Hello there. You’ve reached Macromere Press, publisher of David Ewald’s novel in stories He Who Shall Remain Shameless, available now as an e-book through a number of outlets, including Amazon. Click on the Books tab in the black bar above to be taken to more information and links.
A print edition of He Who Shall Remain Shameless may become available in the near future. It may be the far future. It may not happen. In the meantime, there is the e-edition for your reading pleasure.
Thanks for stopping by. We don’t post here very often, and we may not post here again for a long time. But click around, scroll and see what we’ve already posted. You’ll find interviews with David Ewald regarding He Who Shall Remain Shameless, musical accompaniments to historical events, and other odds and ends.
We wish you well.
Internet to be world’s 5th biggest economy by 2016
According to a recent report from the Boston Consulting Group, if the internet was a country, in the next four years it would have a larger economy than all countries but the U.S., China, Japan and India.
Read more of the group’s findings about internet use and online spending on the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.
(via theatlantic)
“CORPORATION, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.” — The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce, 1911
Technoccult: The Rise of the Hactivist -
From SiliconAngle:
Hacktivism is the result of mashing up the words hack and activism and was coined in 1998 by Omega, a member of the Cult of the Dead Crow hacker crew. By definition, hacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends or…
LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS: Barney Rosset, 1922-2012 -
Barney Rosset, one of the most significant publishers of the 20th century, editor of Grove Press and The Evergreen Review, who fought censorship in famous legal battles over the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer, is dead at 89. Rosset introduced American readers to…
(Source: lareviewofbooks)
Then came old February, sitting
In an old wagon, for he could not ride,
Drawn of two fishes for the season fitting,
Which through the flood before did softly slide
And swim away; yet had he by his side
His plough and harness fit to till the ground,
And tools to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hasting pride did make them burgeon wide.
— Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)
“Sir: In the Daily Mail report of the inquest on the sad death of the lady who was drowned in the Hampstead Heath pond, one of the witnesses gave as a reason why he did not enter the water that he was hot. May I point out that it is quite a mistake to think you should not enter the water when warm; as a matter of fact, the opposite is the truth.” —
Alfred Rowley
Honorary Secretary of the Serpentine Swimming Club
A letter to the editor in the Daily Mail of London, January 21, 1907
Then came old January, wrapped well
In many weeds to keep the cold away;
Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell,
And blowe his nayles to warm them if he may;
For they were numbed with holding all the day
An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood,
And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray;
Upon an huge great Earth-pot Steane he stood,
From whose wide mouth there flowed forth the Romane flood.
— Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)
Macromere: And then we came to the end.
David: Of another dull and lurid year.
M: That may be true, but we meant the end of He Who Shall Remain Shameless, specifically the final episode in the novel, “Katherine”, which takes place on New Year’s Eve and continues to New Year’s Day.
D: The continuation to New Year’s Day is debatable, but I thought an end-of-year conclusion would be fitting. I really did think while drafting this book of going past December 31st or January 1st and having David continue to pursue spirits whose deathiversaries fell in January, February, March, and so on until he came full circle to late June. David could have done an entire year of missions, but ultimately I felt it was wise to quit while I was ahead. As a writer I didn’t want to overplay my hand with this one. I believe HWSRS ends when and where it should.
M: Anything you’d like to say about the ending?
D: I had to dig deep to write this last story—and I don’t mean research. Throughout the novel David encounters spirits who can be found on the internet and those who can’t. To me it’s fitting that the final spirit is very much in the latter vein, and that through her we find the most out about David we’re probably ever going to know.
M: You said ‘probably’. Does that mean….
D: That’s really it for David Michael Ewald and He Who Shall Remain Shameless. This book isn’t the first in a series; it’s a one-and-done novel in linked stories. I have no plans to write a sequel.
M: We are looking into making He Who Shall Remain Shameless available in print sometime in 2012….
D: I appreciate that. I know there’s the rise of ereading—I just got a Kindle myself—but plenty of people prefer to hold the physical book, turn the pages, all that. Ereading and traditional reading should be able to coexist, and I’m happy plans are underway to put out a print edition of He Who Shall Remain Shameless, for all those who dislike reading a book on a screen.
M: We’ll update our fans here, of course. In the meantime, Happy New Year, David, and Happy New Year to everyone reading this post. We hope 2012 proves to be joyous and prosperous for you all.
Macromere: Merry Christmas.
David: Merry Christmas. We’re okay saying that?
M: After reading “Radu”, we’d say we are.
D: It does take place on Christmas Day….
M: And this—the thirteenth and penultimate episode in He Who Shall Remain Shameless—has some religious overtones, we feel. There is, for example, that arresting line the Meritocrat has: “If you know God, don’t go outside.” Care to illuminate at all?
D: I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help in the way of explaining either “Radu” or “Katherine” [the novel’s final episode]. I’ve never been one to reveal a lot of insight into my work. I’ve always been more of the “let the reader read into and take from it what they will” mindset. I am coming around to the fact that I’m going to have to explain more for a lot of situations, but I hope it’s okay if this situation is one of those where very little is explained.
M: That’s fine with us. We appreciate ambiguity—and “Radu” has plenty of that.
D: Things do come to a head here, but yeah, I’d say there’s still plenty left in the shadows.
M: We get a bit more about the conflict between Ishmael and the Meritocrat that goes way back, and there’s insinuation that David’s parents’ demise may not be what it’s seemed for the previous twelve episodes….
D: That and the main themes driving the novel—all that I was able to draw out through the action and the dialog, but still, the reader’s going to have to piece the big picture together ultimately.
M: Fair enough.
D: I really do feel a lot of HWSRS is best left open to interpretation. But I will say I spent quite a bit of time with “Radu” to get it right. I’d initially intended to have this one feature the spirit of the former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, or Ceausescu’s son, or someone closely connected to the regime of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and that was going to be the ultimate confrontation, with that particular ghost. But midway through writing “Radu” I knew this was it. I knew Radu was not a person but a thing, and that the featured spirit was the Meritocrat, and I knew the ultimate confrontation between David, Ishmael and the Meritocrat was going to take place in this episode, on Christmas Day.
M: So you admit the Meritocrat is a ghost.
D: He’s a supernatural being. I wouldn’t say ghost. Ghost is too easy for what the Meritocrat is….He’s an idea.
M: An idea.
D: More than anything, he’s a movement, a force of the future, a compulsion, and those few who are aware of him and what he’s doing—what he’s making countries, nations, legions of people, entire generations do to the less fortunate—are the only ones who have any hope of stopping him.
M: Stopping the meritocracy.
D: Exactly.
M: Do you think that’s possible?
D: Stopping the meritocracy? I think the ending to “Radu” answers that question.
M: “Radu” really does end with a bang, doesn’t it?
D: There’s some whimpering from David about midway through, but other than that yes, I’d say it ends with a bang.
M: How do you feel about Christ figures in literature?
D: Um….
M: Just asking. After all, the Meritocrat makes the “If you know God…” comment, there’s the shape of the torture table in “Radu”, the fact that the thirteenth episode takes place on Christmas Day, and the title of the book itself. He Who Shall Remain Shameless—a play on He Who Shall Remain Nameless, right?
D: Again, I’m going to plead no comment on this one, and say it’s time for me to open presents with my family.
M: It’s time for us too. Thanks, David, for taking the time here with us.
D: Thanks for giving me these opportunities. They’re very much appreciated.
Macromere: We’re just about done with these interviews illuminating He Who Shall Remain Shameless, aren’t we?
David: That we are. We’ve almost run out of spirits.
M: So “Kordula”, the twelfth episode in HWSRS, starts off with the sentence “I was hiding out somewhere in the Czech Republic”. We take it you spent time in the Czech Republic…
D: I did. Winters were just as cold as what’s described in “Kordula”. And there is a Lake Prigl in Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic, where the story takes place. Much of what David sees I also saw to an extent.
M: You’re a believer in writing from experience.
D: I believe you have to. Even if you’re writing strictly genre fiction, pure sci-fi or fantasy, I think for the work to succeed the writer has to have at least some of her- or himself wrapped up in it. The personalization may be well-masked, but it’s gotta be there for the work to resonate.
M: Tell us about the title character.
D: By this time in the narrative David has encountered all sorts of ghosts, from the somewhat well-known like Harriet Quimby and Leo Ryan and Christine Chubbuck to the lesser known like Christopher Coe and Linda Gary, and finally to the very little known like Alice Scribner and the infant David Michael Ewald from Gladwin, Michigan. Kordula falls into that last category, the category of those who have pretty much nothing going for them on the Internet. Kordula in fact may be the lowest-ranked of them all, as she has not even a sentence about her on the Internet. She’s representative of the spirits who are most in danger from the Meritocrat’s decisions—those spirits who are most susceptible to being erased, forgotten.
M: We find it interesting that Kordula does not want to be remembered.
D: She really doesn’t. She rejects the nature and purpose of David’s missions. And she puts our hero and narrator in grave danger.
M: The stakes are certainly high in this one.
D: The stakes are high in all the episodes, really, but in “Kordula” David has his sights set on the Meritocrat, and that ultimate confrontation is right around the corner….
M: If the Czech’s Saint Mikulos were to visit you today with an angel on one side and a devil on the other, which would side with you, the angel or the devil?
D: Let’s wait until we get to the conclusion of He Who Shall Remain Shameless before I answer that one.
Macromere: Like King Aegeus (“Aegeus”, the sixth story), Arthur Conley, the title character of the eleventh episode in He Who Shall Remain Shameless, is something of an anomaly. David even says at one point that this singer who made his mark with his one hit “Sweet Soul Music” in the late ’60s is “certainly the most well-off spirit” he’s encountered.
David: Very true. Aegeus is different from the other spirits in the novel because he comes from such an ancient, faraway time, and so nothing David brings to him is familiar. Mr. Conley is different in a way as well because of how recently he died….”well-off” in the novel’s sense means Arthur is not only materially wealthy but mentally wealthy as well. He is, in fact, the only spirit in HWSRS who already has an idea of what the Internet is capable of. He has an advantage because he’s aware.
M: It seems, really, that David is using Arthur Conley here….
D: Definitely. The story itself follows “Leo” in the sense of that narrative arc continuing to sharpen. In David’s mind even Arthur Conley, despite his popular song and his substantial presence on the Internet, could use some help in the social networking department…but the main point of David’s adventure in the Netherlands is to turn the tables on the Meritocrat, who actually supports Mr. Conley.
M: We found that interesting—how the Meritocrat seems to not want to erase the memory of Arthur Conley.
D: Mr. Conley is one who could ultimately survive, but David’s plan involves a twisting of that memory that the Meritocrat cannot tolerate, and so the trap is set.
M: How much research went into “Arthur”?
D: A fair amount. I’ve always liked “Sweet Soul Music”, and over time I began to wonder about the singer. Who had sung this song? I would hear it playing overhead in stores, or on oldies radio, and I eventually decided to look up the artist. I was surprised to find that Arthur Conley had a fascinating and somewhat sad history I felt was worth incorporating into He Who Shall Remain Shameless.
M: “Arthur” currently is the only audio file available on the Audio page of your website….
D: Yes. There used to be plenty of others, pretty much the entire novel really, but as changes were made to the nearly published manuscript I decided to take most of them down—all except for “Arthur”. For anyone who’d like to listen to Matt Gunnison’s great reading of this story, click here. The audio version of the story is somewhat abridged, and the play button does take some time to appear, but it’s worth listening to because of Mr. Gunnison’s singing and his use of Dutch.
M: He sings and speaks Dutch, eh?
D: My wife was a big help with the Dutch, but the parody of “Sweet Soul Music”, “Sweet Arthur Conley”, is all on me. I wrote the first draft of it in an airport lounge. I felt a bit like David there, waiting to travel to his next mission.