- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Collins; New edition edition (11 Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586213015
- ISBN-13: 978-0586213018
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,296,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In the 21st century, Womack-world is a nightmare world - there is martial law on the streets, guerilla warfare on Long Island and murder and mayhem in the boardrooms of the city. The powerful Dryco organization wields power across the world, but at home coercion may work better than force.
From the Back Cover
IZ IS ON A MISSION FROM THE FUTURE. OUR FUTURE.
New York, 2033. A rebellious populace flocks to join the C of E – Church of Elvis. The Elvii have already formed schismatic groups: among them the Hosts of Memphis and the Shaken, Rattled and Rolled. Global corporation Dryco send their operative, Iz, back to 1954 to bring Elvis home to his adoring millions. But the America she finds is strangely altered, and so too is the King. At the Presely home Elvis – nineteen , acned, never recorded – stands over the blood-splattered body of his ma…
“Nazi flying saucers over an alternate 1950s Memphis, your basic cross-time godhead-abduction of Elvis Presley, and what must surely be one of the flat-out weirdest Fisher King inversions yet perpetrated in American literature. Achingly sad, downright alarmingly funny, and just about as serious as any of us can afford to be, 'Elvissey' is one jarringly potent kick in the head. I can only urge you to put yours cleanly in its way”
WILLIAM GIBSON, AUTHOR OF 'NEUROMANCER'
“Not since Kurt Vonnegut in his SF prime has there been a talent so iconoclastically sparkling as Womack’s”
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
“Womack mixes stylised prose, cyberpunk intensity and a wildfire imagination to scintillating effect”
NORTHERN ECHO
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Elvis died several years before he saved me from drowning. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Elvis died several years before he saved me from drowning. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Perhaps Jack Womack's finest hour, Elvissey is a highly original novel which follows on from the events of Terraplane. The omnipotent Dryco Corporation trys to kidnap Elvis to control powerful future Elvis cults; but this is only the beginning. Strong characterisations and powerful writing mark this out as an extremely clever and exciting novel by probably the best SF writer working today.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's ages since I read this, I was just looking it up because it suddenly became relevant to mention it existed in my dis when I was writting about Alexander Guy and his paintings comparing the life of Elvis to the Life of Christ. Basically the book is a satire. It sets out with the premise that in the future Elvis is regarded as God. Time travel, assasination attempts, bleaching of skin and a variety of incidents (possibly more amusing if you know more about the king than I do) ensue. Yada yada yada. I don't remember how it finished because I don't think I could stomach reading it that long. Alexander Guys paintings run a much nicer, more ironic and damn site funnier line on the same idea. Still you might like it so spend the money if you want.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
SHOULDN'T BE YOUR FIRST WOMACK
7 April 2001
Format:Paperback
Elvissey is my second-least-favorite of the Dryco Chronicles series ( we'll see where it ranks after Going, Going, Gone hits my mailbox ), but not for the reasons you might expect. Allow me to explain.
It was the first Jack Womack book I ever bought - the Gibson blurb on the back sold me - but I couldn't understand a word of it and shelved it. Somehow, a year later, I wound up with a used copy of Terraplane. I had to re-read the first chapter three times to make sense of the language, but eventually I put everything together; now it's probably my favorite. This led me to collect his other books from used bookstores, and then finally to tackle Elvissey.
Elvissey is a remarkable achievement, particularly in its funhouse-mirror distortion of the the 1954 we knew on our planet. Having said that, it's also by far the most depressing of Womack's books. Which is saying something. The odyssey of pregnant security operative Isabel and her psychologically-unraveling husband John leads them to an American South where black people no longer exist and Elvis killed his mother. Their return to 2054, and subsequent attempted conversion of Elvis into a corporate messiah, is utterly heartbreaking. This is the Womack book which I've only re-read once.
First-timers should read Womack's books in this order: Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Heathern, Ambient, Terraplane, Elvissey. You'll gradually come to understand everything about the strange future Womack paints, and recognize recurring characters.
Enjoy the ride. You won't forget it.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Brilliant Look At A Sinister Media Culture Future
8 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
"Elvissey" is the first Jack Womack novel I have read; I eagerly look forward to reading the rest. Without a doubt, Womack is one of the most interesting writers to emerge out of science fiction since William Gibson hit the stage with his brilliant "Sprawl" short stories, culminating with his amazing "Cyberspace" trilogy of novels. He's certainly among the most bizarre stylists I've come across, echoing Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" with his own poetic usage of Dryco's newspeak. "Elvissey" is a brilliant satire of our own obsession with rock and roll stars and other transient entertainment celebrities. It is also a fascinating look at how a psychologically troubled couple from 2054 meet a homicidal Elvis Presley in an alternative 1954. Equally appealing is how Elvis struggles to cope with his new found fame in 2054, after learning he is regarded as a saint by millions of adoring fans. I strongly emphasized with Isabel "Iz" Bonney's struggle to hold onto her sanity as her health and her relationship with John, her psychotic husband, dissolve through the course of the novel. Anyone expecting another excursion into William Gibson's "Cyberspace" future may be disappointed; Womack isn't quite as visionary as Gibson, though his prose is just as poetic. Instead, prepare yourself for a startling fresh, unique view of what a media-dominated future might look like.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
"The King" of kings...jumpsuit style
20 Mar 1997
Format:Paperback
After reading this book I was pretty suprised to see it on sale at Graceland, since Womack makes the pre-stardom Elvis look pretty bad. But still, Womack's conception of a future so starved for meaning and so controlled by consumerism, that "Elvis" has been put on a corporate pedestal and wholly deified makes for very interesting reading. This book isn't really about Elvis, however, it's about Isabel, a woman from the future who goes back in time to retrieve the "real" Elvis. Women in the future still have to deal unresposive husbands, the glass ceiling and body trauma and Womack's handling of female characters is extremely strong. He also does well with language, as the denziens of the future speak in an English hybrid similar to the Newspeak of 1984. Elvissey is a very interesting read which doesn't quite deliver what you expect it to
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