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He Who Shall Remain Shameless
Salvation lies in the Internet.
Will the ghosts of the long-dead—and newly passed—take their place on social media, allowing them to remain in contact with the world? Can these ghosts be convinced to do the unthinkable?
One man searches the world, driven by a compulsion: to convince the dead to release their secrets.
Clouding his way: The Meritocrat, an arrogant otherworldly being whose goal is to reign supreme as the sole determiner of who is remembered and who is forgotten, who dies only once and who dies a second and final, fatal time.
Will the Meritocrat triumph, or will our hero find a way to bring the lost souls back from the dead using the Internet?
Filled with fictional interactions involving real historic characters (among them Harriet Quimby, Christine Chubbuck, Leo Ryan and Arthur Conley), He Who Shall Remain Shameless is a paranormal adventure novel that combines ghost hunting, drama and comedy to reclaim the lost tales of the dead.
Will the ghosts of the long-dead—and newly passed—take their place on social media, allowing them to remain in contact with the world? Can these ghosts be convinced to do the unthinkable?
One man searches the world, driven by a compulsion: to convince the dead to release their secrets.
Clouding his way: The Meritocrat, an arrogant otherworldly being whose goal is to reign supreme as the sole determiner of who is remembered and who is forgotten, who dies only once and who dies a second and final, fatal time.
Will the Meritocrat triumph, or will our hero find a way to bring the lost souls back from the dead using the Internet?
Filled with fictional interactions involving real historic characters (among them Harriet Quimby, Christine Chubbuck, Leo Ryan and Arthur Conley), He Who Shall Remain Shameless is a paranormal adventure novel that combines ghost hunting, drama and comedy to reclaim the lost tales of the dead.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 15, 2011
4 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
David Ewald
5 books5 followersDavid Ewald is the author of the novels The Thief of THAT, The Book of Stan and He Who Shall Remain Shameless, as well as the collection The Fallible: Stories. He is a graduate of the College of Creative Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara and the MFA creative writing program at the University of Notre Dame. He writes, teaches and parents in California's Central Valley.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 12, 2024
I received a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only. I’m a big fan of supernatural mysteries but not of this particular book. At first I thought that the main character, David Ewald (I know, a bit conceited of the author) was seeking out almost famous deaths in order to solve the mystery surrounding them. Had that been the case, I would have enjoyed the book. Instead, he’s trying to expand their presence on social media, so they can live on via the internet. That includes uploading graphic videos of their death. I personally hate how self-centred and self-serving social media is. I really tried to finish reading the book and I couldn’t. This book will definitely appeal to influencers and social media mavens. If you feel the same way that I do about unnecessary self promotion, then you’ll want to take a hard pass on this book.
September 4, 2022
Shameless, no? As one reviewer (Goodbadbizarre) wrote:
"This has to be, hands down, one of the best concepts we’ve ever seen. Part ghost story, part philosophical fable, part obscure history lesson, part action flick, it combines the best of all worlds.
"Other stories and authors have explored the idea of an inter-relationship between ghosts and memory. The idea is, 'as long as a person is remembered, so does his ghost last on Earth,' with the correlating idea that 'when a person is forgotten, his ghost also vanishes.' It’s an obscure theme but it does appear in various places and various times, from modern fiction all the way back to mythologies the world over. It’s an interesting concept, and one that this book subtly plays with. This book functions on the idea of preserving the human life beyond death—a 'ghost' or 'echo,' if you will—through the force of the internet. It’s an 'old meets new' story.
"The protagonist’s goal throughout the story is therefore to preserve as many people’s memories as possible. He does this by uploading information about them on the internet. He particularly targets saving people who are 'almost famous,' people who would be in the history books if it were not for the streamlining of information (for example, his first target was the first woman aviatrix, Harriet Quimby, who despite her accomplishment is not present in any history book we’ve ever read). Once online, many people can see and access the information, which in turn leads to preserving the person’s memory in humanity’s collective consciousness. There’s also implications that the ghosts themselves can somehow interact online, as if even a dead person can run a blog or have a social networking page, and thus through interacting continue existing.
"In opposition to Our Hero, the Meritocrat approves of the streamlining of history: there’s only so many hours in the day and so much space to be dedicated to one historical event, so the Meritocrat’s line of thinking is that naturally some people 'deserve' to be forgotten so that this can free up space for important people to be remembered. Only those who are 'meritorious' will last forever. As a character, the Meritocrat has mysterious abilities, which he uses to possess the other ghosts and to oppose Our Hero’s mission...
"If you’re like us, you enjoy the good old-fashioned ghost story. This book is rife with them. Every chapter is named after the ghost that the protagonist is seeking within that chapter, and each time he has a mission to accomplish in order to save the ghost. Plus, ghosts and the internet combined? Yes, please.
"As you might expect, many of these ghost stories feature people who have died not-so-nice deaths, and as a result there is a bit of creepiness and scary happenings whenever they are encountered. This is all good fun.
"Even awesomer? A lot of these stories feature real people. Yes, you read that correctly. You can look up these people’s lives on Google. This adds a fun layer of realism to the book.
"This author dances a bit around the fourth wall in this book. How? Well, he has his own characters mention him! His main character, the protagonist, happens to share the same name as the author, David Michael Ewald. This is originally depicted as a coincidence. Other characters bring up this fact, specifically mentioning that there is an author named 'David Michael Ewald from Denver.' Now, we’ve seen other authors pull this trick (naming their main character after themselves, even though they are not the same person), so this isn’t unique, but it’s still rare enough that it’s notable and therefore deserves praise, at least somewhat, for the way that it’s handled.
"There is also an implication that the connection between author-DME and character-DME that goes deeper than just their name. Several times, characters bring up the tale of Narcissus, which is a Greek myth of a handsome man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool and drowned in it. The association of this myth with character-DME seems to imply that he has a closer relationship to author-DME than is being explicitly stated. Maybe he is a mirror image? If so, maybe he is somehow 'drowning' in himself?
"This was an intriguing diversion, and...the anticipation was exciting."
"This has to be, hands down, one of the best concepts we’ve ever seen. Part ghost story, part philosophical fable, part obscure history lesson, part action flick, it combines the best of all worlds.
"Other stories and authors have explored the idea of an inter-relationship between ghosts and memory. The idea is, 'as long as a person is remembered, so does his ghost last on Earth,' with the correlating idea that 'when a person is forgotten, his ghost also vanishes.' It’s an obscure theme but it does appear in various places and various times, from modern fiction all the way back to mythologies the world over. It’s an interesting concept, and one that this book subtly plays with. This book functions on the idea of preserving the human life beyond death—a 'ghost' or 'echo,' if you will—through the force of the internet. It’s an 'old meets new' story.
"The protagonist’s goal throughout the story is therefore to preserve as many people’s memories as possible. He does this by uploading information about them on the internet. He particularly targets saving people who are 'almost famous,' people who would be in the history books if it were not for the streamlining of information (for example, his first target was the first woman aviatrix, Harriet Quimby, who despite her accomplishment is not present in any history book we’ve ever read). Once online, many people can see and access the information, which in turn leads to preserving the person’s memory in humanity’s collective consciousness. There’s also implications that the ghosts themselves can somehow interact online, as if even a dead person can run a blog or have a social networking page, and thus through interacting continue existing.
"In opposition to Our Hero, the Meritocrat approves of the streamlining of history: there’s only so many hours in the day and so much space to be dedicated to one historical event, so the Meritocrat’s line of thinking is that naturally some people 'deserve' to be forgotten so that this can free up space for important people to be remembered. Only those who are 'meritorious' will last forever. As a character, the Meritocrat has mysterious abilities, which he uses to possess the other ghosts and to oppose Our Hero’s mission...
"If you’re like us, you enjoy the good old-fashioned ghost story. This book is rife with them. Every chapter is named after the ghost that the protagonist is seeking within that chapter, and each time he has a mission to accomplish in order to save the ghost. Plus, ghosts and the internet combined? Yes, please.
"As you might expect, many of these ghost stories feature people who have died not-so-nice deaths, and as a result there is a bit of creepiness and scary happenings whenever they are encountered. This is all good fun.
"Even awesomer? A lot of these stories feature real people. Yes, you read that correctly. You can look up these people’s lives on Google. This adds a fun layer of realism to the book.
"This author dances a bit around the fourth wall in this book. How? Well, he has his own characters mention him! His main character, the protagonist, happens to share the same name as the author, David Michael Ewald. This is originally depicted as a coincidence. Other characters bring up this fact, specifically mentioning that there is an author named 'David Michael Ewald from Denver.' Now, we’ve seen other authors pull this trick (naming their main character after themselves, even though they are not the same person), so this isn’t unique, but it’s still rare enough that it’s notable and therefore deserves praise, at least somewhat, for the way that it’s handled.
"There is also an implication that the connection between author-DME and character-DME that goes deeper than just their name. Several times, characters bring up the tale of Narcissus, which is a Greek myth of a handsome man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool and drowned in it. The association of this myth with character-DME seems to imply that he has a closer relationship to author-DME than is being explicitly stated. Maybe he is a mirror image? If so, maybe he is somehow 'drowning' in himself?
"This was an intriguing diversion, and...the anticipation was exciting."
December 28, 2011
In He Who Shall Remain Shameless, the protagonist roams the world with his electronic companion on a mission to rescue ghosts from obscurity (personified by the Meritocrat). Most of these are no ordinary ghosts, but rather those who enjoyed some celebrity or notoriety in life and have become largely forgotten in death. Our protagonist, who shares the same name as the author of this book but definitely isn't him (and that's explained in the book), believes that the internet can keep the memory of people alive forever. All he needs to do is convince them to embrace it.
Sometimes he succeeds. Sometimes he doesn't.
That kind of describes Ewald's story too. Each chapter is about a ghost the protagonist encounters and some were better than others. In some chapters, Ewald successfully builds suspense; particularly with those who died a violent death. These are his better chapters. Other chapters fall short when Ewald abandons suspense in favor of a satirical approach, as when the protagonist encounters King Aegeus of Greek legend. It's as if Ewald isn't certain what type of novel he's trying to write.
Ewald deserves credit for his research. As each ghost was introduced, I couldn't help but see what I could learn of them from a couple of quick searches (I discovered Mr. Ewald's fingerprints on multiple occasions). While I knew of a couple of these figures, most of them were unknown to me. Ewald deftly collects fragments and scraps of these lost souls and builds believable characters out of them. Again, those in the suspenseful chapters proved to be the most memorable.
The strength of the protagonist varies too. His cause is noble, but his various methods waver on their propriety. At times, he seems genuinely concerned about the dead and consoles them as they wrestle with their fate. Other times, he resorts to trickery or mockery to boost his chances of success (the end justifies the means). The latter behavior casts a shadow over the former. Perhaps if there had been more transition, the shifts in the protagonist's behavior would've been easier to understand.
Despite these quibbles, I found He Who Shall Remain Shameless to be an entertaining read. Ewald is at his best when he plays the suspense card. His historical ghosts are well researched and have believable personalities. But the story's strongest element is its exploration of death and obscurity. As we ponder his assertion that the Internet can (and should) be used to remember everyone, celebrity and average person alike, he reminds us that we're mortal. And death is a lesson we should all remember as we conduct our lives.
Sometimes he succeeds. Sometimes he doesn't.
That kind of describes Ewald's story too. Each chapter is about a ghost the protagonist encounters and some were better than others. In some chapters, Ewald successfully builds suspense; particularly with those who died a violent death. These are his better chapters. Other chapters fall short when Ewald abandons suspense in favor of a satirical approach, as when the protagonist encounters King Aegeus of Greek legend. It's as if Ewald isn't certain what type of novel he's trying to write.
Ewald deserves credit for his research. As each ghost was introduced, I couldn't help but see what I could learn of them from a couple of quick searches (I discovered Mr. Ewald's fingerprints on multiple occasions). While I knew of a couple of these figures, most of them were unknown to me. Ewald deftly collects fragments and scraps of these lost souls and builds believable characters out of them. Again, those in the suspenseful chapters proved to be the most memorable.
The strength of the protagonist varies too. His cause is noble, but his various methods waver on their propriety. At times, he seems genuinely concerned about the dead and consoles them as they wrestle with their fate. Other times, he resorts to trickery or mockery to boost his chances of success (the end justifies the means). The latter behavior casts a shadow over the former. Perhaps if there had been more transition, the shifts in the protagonist's behavior would've been easier to understand.
Despite these quibbles, I found He Who Shall Remain Shameless to be an entertaining read. Ewald is at his best when he plays the suspense card. His historical ghosts are well researched and have believable personalities. But the story's strongest element is its exploration of death and obscurity. As we ponder his assertion that the Internet can (and should) be used to remember everyone, celebrity and average person alike, he reminds us that we're mortal. And death is a lesson we should all remember as we conduct our lives.
July 24, 2012
Synopsis - Written in the first person, He Who Shall Remain Shameless follows our hero through a collection of related short stories, tracking down (at the behest of the internet) ghosts of those who should be better remembered. Each encounter leads him into greater conflict with the shadowy Meritocrat, and relationships which may or may not be to his advantage.
One of the perils of reading any book is that the writing will be awful. The characters poorly-defined, the dialogue painful to read, the situations lacking credibility. There are plenty of books out there which are a chore and a challenge to read, and even more challenging to find something positive to write about.
On the other side, one of the greatest rewards one can find is a hidden jewel. Something which is delightful to read, which one can get lost in. No ill-judged moments which jar the reader out of the story. Dialogue which flows smoothly. Characters which the reader can identify and invest it. Everything just works, and the only thing which is frustrating or upsetting is to see that no one is aware of it.
He Who Shall Remain Shamless is, without question, the latter. It is a wonderful piece. From a technical point of view, the writing is smooth and easy, and reads delightfully. The characters are all well written, easily identifiable, etc. The dialogue flows. Everything is a charm.
On the surface, the story of the obsessed hero, driven to bring recognition to the ghosts of those he believes really should have it works well. Dipping a little beneath the surface, subtly done, the author works in obsessions and madness, delusion and tragedy. Looking at memory and value, and how we choose to be seen/how others see us. It is wonderfully well written, with a sense of whimsy throughout.
There are some lovely moments of sly humour (particularly with a key name). The history of characters is well-researched. Everything works, and works well.
Is it a ghost story? A mystery? Suspense, horror, comedy, tragedy? A little of everything, perhaps. I try not to draw comparisons to other works in these pages, but the one which sprang most readily to my mind was Haruki Murikami. And it's a favourable comparison.
As ever, I try to find something to balance the positive in each review, but in this event I'm genuinely stuck. The best I can come up with is that I'm not too keen on the cover. Petty, I know. Ewald has produced an absolute gem of a book, and I genuinely cannot wait for his next work.
One of the perils of reading any book is that the writing will be awful. The characters poorly-defined, the dialogue painful to read, the situations lacking credibility. There are plenty of books out there which are a chore and a challenge to read, and even more challenging to find something positive to write about.
On the other side, one of the greatest rewards one can find is a hidden jewel. Something which is delightful to read, which one can get lost in. No ill-judged moments which jar the reader out of the story. Dialogue which flows smoothly. Characters which the reader can identify and invest it. Everything just works, and the only thing which is frustrating or upsetting is to see that no one is aware of it.
He Who Shall Remain Shamless is, without question, the latter. It is a wonderful piece. From a technical point of view, the writing is smooth and easy, and reads delightfully. The characters are all well written, easily identifiable, etc. The dialogue flows. Everything is a charm.
On the surface, the story of the obsessed hero, driven to bring recognition to the ghosts of those he believes really should have it works well. Dipping a little beneath the surface, subtly done, the author works in obsessions and madness, delusion and tragedy. Looking at memory and value, and how we choose to be seen/how others see us. It is wonderfully well written, with a sense of whimsy throughout.
There are some lovely moments of sly humour (particularly with a key name). The history of characters is well-researched. Everything works, and works well.
Is it a ghost story? A mystery? Suspense, horror, comedy, tragedy? A little of everything, perhaps. I try not to draw comparisons to other works in these pages, but the one which sprang most readily to my mind was Haruki Murikami. And it's a favourable comparison.
As ever, I try to find something to balance the positive in each review, but in this event I'm genuinely stuck. The best I can come up with is that I'm not too keen on the cover. Petty, I know. Ewald has produced an absolute gem of a book, and I genuinely cannot wait for his next work.
June 3, 2013
He Who Shall Remain Shameless is an adventure that is absurd, yet fascinating. Ewald's narrator is obsessed with finding the almost-famous and expanding their online presence. The twist? Most, if not all of these people are dead. Watch and learn as the narrator interviews the ghost of Harriet Quimby, the first female airplane pilot, and Linda Gary a voice-over actress for the cartoon She-Ra, and others, as he attempts to steer them towards what he believes is their salvation online. With the help of his trusty laptop and the talking/self-aware smartphone "Ishy", Ewald's narrator travels the world, drawn by the ghosts of the could-have-been-famous, as his nemesis, the strange and mysterious Meritocrat, attempts to stop him around ever corner.
As bizarre as this world was, I found myself enjoying the collection of stories more and more as I read deeper and deeper. Once you understand what the heck is going on, it becomes absorbing. The best part is, all of the ghosts in Ewald's world are real characters that you can look up and read about. Who knows, maybe their online presence is thanks to the narrator and Ishy.
My only complaint was, I found the conclusion to be very unsatisfying and confusing (and not in the good confusing way). I think the author took the easy way out, and thus the end doesn't quite resonant with the rest of the work. But that didn't really matter, as each vignette stood alone very well, so the conclusion wasn't all that important.
I would recommend this to fans of absurdest literature as well as up-market fiction readers. It was quite fun!
As bizarre as this world was, I found myself enjoying the collection of stories more and more as I read deeper and deeper. Once you understand what the heck is going on, it becomes absorbing. The best part is, all of the ghosts in Ewald's world are real characters that you can look up and read about. Who knows, maybe their online presence is thanks to the narrator and Ishy.
My only complaint was, I found the conclusion to be very unsatisfying and confusing (and not in the good confusing way). I think the author took the easy way out, and thus the end doesn't quite resonant with the rest of the work. But that didn't really matter, as each vignette stood alone very well, so the conclusion wasn't all that important.
I would recommend this to fans of absurdest literature as well as up-market fiction readers. It was quite fun!
April 12, 2023
This novel-in-stories explores themes of death and whether, in the age of the Internet, anyone is ever truly forgotten. The protagonist meets several spirits of people who have not remained famous in death, while battling The Meritocrat, an otherworldly being who aims to obscure the lives of these same people.
The most sparkling moments of this book come when we see the protagonist’s human connection with the characters. The stories “Harriet” and “Alice” are highlights because the characters are touching and the protagonist shares a fleeting moment with them, making the reader realize what extraordinary and short lives they led. Harriet was an early female pilot who is not well-known; Alice is the first female flight attendant killed in a plane crash. In these stories, the reader catches a glimpse of what could have been, and the characters are bright and real, yet we realize their time has already passed.
The subplot involves a final showdown with the Meritocrat that is nothing less than Harry Potter vs. Voldemort-worthy. This book will appeal to those who are curious about less-than-historical figures, fans of paranormal and fantasy themes, and readers who enjoy a character-driven plot. These stories also make the reader question his/her own legacy and beg the question, "Will I be remembered, and why?"
The most sparkling moments of this book come when we see the protagonist’s human connection with the characters. The stories “Harriet” and “Alice” are highlights because the characters are touching and the protagonist shares a fleeting moment with them, making the reader realize what extraordinary and short lives they led. Harriet was an early female pilot who is not well-known; Alice is the first female flight attendant killed in a plane crash. In these stories, the reader catches a glimpse of what could have been, and the characters are bright and real, yet we realize their time has already passed.
The subplot involves a final showdown with the Meritocrat that is nothing less than Harry Potter vs. Voldemort-worthy. This book will appeal to those who are curious about less-than-historical figures, fans of paranormal and fantasy themes, and readers who enjoy a character-driven plot. These stories also make the reader question his/her own legacy and beg the question, "Will I be remembered, and why?"
December 18, 2013
How could this tale fail to fascinate? The protagonist is David Ewald - not the author, but a fictional character with the same name as the author - and he's on a mission to protect some of history's noteworthy, yet relatively obscure, from being erased from memory forever. Ewald is, in a very literal sense, accompanied by the Internet as a companion. This is fresh, unexpected writing, with a little bit of everything: an action-adventure tale, a paranormal mystery, occasional flashes of romance, and ultimately a message that makes the reader question the very meaning of existence. It's a dark, heavy novel that never feels too heavy. Lovers of cerebral metafiction will delight in it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews