If you’ve ever wanted to browse the ‘something a little bit different and unusual’ section of Waterstone’s, but can’t because it doesn’t exist, you’ll probably find the only place it would be likely to do so would be in The Unitary Authority of Ersatz. That is, in a rough translation of regular words, The Independent City of Strange, which is precisely what Hull is, minus the strange bit, sometimes.
This collection of short stories is the debut book from independent author and publisher, Richard Sutherland, who was a student at this very university somewhere between a few and some years ago.
If you have always been a bit wary of short stories and never given them a chance before, they can serve as a much needed break from essays and revision. It’s a wonder why people often disregard them so quickly, being the perfect short break from the mountain of work every university student suffers from.
The short stories you’ll find in The Unitary Authority of Ersatz sit alongside poems of all descriptions and even a short play. Some are filled with characters we can all immediately relate to, such as ‘Sanders, a fella, late 20s and Bednarski, a bloke, late 20s’, and some may take a little getting used to. One such is Equilateral, of the triangle family – ‘a pompous ass intent on starting arguments, then demonstrating how his three standpoints – intellectual, emotional and moral – are in perfect harmony with each other’, (three very pretentious sides according to a co-character), but there is also Sin Cos Tan, the Oriental guest at Maths Manor.
There is one element to this book that cannot be doubted, and that is the amount of creativity and thought that has gone into it along its self-published journey. Aspects like these would normally reside within the inner pages of other books, but with The Unitary Authority of Ersatz even the back cover isn’t an obstacle to imagination with its comical safety reading advice from the author, who also happens to be the illustrator.
Snippets of poems and stories can be found making their way across Facebook, Twitter and ErsatzScribblings.com, but for traditional print here’s one taken from Poem 3: ‘I Hate Comic Sans’:
“You act Alpha Male when followed by the herd,
but remember you’re free with Microsoft Word.
You think people love you but of this I am sure:
they just know that you’re cheap, you font package whore.”
Although The Unitary Authority of Ersatz is a wonderful creation of words, illustrations and imagination, the world that is Ersatz has gone far beyond the boundaries of the book’s covers. Ersatz is now a fully-fledged online authority, keen to talk to all residents of the new-found, bizarre community.
Another community the author is keen to be a part of, however, is Shadow Forest Authors, a charity which asks for a free copy of contributing authors’ books to send to places they are urgently needed, to help combat the literacy crisis in third world countries.
The Unitary Authority of Ersatz by Richard Sutherland can be purchased for £7.99 from Amazon, Waterstone’s bookshops and their online store, and directly from the author if you’re keen on a bit of free postage at http://www.ersatzscribblings.com, which also has a blog, photos, humorous poetry and a webcomic. And who knows, perhaps you’ll be the next person to find that elusive Banana Penguin?
Laura Smith
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