Stephen King in his book Dance Macabre, a book that deals with horror in literature and film, pointed out that the only two kinds of movies which produced an audible reaction from an audience were comedy and horror.
It was Tony Shiels who pushed magic in the direction of horror and, long before magic-as-theatre became the latest fad, suggested that tricks could be made more entertaining if their presentations were more dramatic; perhaps a little out of the ordinary. Few took up the suggestion but those that did went on to found what is today known as Bizarre Magick; magic which involves those...
If you are an Al Koran fan you will totally and completely be absorbed by this recording. The first half consists of Goodliffe (the founder of Abracadabra Magazine) recounting his experiences and many meetings with Al Koran. Following Goodliffe's fascinating introduction you will then hear Al Koran performing many of his now classic routines in front of enthusiastic audiences. You will be put into a state of wonder as you hear the amazing Al Koran baffling and entertaining with his own brand of magic. If you are into mentalism this is an essential recording to own.
This is a licensed reproduction...
This effect is all about you demonstrating your amazing hand-writing analysis skills....
I've been working on an act designed specifically for comedy clubs based on the premise of "a wicked pack of cards." I have a 'volunteer' select a card, and I then proceed to give the worst possible interpretation of it."Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyant had a bad cold, nonetheless was known to be the wisest woman in Europe with a wicked pack of cards." - T.S. Eliot, "The Wasteland"
The deck I'm using is "Morgan's Tarot," an unusual 86-card deck that bears little relationship with a normal Tarot deck. I found its simple black and white drawings and irreverent card titles to be apropos...
This is a really funny murder mystery routine. The zippered "case" (used to house everything) is "re-opened" and the possible weapons and five laminated clue-cards are removed. With your help, the spectator now deduces which of the weapons was used. Once he's done so, you explain, humorously, why the other weapons couldn't possibly have been used, so he's effectively solved the murder! This means that everything can be returned to the case, which can then be officially closed.
You now turn to face them again and, after suitable concentration, reveal that they are holding the coin in their hand - they are! You then continue...
You remove from your pocket four sections of a large, full-color, treasure map and jig-saw them together. There are 58 possible locations, and someone is asked to imagine that they have buried all their worldly goods at one of these locations.
You now start to deduce, letter-by-letter, the name of their thought of location. However, way before you have called out all the letters, you stop, pick up the four pieces, stick a label onto one of them and hand it to the spectator face down. He reveals where he mentally buried his things, and discovers that you stuck the label, with an X drawn on...
This is a wonderful presentational idea for the "Invisible Deck". (If you do not know what the "Invisible Deck" is ask around or visit a dealer. It is a very common prepared deck of cards.)
This routine will require some creativity on your part, but more so on the spectator’s part ... but this is part of the fun. It can really go anywhere and it’s usually just as interesting to the performer as it is for the participant.
1st edition 2008; 3 pages.
A fork and a spoon are shown. Someone chooses one leaving you with the spoon (ho, ho!), which you now bend using 'the power of your mind' alone. Actually you do bend it, but by pressing it against your forehead! However, it now visibly straightens (all by itself!) then slowly bends again, whilst held in one hand only, snaps in two and is handed out for immediate examination!
Self-working...nobody does it for you! It is all in the most simple and ingenious gimmick that costs you a penny if you don't already have the right thing somewhere at home.
1st edition 2005; 3 pages.
Richard Webster's third volume on cold reading was recorded in May 2004 in New Zealand. It contains more on the subject for professional cold readers and those wishing to learn this interesting and profitable subject. In this volume Richard concentrates on the future and provides sets of readings based on numerology and star signs. Detailed but easy-to-learn readings are given. Richard is almost always cited as being one of the world's most experienced cold readers and has a vast knowledge drawn from his personal experiences as a professional cold reader.
This is a licensed reproduction of...
The Aeon Reading is a mysterious Tarot card reading/experiment that will leave your participant wondering about the mystical powers of the Tarot. It will also leave them with an important message. If you perform at all with Tarot cards, you’ll surely be using this routine which has been in Alexandre's repertoire for years.
Written for the Thoth tarot deck (where the Aeon card is the 20th card) it can be automatically adapted to any tarot deck you might already own. This is based on a self working principle - no sleight of hand required.
1st edition 2005; 3 pages.
Beneath The Mask, co-written with Alexandre, is the last manuscript Anabelle chose to release to the community back in 2007! It's been off the market for a number of years, but now it's back! IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the original 2007 release with the original cover on the PDF and original content.
11 Fun Routines
Chance Sandwich: A unique playing card prediction experiment where a subject makes a couple of crystal clear choices, no doublespeak by the performer, and in the end the performer proves to be eerily correct! A classic card effect with an Anabelle twist that improves it tenfold!...
The Ultimate Key Bending Routine.
In the early 1970’s, at the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius," a young Israeli named Uri Geller attracted worldwide attention with his "psychic" abilities. While he demonstrated several paranormal skills, it was his "psychokinetic" ability to bend silverware, borrowed keys, and nails that set him apart from other "New Age" psychics. In the years that followed many mentalists and magicians added "metal bending" routines to their repertoires, and many sleights and gimmicks have been devised to facilitate the effect.
You may have noticed that most of the...
A card merely thought of from the spectators own hands is eerily revealed by the magician. A foolproof method utilizing clever wording and suggestion allows this incredibly solid effect to manifest.
No Sleights, The spectator has a free choice of any of the cards in their own hands, the magician doesn't even touch the cards once they've been handed over and the card is never spoken until it finds it's way out of the magician's lips.
1st edition 2007; 10 pages.
The final volume of weird and wonderful magic!
A lucky coin that becomes as scarred as its owner, a murdered woman kept alive in a photograph, dice that tell the future just for starters, a Chinese magician who gets his revenge in the most horrible of ways, an obscene thing which hides beauty and reveals hypocrisy -- and that's just the beginning of what you'll find in Five, the last volume of the strange magic series!
13 routines of bizarre, touching, weird, scary, and entertaining magic!
More weird and wonderful magic to amaze and entertain!
A woman who suffers from growing agoraphobia and finds more to fear inside than out, a miser who knows the true value of things, a poor woman brutally murdered in reality and imagination, gods tired of the fickleness of man, science and magic meeting and melding -- all of these and more await you in "Four", the latest volume of strange magic! 13 routines of frightening, weird, and plain enjoyable magic!
More strange magic to engage and entertain!
A man who forgets what it means to be human, a spectator who may be more than she seems, a legendary and quite dead lover seeking an evening's diversion, the real and quite visible essence of nightmares -- all of these and more await the intrepid in "Three", the latest volume of strange magic!
16 routines of frightening, weird, and fun magic!
The strange magic continues!
Well, Shane has done it again! His second book, Two, is another must-have winner. Anyone and everyone with a sincere interest in bizarre, storytelling, magic should read this book and I assure you there is something in it for everyone. Shane employs Cups and Balls, Himber Wallets, coins and cards, dice, mirrors, math, scents, liquids, limericks, jokes, wagers, and even scorpions in his routines... The variety will please you. You will laugh, cry, wonder and worry. You will be entertained just reading the pages. In short, this book is for you. Buy it! -- Larry...
Strange magic to amuse, frighten and entertain!
"One & Two are simply the most impact-laded and thought-provoking books I've read in ages!" -- Ben Harris, creator, "Exit51", "Cosmosis"
"One absolutely dazzles me. I am quite taken by the effects, the methods, the props, the presentations and the advice on performing. The results are novel, thoughtful, funny and scary. To be blunt, I wish I had created it all myself... This is the best thing in bizarre magic to have happened to me in years." -- Robert Neale, Author, "Life, Death, and Other Card Tricks", "Tricks of the Imagination", "The Magic Mirror"
"...This...
A collection of twenty essays on the subject of cold reading covering methodologies, techniques, anecdotes, and philosophies. Also includes a great list of other good books on cold reading.
Contributors are: Fred Crouter, Chris Handa, Sheila Lyon, Raven, Tony Razzano, Brother Shadow, Mark Sherman, Dr. T, William Thomas, and Philemon Vanderbeck.
Gene Poinc, author of "The Practitioner: Journeys into Grey" writes:
No, not the name of an alien creature from another world, but a kind of arcane world is involved and comprehensively illuminated. The initial inclination of most magicians...
There are many kinds of methods devised over the years for catching a glimpse to secretly written information anything from doing peeks, billet switches, center tears, pocket writing, using specially made covert type of cuing systems. Alternatively you could just as easily obtain information with a swami gimmick, or stooge, double-writing, mnemonics sound or muscle reading etc.
Now with A Timely Reveal you will learn how to perform some of Erick's most closely guarded mentalism routines. These are strong mentalism routines you could perform anytime and anywhere. You'll learn different ways...
"The Man at the Crossroads" is a close-up routine based on a uniquely American form of folk magic known as "hoodoo". Sometimes used as a synonym for Voodoo (a term related to the Dahomean word for spirit, vodun, and the more generalized West African juju), "hoodoo" technically refers to magical practices sometimes known as "conjure" - a hybrid of African and European beliefs nowadays far removed from their original West African religious roots - and is comprised of complex magical practices as well as simple medicinal procedures. (Practitioners, however, usually refer to the latter as "signs"...
The title is apt. This ebook contains three completely inexplicable mental effects: "Quarterforce", "Boxed Thought", and "The Impossible Switch".
In Quarterforce a pack of cards is fanned out before a spectator. There are no duplicates or specially printed cards. The spectator simply thinks of one and the mentalist names it. That's it and it's that clean. Mentalism doesn't get any bolder or more powerful than this.
Boxed Thought is a completely routined demonstration of telepathy and clairvoyance and The Impossible Switch is just that - a billet move so clean and simple it is never detected. ...