Karl Fulves
(New Rochelle, NY, USA: 27th July 1938 - Hackensack, NJ: 16th February 2023)
Karl Anthony Fulves was an American amateur close-up magician and cardman performing under the stage name "Ralph Gironda".
He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY where he studied electrical engineering. He worked as an electrical engineer for several years starting around 1960. From 1982 until nearly the end of his life, he worked as an administrative assistant in the medical services field in New Jersey.
Publisher (Gutenberg Press) of magic books in Teaneck, New Jersey, starting in 1969. 1986 AMA Literary Fellowship.
Prolific and influential (although sometimes cranky) writer and editor. Edited Midnight Magic Monthly 1959-60, The New Phoenix 1965, Pallbearers Review 1965-75 (also contributed under many pen names), Epilogue 1967-76, Interlocutor 1975-89, and Chronicles 1978-89.
Wrote Riffle Shuffle Set-Ups (1968; 2nd ed 1974, 98pp), Faro and Riffle Technique (1969, 90pp; repr 1974), The Book of Numbers (1971, 47pp), Mexican Monte, and Other Tricks (1972, 32pp), Notes from Underground (1973, 62pp), Packet Switches (1974, 2 vols, 56+66pp), Close-Up Mental Magic (1974, 54pp), Riffle Shuffle Technique (3 parts, 1974, 1975, ...), Riffle Shuffle Set-Ups (1974), Methods with Cards (3 vols, 1975), The Magic Book (1977, 195pp), Transpo Trix (1978, 80pp), Curioser (1980), Color Quick (1980, 50pp), A History of the Brainwave Principle (1983), etc.
Also, having been introduced by Martin Gardner, wrote 10 popular magic books for Dover Press. Also wrote or edited books on Daley, Finnell, Hummer, Jordan, Maze, and Slydini. Trick in Swami.
Coauthors: Tony Slydini
