In
Adventures of the Artificial Woman, Ellery Pierce, an animatronics technician who hasn't done well with women, decides to create the perfect woman for him in a robot. Phyllis, as he calls her, is his perfect wife, programmed to please him in every way. Even this relationship fails, and Phyllis sets off on her own, using the skills programmed into her to finance her own life as a stripper, prostitute, and phone-sex operator. Ellery soon discovers he wants her back, and then convinces her to run for President of the United States, with her frankness and sex appeal attractive to the electorate. Thomas Berger's satirical fantasy has received mixed reviews with the New York Times saying, "
Adventures of the Artificial Woman finds the author of
Best Friends and
Little Big Man in high spirits, and in a high-concept storytelling realm."
