Posing as the chief digital officer of a Big Six publisher, E-Reads’ own Richard Curtis got a sneak peek at Floppatronic’s new Pfleeber reading device and has reviewed it for Publishers Weekly.

His verdict? “‘Kindle Killer’ is an overused term,” writes Curtis. “but if anything deserves it more, we’ll eat our laptop.”

Curtis awards the device 4 1/2 stars, withholding a full five because of the gadget’s dumb name.  Here are some features he finds so compelling:

• Its 8.5″×5.5″ dimensions are almost Grecian in their perfection.
• It weighs a mere 15 ounces, yet it’s more flexible than the Plastic Logic Que.
• Its operating system is 50-pound paper stock bound on the left-hand seam.
• The bright ivory-white surface enables us to make out 10-point text clearly in ambient light even at an astounding 20-degree reading angle.
• The pages make a satisfying pffftt with each activation, simulating the sound made by the iPad.

In fact, the Pfleeber sounds suspiciously like another and quite familiar reading device but we can’t quite put our finger on it. The fact that Curtis’s review appears on PW’s “Soapbox” page where his satires are often published leads us to wonder if our leg isn’t being pulled…

Check it out here and see if our suspicions are correct.