Ersatz Nation by Tim Kenyon
01/09/2002 . Source: Jane Palmer 
Pub: Big Engine. 232 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-903468-07-8. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. Check out website: www.bigengine.co.uk
and www.clockhousepress.com
‘Ersatz Nation’ is a fusion of parallel
universe and 1984. Swapping between alternative realities has
been done many times.
 As
a consequence, using this theme for a novel requires a variation
of compelling readability. Tim Kenyon's book deals with characters
under the thrall of a sinister force called Mother Necessity who
recycles everything - and I mean everything - as fissor, matter
that provides all material needs.
This monstrous force subjugates its inhabitants and kidnaps individuals
from the reality we call home. One of the main characters, Patrick
Dolan, is the principal agent for fulfilling this last unpleasant
requirement so Mother can use these victims to enhance her own understanding
of mortality.
Few people question Her control and those that have, the primes,
if not reconfigured into some useful item, are isolated and left
to fend for themselves. The other principal character is Selmer
Rayburne, the son of a renegade. Denying him promotion because of
this, Mother precipitates a crisis that gives him no option but
to confront the truth about Her existence.
At first, ‘Ersatz Nation’ can be heavy going without any irony
or humour to lighten the dire situations of the two principal characters.
When their story lines do gel, quite literally, together as they
desperately jump through the dangerous hoops constructed by Mother
Necessity and new layers are added, the plot becomes more compelling.
Even so, in fiction of any description, suffering needs punctuating
with a little levity if only to help heighten its impact. Mother
Necessity is the ultimate representation of a problematic mother
fixation, more so for the male reader who can comprehend this emotional
conundrum.
A woman might consider Her as a misguided Mother Earth with an
uncomfortable amount of technology at her probing fingertips. And
my goodness, how She can probe: from everyone's innermost thoughts
to the act of copulation. Nothing is sacred. No wonder Dolan and
Selmer are in awe of Her. Who is Mother Necessity?
At first there is an uncanny resonance with Diana Rigg's murderer
in the TV serial, ‘Mother Love’. It transpires that She is nothing
more than a piece of technology gone mad, and one created by a male
genius.
No female conundrum here - a bit disappointing in a way. Mother
Necessity's program was installed as a consequence of Society's
overwhelming greed. This scenario is probably more plausible from
an insular American perspective than anywhere else that has done
more than flirt with socialism.
The KI embedded in the back of the neck and through which She controls
and downloads thoughts has little scientific plausibility. Even
less so the now ubiquitous scorpion-like creature beloved of TV
SF, in this instance used to uninstall the KI.
Nevertheless, within the confines of the story the pseudo-science
and the parallel realities do work. In an attempt to enhance credibility,
the author is prone to profound statements that can border on the
absurd.
The story itself is plausible enough in its own context. Gravitas
and superfluous explanation only inhibit the flow of the plot. Without
many of these it would have become more fluid without necessarily
being pitched into the realms of fantasy. ‘Ersatz Nation’ is not
easy to engage with at first, but it is worth persevering until
the loose ends are brought together to create their own momentum.
Tim Kenyon has made a worthwhile contribution to the welter of
parallel universe scenarios, all the more so because it is a first
novel.
Jane Palmer
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