Details: (Introduction by Mark Mason) In the following pages you will find many close up effects that are very personal to me. These are many of the routines that I use when working for both magicians and lay people. They have been tweaked and fine tuned to suit my personality and presentation. No matter how hard any of us try we cannot be somebody else, you must put something of YOU into ANYTHING you wish to achieve in life. The same applies to magic, we all have heroes that we wish to aspire to. It is very difficult not to fall into the trap of copying someone elses style and presentation, so much magic is readily available on television and videos that we unknowingly find ourselves borrowing a little from here and a little from there. I firmly believe that before you find magic tricks to perform you must find yourself.

Dont just pick up any old trick and go through the motions of reading the instructions and then showing it. Look at an effect and think how will this fit into my repertoire? Will it link together with anything else I do? Is it easy to reset? (vital in working conditions). Can I make it funny? How long does it last? These are very important questions that I ask myself before putting dozens of hours into something that I will not use.

Speaking of dozens of hours practice, can you HONESTLY say that you have put the time and effort into the effects that you are showing people? Why people think that doing a few tricks is easy is totally beyond my imagination. First of all you have to be entertaining, a good actor and a great storyteller (liar). You are trying to convince an intelligent audience that you can perform the impossible, this is not an easy thing to achieve.

If your audience feels that you are uncomfortable they will pick up on this and make your job harder. The only way you will ever become comfortable with your magic is to practice it, until it fits like a glove. On many occasions I have found that while practicing I have stumbled across something that has become a firm favorite. This can be the smallest bit of business, but it can make all the difference it separates the amateur from the professional performer. The great Dai Vernon said, be natural. The only way to achieve this is to make your practice natural. When I practice I actually perform the effect like I am being paid, complete with patter and everything. This is the only way to iron out the creases of the effect. It gives you a complete understanding and feel for your magic.

Finally I would like to make it clear that we cannot all be inventors of new material. We all use others for inspiration. In these pages you will find effects that I have developed independently and also effects where the starting point was from another magicians effect. I have changed the handling and presentation to suit me. I hope some of the material will inspire you to do the same, this is what keeps the art of magic advancing.

Contents:

CASE DISMISSED
THINKING STRAIGHT
CARD UNDER GLASS TRANSPOSITION
HINDU ROPE SURPRISE
TWISTING THE WHAT?
OILS WELL THAT ENDS WELL
COPPER, SILVER, BRASS
ITS IN MY POCKET
L.T.P. CONTROL
BACK TOGETHER AGAIN

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