Rebuilding A Mystery

All-Weather Dove Cote Plans update

After 42 years, my All-Weather Dove Cote Plans are now only available in eBook (PDF) format. I've stopped producing printed copies. You can find out more about the plans, which magicians around the world have been using for decades, at Chicago Magic Studio.

Microwave conjuring

This essay applies to magic, too.Sadly.

Map of Chicago Magic updated

The Map of Chicago Magic has been updated with the latest performance venues and additional locations. See the Recent Changes page for a summary of what's new.

Book Review: The Artist Who Lied

The author, Ren X, who may or may not be related to Malcom X, is apparently an academic who has possibly worked (in some capacity) at a couple of universities. Unfortunately, partly due to the author’s pen name, it’s virtually impossible to learn more detailed background info.

The book’s writing style is a mix of personal essay, couched in ponderous academic passivity, with a fair amount of repetition thrown in. As you get to the end of the book, there are several grammatical errors, which suggests to me that even the editor’s attention was waning.

The book opens with an unsual copyright page that is filled with passive-voice disclaimers that undermine the intended scholarly tone of the work. Here’s one of them: “This is a work of creative nonfiction. Some parts have been fictionalized in varying degrees, for various purposes.”

Most of the book is dedicated to defining what art is, so that by page 80 (!), the author can make a succinct argument that magic is an art. Another major topic in the book is an attempt to convince readers that truth is meaningless and subjective. In service to this point, this is one of the very few magic books that includes references to Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Goethe, along with our philosophers Burger, and Neale.

After carefully building an argument that deception is necessary for any type of art (and taking apart something that Larry Hass apparently said to the contrary), the author ends up addressing morality in absolute terms. This departure from the relativism expressed earlier in the book surprised me, but was explained when the book descends into a tired admonition that magicians should never profess supernatural influences. (In which the author ignorantly refers to Uri Geller in the past tense!)

Essentially, the author argues that deception can only be justified if it serves to communicate an important, and moral, message. Furthermore, it cannot cause any “unnecessary suffering.” (Whatever that qualification means!)

The book does include an extensive and diverse bibliography that many will enjoy, but unfortunately the citation style, as in the Hass example mentioned earlier, is lacking detail. You’ll have to be persistent to follow up with the author’s references.

It is certainly a very unusual magic book (I believe the author would argue that it’s not a magic book, but he is a magician, and it’s being sold by magic dealers, although you can find it on Amazon too.) And it’s refreshing to read a book that isn’t simply a technical manual. Overall, I found the book thought-provoking, including the parts with which I disagreed or scoffed at. And, as Eugene Burger once wrote, “What if we were to read books to see what they say, rather than for what we personally can get?” (Genii, November 1995, page 51 — see how easy a useful citation is‽)

Finally, to end this on a positive note, I must give the author a virtual “high five” for using a hooked X in their name. A nice touch, indeed.

Two books reviewed of interest to magicians

On my main blog, magician friends will be interested in two books about combining conjuring with electronics. Both are fun and inspiring!

Book Notes: What Lies Inside

I had never heard of German mentalist Florian Severin, but the free sample of this book from Vanishing Inc convinced me to buy his book. Unfortunately, I was a little late to the party, and I had to find a copy. (It remains, at this writing, out of print.)

Admittedly, part of what attracted me to the book was its innovative design and layout. (For a magic book, anyway.) To me, this indicates a level of beyond-common care and attention to detail. (As is typical of books published by Vanishing Inc.)

But once I started reading it, I was very satisfied by the discussion of the material. The performance pieces themselves have all the hallmarks of a true professional — there are no pipe dreams, unreliable methods, or armchair inventions. This is practical, performable stuff.

But the best part is the lengthy and insightful discussion about all the choices he has made in putting these pieces together. This is where the “real work” lies, and it’s fantastic. As Ken Weber says in the book’s introduction, “Details, details, it’s all about the details.” All the details are seemingly here, wrapped in just the right amount of humor and personality — which at times reminded me of the great Paul Harris books from the 1980s.

Were there things about the book I didn’t enjoy? Sure. The lengthy discussion of pre-show was interesting to a point, but not relevant to me personally, so it became a bit of a slog. For you, however, it might very well be the very best part of the book.

Finally, I have to mention and praise the “Easter eggs” that Severin has included. Cryptograms, puzzles, and even a BASIC program listing. So much fun!

Lucifer’s Birthday

I’ve been going through my book collection, selecting items that I might want to sell to reduce the number of items I have to store. It’s a great joy discovering forgotten items. A recent re-discovery was the manuscript for David Parr’s remarkable “Lucifer’s Birthday.” It’s a borrowed deck miracle, and I don’t say that lightly. I have no idea what it’s worth, but I know it was privately distributed in very limited quantities. Nonetheless, it reluctantly went into the “maybe sell” pile for later, final consideration. (I need to check with David to see if I’m even allowed to sell or distribute it further.)

Book Notes: Away with Words

This is a 2021 paperbound volume from Luke Jonas.

I had never heard of Jonas, but as a writer, I was intrigued by the book’s central premise that language choices can impact performances.

Unfortunately, also as a writer, I ended up deeply disappointed by the lack of care and craftsmanship put into the publication.

The philosophy that Jonas expounds overlaps substantially with the seminal work of Kenton Knepper, who is oddly never referenced. (In fact, aside from one incomplete credit, there are no citations in this book, not even for Loryane, when memory work is discussed.) Nonetheless, I do applaud Jonas for bringing the topic to what is probably a new group of practitioners. Too bad he hasn’t given them any breadcrumbs to follow to earlier, and more complete, work.

The effects Jonas describes are interesting, and he has put a lot of work into identifying ingredients for each piece. Finding words with specific characteristics, and that are suitable for performance, is not an easy task and undoubtably took many hours. I know firsthand, having done it for R.M. Jamison’s Jabberwocky (which is another relevant citation that is not mentioned). I will use and build on Jonas’ work, and I’m grateful for that.

It’s a damn shame that Jonas didn’t put a fraction of that effort into polishing the text. There is a proofreader credited, who should be ashamed of all the typos, grammar mistakes, and misspellings that were overlooked. But beyond the sloppiness, just examining other publications would have led to more informed decisions regarding typography, layout, and conventions.

And there are content issues, such as the misstatement of the Too Perfect Theory (again, not credited). Furthermore, the title “A Way with Words,” makes more sense than “Away with Words,” as the former reflects the premise of the book. (It’s possible this was an intentional, ironic quip, but given all the other obvious mistakes, it seems unlikely.)

Is this slim book worth the price of $35? Well, the rationalization is that it’s the content that matters, so from that perspective my generous answer is «maybe.» Perhaps if you still believe that “mentalism should cost more.” But it’s a difficult amount to pay when you compare it to more thoughtful material, such as Doug Dyment’s series of similarly sized publications, which are only a little more money but many leagues ahead (and can be read without cringing).

Another book review of note

Over on my public blog, I posted a review of "The Practice" by Seth Godin. It's a self-help/marketing book which is oddly being promoted by Penguin Magic, so I thought it relevant to you, a reader here.

A book review of note

I recently posted a review of Clayton Rawson's "Death from a Top Hat," a book that will certainly be enjoyed by any fan of magic.

CineMagic Flash Review

I posted the following review of this at Vanishing Inc: I bought this but ended up returning it, thanks to VI’s nice customer service and policy. The one I received was sloppily constructed, especially when you consider the high price. Also, during performance, you have to be able to see the animation yourself so that you can trigger the card to drop at the right moment. This makes for some awkward positioning because of the way the trigger works.

Map of Chicago Magic updated

I've updated the Map of Chicago Magic, mostly to remove dead links (R.I.P. Johnny Thompson) and update current, local venues. Recent Updates page.

Book Review: The Secret Art of Magic

I’ve gotten into a habit of posting book notes on my lay blog, and I thought I might try doing so here for a conjuring book I’ve recently re-read.

The Secret Art of Magic by Eric Evans & Nowlin Craver is really two separate books under the same cover, with a few cross-references. The first half of the book is by Evans and is approximately 280 pages about the strategies and philosophy of busking, interspersed with frequent quotes from Sun Tzu. For me, the analogies were sometimes a stretch, and the book would have worked just as well without them. But overall, I believe that if you do this type of work, this section of the book will speak to your soul. Although I regularly perform street theatre, I’m not a busker, so much of this section was merely of curious interest.

The second half of the book, written by Craver, is what I found to be more interesting as it is a melding of performance with strategies from an ancient Chinese book, The Art of War.

Although the premise is based on a manual for warfare, the metaphors aren’t applied in a way that is overly adversarial. Which is a good thing, as my friend Fred recently pointed out, some performers regard their audience as a form of enemy. Here’s a quote from Fitzkee that he sent me:

The intended dupe of the magician’s wiles is, of course, the spectator. He is the objective. All of the performer’s endeavor is aimed at deceiving him. He is the obstacle the magician encounters. In him are combined the formidable barriers the deceiver must breach and the very weaknesses that make him vulnerable.

Craver’s half of the book is about 150 pages long. It probably could have been a bit shorter, but he relates all 36 of Sun Tzu’s strategies to conjuring. A less rigid approach, even as it would have broken Tzu’s model, would work too. Thankfully, there’s a handy appendix that provides a summary of each strategy. Here’s one example:

Remove the Firewood From Under the Pot: This strategy in magic involves dispersing concentration by directly disproving the method before suspicion can form in the spectators’ minds. Preemptive Cheng and Ch’i created to disprove Ch’i.

It had been decades since I read The Art of War, so getting reacquainted with it was fun, but also, seeing it cast in terms of the performer/audience dynamic made it more relevant. In the 1500 or so years since Tzu wrote it, there have been numerous applications of the book’s tactics, and bravo to these two magicians for using the work to examine conjuring.

For me, the best thing about this section of the book is how it leads you to consider the subtle distinctions between different techniques for audience management and, especially, misdirection. The concept of “misdirection” has leaked into popular culture and too often, even among magicians, it’s treated as if “look somewhere else” is all that it encompasses. But it can (and should) be so much more and Craver gives us the vocabulary and framework to go deeper with applying the techniques.

Overall, the book is quite unusual in the world of conjuring, and in many ways, a breath of fresh air. It’s thoughtful, and lovingly presented, and I’m sad that it hasn’t seemed to really catch on or inspire follow-ups. Perhaps this is because it is rather hard to find. (I’m guessing it had a limited print run.)

I bought my copy when it first came out (2003) at Misdirections in San Francisco. But, in a surprise release, it has recently been made available as a pricey ebook (in PDF, I presume, but oddly unspecified). You can get it, and read the laudatory reviews by the magic press, at Penguin.

Nelms’ overlooked gem

Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers by Henning Nelms

Recently, a friend challenged me to re-visit a book that I considered formative to my interest in magic. I really enjoyed this book when I was a teenage magician, but honestly, I haven’t looked at in decades. But I did recall it fondly enough that I’ve kept my original copy for 40 some odd years. (The Amateur Magician’s Handbook would have been another choice that met these criteria.)

I was surprised to discover that although it is published by Dover—a publishing house that I associate with reprinting old books—this book is a Dover original and was published in 1969. (Note: Any book published after you were born can’t possibly be considered old!)

Taking advantage of resources that weren’t available to me as a teen, I spent a couple of hours looking into the life of the author, Henning Nelms. This was a delightful exercise. Nelms was a true polymath with experience and accomplishments in law, drama, mystery fiction, illustration, and of course, conjuring. (Note to self: try to find a copy of his 1950s book about instructional illustration.)

I’m confident that I read this book cover-to-cover when I was a kid, and I decided to do so again. I was pleased to discover that the highlights made by Young Gordon were almost all still relevant to Old Gordon. (Should this be disturbing? Haven’t I grown since then? Well, I think so, as this time I found even more things to highlight!)

I laughed that I had highlighted a passage were Nelms notes that the conjurer’s use of “vanishing” and “vanish” is odd and grammatically incorrect. This is still very much a pet peeve of mine. (I wonder if this is where I got it from?)

What follows are just a few tidbits from my re-reading:

• Predating The Jerx by decades, Nelms observes that spectators at an impromptu performance are less likely to credit a performer with “magical powers,” especially so if they know him personally. As many others have also suggested, having a topic in mind that will turn the conversation towards an opening to perform a mystery is a viable stratagem for the magician itching to perform. But, Nelms uniquely adds, you also need an outro to transition away from the piece! He also suggests that the topic you utilize in this regard needs to be interesting and compelling even without your demonstration, otherwise it will be a weak and obvious ploy.
• Although most of the book is about presentation and performance, Nelms also includes plenty of tricks, all of which are delightfully illustrated. Each trick illustrates his “theory” (to put it in modern terms). The book builds on the tricks throughout so don’t skip studying them.
• I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the presentations would now be considered as “bizarre” magic. (Which isn’t that surprising, I suppose, given Nelms’ theatrical pedigree.) There are pendulums, voodoo dolls, and a wonderful divination called “The Book of Thoth” to name just a few. (Don’t confuse the tarot piece with the more contemporary book of the same name by Stephen Minch.) I was especially tickled to find a few examples of using magic words, and one piece that manifests a djinn!

• I was pleased with the consistent, clear, and useful technical words that Nelms uses. I wish more of his vocabulary caught on. (For example, “device” refers to the means of accomplishing a secret action.)
• I’m not a Si Stebbins guy (I prefer the Jenny stack), but I have enough familiarity with Si Stebbins to know that some of the techniques that Nelms describes are uncommon. If this is something you could use, it’s worth investigating.
• A theme of the book is eliminating departures, unnecessary words, and pointless actions. Nelms also advises that ruthlessly eliminating the weakest parts of your act will improve everything because those pieces, no matter how much you love them, are undermining your performance.
• As a dramatist, Nelms includes practical and useful advice about structure, blocking, and managing the attention curve so that it peaks at just the right time. (Something that expert comedians do, but so rarely exhibited by magicians.) While there are plenty of books that tell you performing magic is akin to acting, Nelms’ discussion is more useful than most. For one thing, he acknowledges that conjurors face an additional challenge that actors do not have to deal with; managing a hidden reality.
• You’ve probably heard others suggest that using a metronome during rehearsal can help your performance. But have you ever heard anyone be specific about how it helps, and give you actionable steps in using one? You’ll find both in this book.
• Finally, since you’ve read this far, I’ll tip the one thing in this book that can thoroughly change your performances: the silent script. Seriously, don’t overlook the discussion of this. (And it will help make your magic more deceptive, too!)

There’s more, but this is definitely enough for this summary. Another nice thing about Dover books is that they are freely available at bookstores, including the Amazon. (Sometimes secrets are right out in the open.) Why not pick up a copy and see if you agree with my assessment? It will be one of the least expensive magic books in your library, and it may end up being one of the most valuable.

A mind reading guard

The last time I visited Tannens was just prior to the plague shutdown . In the lobby of their building is a security guard with whom must check-in and report your destination. As I approached his desk, before I could speak a single word, he said “The magic shop is on the sixth floor” and pointed towards the elevators. A remarkable bit of mentalism on his part!