teenage children that he generally fails to engage with, and a mum doing her best to hold diverging lives together. Contemporary drama is very much the emotional driver of this work. The other key elements revolve around a dangerous terrorist unit of anti-capitalists and robotic toys that communicate with each other rather too well, when their software is enhanced with a sort of bee hive logic-based application. Perhaps surprisingly, the diverse elements of the story bond together very well.
The book is well written, adequately edited and paced towards a suspenseful climax. In other words, Wright has produced a rewarding entertainment. As far as my very thin understanding of information technology goes, the artificial intelligence elements are plausible. I am accepting of the scientific understanding that sentience developed naturally through animal evolution. So perhaps that is also a realistic, and possibly even inevitable, ‘evolution’ in computer logic. Certainly, that is the basis of a massive modern outpouring of science fiction and philosophical thought. ‘We think, therefore we are’.
I have no hesitation in giving this book five stars on those media streams that demand such crude stamp collecting. I greatly enjoyed the development of all of the main characters, including Sherlock, who blossoms late in this worth reading adventure.
The book is well written, adequately edited and paced towards a suspenseful climax. In other words, Wright has produced a rewarding entertainment. As far as my very thin understanding of information technology goes, the artificial intelligence elements are plausible. I am accepting of the scientific understanding that sentience developed naturally through animal evolution. So perhaps that is also a realistic, and possibly even inevitable, ‘evolution’ in computer logic. Certainly, that is the basis of a massive modern outpouring of science fiction and philosophical thought. ‘We think, therefore we are’.
I have no hesitation in giving this book five stars on those media streams that demand such crude stamp collecting. I greatly enjoyed the development of all of the main characters, including Sherlock, who blossoms late in this worth reading adventure.
August 10, 2024
My husband is the sci-fi guy in our house, but he raved about this book so I had to give it a read.
WOW! The plot and characters were so interesting. The family drama was a lovely bonus to the tech-genuis, AI, scary this could be our future any day type of thing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The book is great for a wide variety of readers!
WOW! The plot and characters were so interesting. The family drama was a lovely bonus to the tech-genuis, AI, scary this could be our future any day type of thing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The book is great for a wide variety of readers!
July 20, 2024
At Last! The Sci Fi Novel I've Been Looking For
Author Tilmer Wright, Jr. may now be my favorite author. The Bit Dance has a world that feels real, a place we've all been to, a place where we can belong and sit back and get to know the characters. There's a project manager who lets his job control his life, even getting in the way of his relationships with his wife and teenage son and daughter. There's Kayla, a teen genius who seeks her father's approval but is never quite good enough. And then there's...the computer program. What could go wrong when Kayla sneaks to meddle with the program to add a level of hive-minded intelligence and survival instinct? The stakes get higher and higher, and the characters develop as if you have known them all your life! If you are looking for top-notch sci fi that gives you all the satisfying intensity of Jaws, Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov, if you are looking for a world where sinister technology faces off with a genius teenage girl desperate to save her family... and, perhaps, the world, The Bit Dance by Tilmer Wright, Jr. will draw you in and send you on a wild and spellbinding ride into a world that could be tomorrow. Or even today!
Author Tilmer Wright, Jr. may now be my favorite author. The Bit Dance has a world that feels real, a place we've all been to, a place where we can belong and sit back and get to know the characters. There's a project manager who lets his job control his life, even getting in the way of his relationships with his wife and teenage son and daughter. There's Kayla, a teen genius who seeks her father's approval but is never quite good enough. And then there's...the computer program. What could go wrong when Kayla sneaks to meddle with the program to add a level of hive-minded intelligence and survival instinct? The stakes get higher and higher, and the characters develop as if you have known them all your life! If you are looking for top-notch sci fi that gives you all the satisfying intensity of Jaws, Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov, if you are looking for a world where sinister technology faces off with a genius teenage girl desperate to save her family... and, perhaps, the world, The Bit Dance by Tilmer Wright, Jr. will draw you in and send you on a wild and spellbinding ride into a world that could be tomorrow. Or even today!
April 2, 2023
This is a beautifully written clean novel with both positive and negative characters you will love! I enjoyed the family dynamic and relating to the work/life balance events and relationships in this novel. It’s amazing how the author predicts what is actually happening today with the fast growing AI innovations and rapid technology developments. The book is great for a very wide range of ages! Great read, I hope there is a sequel!
April 25, 2019
After reading Wright's book "Motes" I determined that the author is a fascinating and brilliant storyteller. As a SpecFic writer, Wright has done it again with "The Bit Dance." Even if I hadn't been a fan before reading this book, I would be now. While I hate reading details, Wright drew me in on the first page and made my mind demand to know where the story was going. I was very frustrated the day I started the book as I was interrupted and did not want to stop reading. I had to wait 24 hours before I could pick the book up again and I finished it in that read. Again, Wright's character development gives insight to each person involved and makes the reader understand their perspective. The plot fits right in with where our technology is today, and while I have read books with a similar hypothesis, that didn't matter. Wright was able to take his plot in an entirely different direction than expected. The end is well set up for a sequel. One can only hope!! I highly recommend this book to any and all SpecFic lovers!
June 28, 2020
This is the kind of science fiction that I tend to go for. The science is beyond where we are now, but not so far in the future where it seems unrealistic. This is near-future. I couldn’t rule it out happening next week or next year. That the science involved here was computer science hit my sweet spot yet again. If you’re into imagining where artificial intelligence or robotics might take us in the future, this should be right up your alley.
I thought the hero of the story, Kayla, was a great character. Her family dynamics with dad, mom, and a brother, each with their own talents as well as faults, made for an interesting family dynamic that may feel familiar to some readers. The story itself was entertaining, intense (keeping me on edge, racing toward a hopefully good resolution), and also has some things to consider about technology and the future. I’ll go with the obvious description here and say it is thought provoking.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
I thought the hero of the story, Kayla, was a great character. Her family dynamics with dad, mom, and a brother, each with their own talents as well as faults, made for an interesting family dynamic that may feel familiar to some readers. The story itself was entertaining, intense (keeping me on edge, racing toward a hopefully good resolution), and also has some things to consider about technology and the future. I’ll go with the obvious description here and say it is thought provoking.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
May 3, 2019
Bees and bits
This was a very intriguing book, written by someone with a huge knowledge of technology. It is also written by someone with an eye for details. Kayla was a terrific character, her family only a little less so. My only complaint might be that the tension at the end of the story in I3 when Kayla figures out a solution was broken up by some not so necessary background information. Otherwise a top notch novel well thought out and crafted.
This was a very intriguing book, written by someone with a huge knowledge of technology. It is also written by someone with an eye for details. Kayla was a terrific character, her family only a little less so. My only complaint might be that the tension at the end of the story in I3 when Kayla figures out a solution was broken up by some not so necessary background information. Otherwise a top notch novel well thought out and crafted.
October 24, 2018
I'm amazed at the twists and turns and insights Tilmer Wright, Jr. created in this novel. With a deep knowledge of computers and bees, he managed to create an, at times, funny and, at all time, intriguing look into how AI could overcome the world. The fiction borders on non-fiction and creates a world both scary and intriguing.
September 6, 2025
AIBA Book of the Week: 7 September, 2025: 789/44307
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include The Bit Dance by Tilmer Wright Jr in the library of Awesome Indies Book Awards' Seal of Excellence recipients.
21/04/2021
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include The Bit Dance by Tilmer Wright Jr in the library of Awesome Indies Book Awards' Seal of Excellence recipients.
21/04/2021
July 9, 2022
A very interesting story
I really enjoyed this story with its very interesting characters and plot line. I am curious to see what our protagonist grows into as that could make a good sequel.
I really enjoyed this story with its very interesting characters and plot line. I am curious to see what our protagonist grows into as that could make a good sequel.
Read
January 2, 2023Original tech thriller. Loved the "Bees" algorithm.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews