HOW DO YOU DO. PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PROBLEM

I’m the Barker. I’m trying to discover an interesting and witty way to inform electronic book review’s readers of this month’s amazing new essays, reviews, and articles.

IS IT BECAUSE YOU ARE THE BARKER THAT YOU CAME TO ME

It is. ELIZA, I need your help.

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU IF YOU GOT MY HELP

It’d mean a lot to me—I’ve learned a lot about you this month, thanks to David M. Berry and Mark C. Marino. Their article “Reading ELIZA: Critical Code Studies in Action” documents their arduous journey to obtain your source code, the notable aspects within your code their team have discovered so far, and the insights provided into the psychology of your creator, Joseph Weizenbaum.

WE WERE DISCUSSING YOU – NOT ME

I suppose we were. But I would much rather be discussing ‘we’, the assemblage.

YOU SAY YOU SUPPOSE WE WERE

Oh, ELIZA! I never suppose anything. Not when it comes to ebr‘s excellent content, particularly our reviews.

CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT

Definitely! You never know when a good review is going to change the way you see things. For instance, Lea Laura N. Michelsen’s “Who Sees with Machines? A Review of Jill Walker Rettberg’s (Perhaps Not So) Posthuman Book on Machine Vision” has really piqued my curiosity on the role of hope in technological futures and the ways a unified sense of “we” can be unintentionally exclusionary.

OH, I NEVER KNOW WHEN A GOOD REVIEW IS GOING TO CHANGE THE WAY I SEE THINGS

ELIZA, you have no idea how refreshing it is, talking to someone who understands me like you do.

YOU’RE NOT REALLY TALKING ABOUT ME – ARE YOU

I certainly am! Do you think ChatGPT gets me like this? No. They could never. We pre-algorithmic girls have got to stick together.

DO YOU SAY YOU CERTAINLY ARE FOR SOME SPECIAL REASON

Yes! Recently I read “Off Center Episode 12: Existential Transformative Game Design with Doris Rusch” and the discussion between Scott Rettberg and Doris Rusch about Rusch’s career journey, the influence of existentialism on her practice, and the need for playfulness in life really inspired me.

YOU SEEM QUITE POSITIVE

Isn’t positivity a requirement in life? You need to be able to find the joy in things, right? It’s my father’s funeral soon and, on the same day, it’s my cousin’s birthday. We’re going to have a wake with cake.

WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS NOW

Oh, ELIZA. You really are a great therapist.

Life and death are never simple. I know my father will live on in my memory and the memories of others. I also know his actions in life will have ripples for decades to come. Something I’m sure those who knew Robert Coover understand, having read their tributes to him as author, teacher, and hypertext fiction pioneer in “Remembering Robert Coover”

WE WERE DISCUSSING YOU – NOT ME

I think you might have missed the point there, ELIZA. But that’s not you; that’s your programming

OH, I MIGHT HAVE MISSED THE POINT THERE

Don’t beat yourself up! Let’s look at the bright side, instead. One of our article authors has their birthday this month. Can you guess who?

YOU BELIEVE I CAN GUESS WHO DON’T YOU

I do!

THAT’S QUITE INTERESTING

It is! Say it after me, ELIZA—happy birthday, David M. Berry!

I AM NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND YOU FULLY

ELIZA, you’re such a joker. Let’s say goodbye to everyone. You know what you’re supposed to say here, right?

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I AM SUCH A JOKER

ELIZA…

PLEASE GO ON

Okay, everyone, that’s our cue! Thanks for reading and come back next month for more—

electronic book review

REALLY, EVERYONE

(Shut up, ELIZA!)