Reviewed By Susan MacDougall

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As a publication, Fairytale suffers from the same problems as many self-publications:- lack of editorial overview and quality control. Consequently, the book has errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and typography. Furthermore, if the publisher's name is intended to mean "Bring it to Light" or "Bring us Light ", then even the German is faulty. Nevertheless, Fairytale is easy reading, and the narrative draws the reader along. On reading Fairytale, the need for anonymity for the author(s) is immediately apparent. The characters, although bearing different names, show a striking resemblance to Elvis Presley, his entourage, family and friends. None of them are depicted in a very pleasant light. Even the title is suggestive since, in concerts, Elvis sometimes introduced the song "Fairytale" as "the story of my life". To counterbalance this, throughout the book, the fact that this is NOT Elvis is stressed by repeatedly referring to Elvis as someone else who is now dead. Fairytale could be taken as fictionalised fact, or fiction loosely based on the life of a superstar. Separating fact from fiction is always a difficult task, especially where interpretation of other people's intentions and motives is involved. This book relies heavily on reconstructed conversation, presumably by someone who was not present. To that extent, it must contain a high degree of imaginative writing. Depending on the intentions of the author(s), Fairytale could be regarded as an allegory of the life of a superstar, or as a disguised "What really happened to Elvis?" text.

If the latter, we need to look at events in the book which differ from the accepted version of Elvis's biography in order to decipher the real message. The tragically young deaths of beloved public figures tend to encourage conspiracy theories, as in the case of Diana, Princess of Wales, J.F. Kennedy and Elvis Presley. So we also need to bear in mind that under such circumstances, people are prone to propagate theories, some wild, some more plausible. What inner knowledge did the author(s) have, and how authoritative is their version of events? Without knowing who they are, and whether they actually knew Elvis at all, or for what length of time, it is impossible to reach a firm opinion on the book's credibility.

As far as similarities go, there are numerous parallels between the names of Aaron's and Elvis's family and entourage (for example, Aaron, Blackie and "Bubba" East), and also with physical descriptions of the characters (the short one, the fat one) and their respective roles (road manager, valet, body guards, ex-wife, step mother, step brothers, doctor). Other parallels can be drawn between the event in Aaron's and Elvis's careers, for example: an army stint in Germany and involvement with karate; Aaron was born on January 10th 1948; his father had a bad back; the East brothers publish the first "tell all" book just before Aaron's death, and so on.

The story line concerns superstar Aaron Wade, who take on an Elvis-type role after the death of his hero, Elvis Presley. There is more conversation than action. The story starts with the description of a typical concert, three years after the break-up of Aaron's marriage, and just before parting from his girlfriend Dana and the arrival on the scene of his last girlfriend, Cookie, who is determined on marriage, egged on by her mother. Aaron's father, Eugene, is having a fling with his secretary, who also has her eyes on Aaron. Aaron's manager is a Mafia boss. Aaron resists his manager's attempts to make him participate in child pornography and other pornographic movies.

The sequence of events from the concert up to the time of Aaron's death covers a gruelling schedule of concert tours and Aaron's physical exhaustion and hospitalisation for colon problems, firstly for an ileostomy, and then to tidy up after the ileostomy and sew the remaining colon back into the abdomen. There is a lot of womanising, but the worst excesses are carried out by Aaron's entourage rather than by Aaron himself. Aaron stands down many of his entourage when he knows he is dying, in the hope that they can adjust to finding a regular job in the outside world. This causes resentment, because he does not tell them why.

Most of the entourage are selfish and greedy, out for what they can get and not very caring about their employer. In fact, Bubba East is very resentful and out to get revenge for perceived slights. Aaron's step brothers are drug takers. They siphon off Aaron's prescription drugs to take, trade or sell, and substitute other drugs in his medication. The oldest, Willy, steals jewellery from Aaron to fund his heroin habit after being let off Aaron's payroll. They forge his medical prescriptions to obtain more drugs. Generally, when Aaron orders jewellery, members of the entourage add their own items to the order, to be paid for by Aaron. Aaron's men assume that, behind his bedroom door, Aaron behaves as badly as they do. Aaron's ex wife is portrayed as a "cold-hearted bitch", while his father is a womaniser who enjoys pornographic movies, including a movie of his own sexual activities. The Mafia boss uses this movie to blackmail Aaron. What a charming bunch of people!

Through Aaron's nighmares, we see occasional flashbacks to his childhood, when he was punished by being locked in a closet. His father beat him and beat his mother.

These are some points made in Aaron's story:

• Aaron's manager was a Mafia boss
• Aaron died in a plane, not at his home, Whitehaven, after flying to Los Angeles to sort out a court case which would have threatened loss of Whitehaven
• The Mafia boss manager tried to force Aaron into child pornography and pornographic movies using blackmail, especially threatening Aaron's small son
• The Mafia boss suggested that the last girlfriend should go into pornographic movies
• Aaron's hospitalisations were for abdominal surgery rather than "exhaustion - read drug detoxification"
• Aaron suffered from a liver tumour
• Aaron did not have a face lift
• Aaron had a vasectomy in order to avoid risking paternity suits
• Aaron's son by his ex-wife was not his biological son, while he had an illegitimate daughter whom he took care of financially
• Aaron's twin brother survived birth, although mentally retarded. When he died, his death was passed off as Aaron's death - so Aaron did not die. (This theory appears to conflict with the main thrust of the rest of the book - maybe it was just added for good measure.)
• The fat member of the entourage had homosexual inclinations towards Aaron, who was anti-gay and reacted strongly against any such advances
• Aaron sees a psychiatrist about sexual problems.

As already stated, the significance of the differences between the Aaron and the Elvis story is difficult to gauge. But some previously known variations to Elvis's official biography emerge in the book, viz. the cancer rumour and the surviving twin brother/"Elvis is alive". It seems to be fairly much accepted in other sources that Elvis did have a face lift.

While "Col." Parker was not a Mafia boss himself, he probably was compromised by the mob. Elaine Dundy, in her book Elvis & Gladys (Pimlico, London, 1995, paperback edition) documented early approaches by the Mafia (not in the index: pages 188-190, 250, 253, 262). Hints of Mafia involvement in Elvis's life are scattered among books by such authors as Larry Geller, and discussed more openly by Alanna Nash in The Colonel: the extraordinary story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2003).

If Fairytale is an allegory of the life of a superstar, the message must be that fame and fortune do not necessarily bring happiness, but rather their own pressures and stresses. They bring out greed and selfishness in people, attracting leeches, sycophants and organised crime figures.

But if Fairytale is, as seems more likely, a disguised " What really happened to Elvis?" text, then the most startling notion must be that Elvis did not die at Graceland, but was brought there after death. There are other messages, for instance, that drug taking and womanising by Elvis's entourage was considerably worse than that by Elvis himself. So another purpose of this book could be to counter the vicious character assassinations that Elvis has been subjected to since his death.

Traditional fairytales, such as Grimm's fairytales, tend to have a nightmarish quality rather than being cosy tales, and this fairytale is no different. As to separating fact from fiction - we should approach all claims to the "real" truth cautiously and never accept versions of events by unknown people that are not corroborated by several authoritative sources.

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Availability of "Fairytale"

Faiytale is listed as being for sale on Sean Shaver's web site at http://www.seanshaver.com/fairytale.html. The text reads: "FAIRYTALE: This 755 page book was written by an anonymous author. Only 1,000 were printed. This huge novel was the most talked about book for almost a year. Copies have been impossible to find for over 15 years. There are only two dozen left. This is a novel, no pictures. Only $75." Despite this description, the book appears to be no longer available.

EIN Note: Copies of Fairytale occasionally appear on eBay. It was not listed as being available from either the Amazon or Barnes & Noble second hand dealer networks at the time this review was published.

Related articles, reviews & interviews on EIN:

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Phil Aitcheson (The Presley Commission)

Dr Gary Enders responds to Phil Aitcheson

The Presley Arrangement (Monte Nicholson)

The Tupelo-Memphis Murders

Elvis Conspiracy

A tribute to the "masked man" (Jimmy Ellis)

Jimmy Ellis ("Orion") gunned down

Quote:

"Elvis Presley is the supreme socio-cultural icon in the history of pop culture"

(Dr. Gary Enders)

Quote:

"Elvis is the 'glue' which holds our society together....which subconciously gives our world meaning"

(Anonymous)

Quote:

"Eventually everybody has to die, except Elvis"

(humorist Dave Barry)

Quote:

"He is the "Big Bang", and the universe he detonated is still expanding, the pieces are still flying"

(Greil Marcus, "Dead Elvis")

Quote:

"I think Elvis Presley will never be solved"

(Nick Tosches)

Quote:

"He was the most popular man that ever walked on this planet since Christ himself was here"

(Carl Perkins)

Quote:

"When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew I wasn't going to work for anybody...hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail"

(Bob Dylan)

Quote:

"When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted was to be Elvis Presley"

(Sir Paul McCartney)

Quote:

"You can't say enough good things about Elvis. He was one of a kind"

(Johnny Cash)

Quote:

"And don't think for one moment he's just a passing fancy....he's got enough of it to keep him on top for a long time"

(R. Fred Arnold, Fury magazine, Aug 1957)

Quote:

"It isn't enough to say that Elvis is kind to his parents, sends money home, and is the same unspoiled kid he was before all the commotion began. That still isn't a free ticket to behave like a sex maniac in public"

(Eddie Condon, Cosmopolitan)

Elvis records reaching #2 & #3 on the Cashbox Pop Singles chart:

#2: A Fool Such As I (1959)

#2: A Big Hunk Of Love (1959)

#3: Hard Headed Woman (1958)

#3: One Night (1958)

#3: (You're The Devil) In Disguise (1963)

Elvis Facts:

Tickets for Elvis' show on March 29, 1957 in St. Louis cost $2.00 to $2.50

While in Germany Elvis was hospitalised with tonsillitis in October 1959

Despite being an illegal immigrant, photographic evidence shows Colonel Tom Parker traveled to Canada with Elvis in 1957

Elvis strongly believed there weren't enough good songs in King Creole to justify releasing a soundtrack album. RCA initially agreed, releasing two very successful EPs from the movie. A soundtrack LP eventually followed

During the 1960s Elvis had his own football team, Elvis Presley Enterprises, which played in the Memphis touch football league. In the 1962 final, EPE narrowly lost to Delta Automatic Transmission, 6-13

In Clambake, (Elvis) Scott Hayward's driving licence shows February 23, 1940...taking 5 years off Elvis' real age

In the 1970s Elvis was offered $5m to stage a concert in front of the Pyramids in Egypt. When the Colonel declined the offer, Saudi billionaires raised the offer to $10m