DON'T ASK FOREVER

Bova, a staff member of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, reveals all she knows about Elvis, but her subject has been so intensely overexposed that even the most intimate details sound familiar. In 1969, in Las Vegas, Bova and a friend were hand-picked from a line of waiting show-goers to meet Elvis backstage. Bova believes that her instant rapport with the King grew out of the fact that she is a twin, as Elvis was, although his brother died at birth. Thus began her three-year relationship with a man who was obviously troubled and affected by giant mood swings. Though her own personality remains in the background, Bova manages a no-nonsense outlook and explains that she stood by her man because of love, even though he was married and had complete disregard for her career. Presley had some odd ideas about women: He was so insistent on purity that she hesitated to inform him that she was not a virgin (``In a way he was right, it would be `new' for me,'' she thought about her prospective sexual experience with him), and when Bova was pregnant (unbeknownst to him), he explained that once a woman had given birth he could no longer be attracted to her (she subsequently had an abortion). Presley's addiction to sleeping pills was a constant problem, but Bova had trouble confronting him about it and took them herself at his insistence. Bova also outlines the King's spiritual side, which involved vague, self- important beliefs that he was teaching people through music and that he was ``put here on earth to serve a special purpose'' with his unique powers. A somewhat pathetic portrait of the entertainer limping toward death. (16-page photo insert, not seen) (First serial to National Star; Literary Guild alternate selection)