Here at Vanishing Inc. Magic, we’ve been discussing our top five books of 2011. It took a while, but we’ve finally agreed on our list. It’s great to see so many excellent books published in the past year.
As many of our customers have already purchased many of these books, we decided to go one step further and ask the authors for their favorite effect from their nominated book.
1. A Book in English by Woody Aragon
This book contains some exceptional mathematical card magic, along with some intriguing card magic concepts, some great spelling routines and even some card magic suitable for parlor magic.
Author’s pick: “Routined Spelling.”
2. Maelstrom by Tom Stone
Tom’s follow up to last year’s Vortex was an amazing piece of work and offers something for every professional performer.
Author’s pick: “Things that go Cluck in the Night.”
3. Hand Crafted Card Magic 2 by Denis Behr
This is the second of Denis’ Handcrafted series. It’s a small book that many customers have told us they enjoyed.
4. Curtain Call by Barrie Richardson
This books completes Barrie’s Hermetic Press trilogy. It’s been said many times that you could make an entire career out of the three books in this series.
5. Hold Em Magic by Tom Frame
Of course, we had to sneak one of our own publications into the list! Tom’s book ties a popular theme in with a collection of amazing effects from a large collection of top names in magic.
Author’s Pick: Jason England’s “Best…Hand…Evermore”
We look forward to hearing your responses on our choice and the author’s picks.
A The Session 2012, Homer Liwag filmed and produced an incredible video as a surprise for our guest of honor, Chris Kenner. We gave him a basic brief and he blew it apart; producing something amazing. You can check it at Homer’s Vimeo page.
Thanks to Homer for producing such an incredible video.
Hey Vanishing Inc fans this is Jesse Gernigin of www.gentlemanmagician.com. I am the newest blogger for Vanishing Inc and proud to be part of the team. With The Session right around the corner I wanted to do an interview with someone who will be at the convention. When Andi and me were discussing who to choose we decided on some simple guidlines. They need to have been to The Session in the past. The magician needed to be fun, and funny. And finally they needed to have fooled Penn and Teller on live television. So I got on the internets and contacted the man himself Mr. John Archer! John was nice enough to answer my questions and share his thoughts with us so enjoy!
1) There are more conventions than ever today so what drew and continues to draws you to The Session?
I think that after the initial rush of your first dozen or so conventions as a magician you start to realise that size doesn’t matter and that location doesn’t matter. What matters is who is there and the attitude of the organisers. When I say who is there, I don’t just mean the booked acts, I mean the attendees. The Session attracts people who love magic and love having fun. They are people who want to learn and share, not just buy all the latest tricks. The gaps between the events are just as enlightening as the events themselves… And the organisers know it and make the most of every moment. The name says it all…. It is just one big ‘Session’.
2) At what point in the night will you get onto The Magic Cafe and begin to make posts you’ll regret the next day?
Thankfully I am now a regular attender of ‘Magic Cafe Anonymous’ and I have been clean now for almost 2 years. I sill get the shakes when I see a dark green monitor screen and I often binge on Magic Bunny then feel dirty afterwards but the doctors are please with my progress. Losing the full search function helped a lot. You are never cured from the Cafe, I live in it’s shadow, but every day is a new day.
3) Do you have any new material you plan on revealing or at least performing at The Session?
I’m not sure that I will perform anything, I can’t compete with the big boys who are going to be there this year, but I do plan to share some stuff that I think is very important for anyone who wants to mix comedy and magic. Thoughts that I think could save you a lot of wasted years.
4) What is your favorite memory from the last Session?
Sadly I missed the last ‘Session’ due to a clash of bookings in the States. But a great moment was in 2009, when due to unforeseen circumstances David Acer was unable to attend. At short notice the organisers persuaded Gordon Bruce to fly down that same day. He was a joy to both watch and listen to. I will never forget the invisibility of his side steal or his repeat card under glass routine. I doubt many other conventions could have persuaded Gordon Bruce to hop on a plane that day, but such is the draw of The Session. You never know what surprises will be in store.
5) What do you think the field size (think invisible bubble) surrounding Chris Kenner will be in proportion to growing interest in three fly?
I think every time Chris separates his arms there will be a surge towards him from the room. He has created a monster and The Session will make him feed it!
We here at Vanishing Inc want to send a big thank you out to John Archer for doing this interview! We also want remind everyone that only a handful of tickets are left for The Session so if you want to grab one of the last open spots be quick!
I want to thank everyone at Vanishing Inc for letting me on the team and I look forward to writing and hearing from you guys more.
We love running Vanishing Inc. so we work around the clock to ensure that we always answer emails quickly and get your orders out as quickly as we can. However, we also love celebrating the holidays! Therefore, we won’t be shipping on these days:
December 25th
December 26th
December 31st
January 1st
We will be shipping most orders on January 2nd, but will have limited staff. Therefore, full shipping will resume on January 3rd.
We’ll do our very best to continue our prompt email replies during the holiday period, but replies make take an hour or two longer.
If you’re looking for some magic to learn during the holidays, why not check out our downloads?
Thanksgiving is coming up, and our shipping team will be celebrating it with their families. This means that all orders placed from today until Sunday will be dispatched on Monday, November 28th.
Our $2,000 magic competition has ended. We received thousands of responses from across the globe and are happy to announce the winners.
$1,000 grand prize winner
Congratulations to Jeff Prace who won our grand prize for his two-minute tip video on a new prop for sponge ball magic. While this video was randomly picked, we’re pleased that it contains a great idea by Jeff:
Jeff wins a $1,000 prize package of our books, DVDs and downloads.
Two $500 winners
We received thousands of quotes, but randomly picked two. The winners (who were picked at random) are:
Jim Munsey
Barry Mink
10 download winners
The following 10 people were randomly picked. They each receive a free download of their choice:
Doug Wicks
Vince Lowe
Jasper van Vugt
Alex Reeve
Robert Sanderson
Anthony Brahams
Ben Hardaway
Dane San Pedro
Josh Chaikin
Gordon Springstead
Congratulations to all the winners! We’ll be in touch over the next day or two to help you claim your prize. If you didn’t win; don’t fear—we’ll be running similar competitions in the future.
We are pleased to announce the release of our newest book: Hold ‘Em Magic by Tom Frame. You will find this book incredibly helpful, as the focus is on tricks and demonstrations that deal with Texas Hold ‘Em. Many poker routines exist, but everyone wants to know about Hold ‘Em, and now you have a collection of Hold ‘Em material from the best minds in magic.
Tom Frame is the right guy for the job, and the book is gripping and fun. Here are some details:
– 197 pages with 110 photographs.
– 34 effects, 20 of which are appearing in print for the first time.
– 27 contributors: Ashford, John Bannon, Norman Beck, Larry Becker, John B. Born, Gene Castillon, Sterling Dare, Lee Earle, Jason England, Steve Ehlers, Don England, Bob Farmer, Tom Frame, Ben Harris, J.K. Hartman, Bobby Hasbun, Josh Jay, Jay Jayaraman, Stu Lewis, Sal Piacente, Gianfranco Preverino, Aaron Shields, Paul Tuohy, Michael Weber, Chris Westfall, Meir Yedid and Paul Wilson.
Tom Frame has filled a void in the literature that has been present for years since the advent of the popularity of Texas hold ‘em. His book brings gambling themed card magic into the 21st century.
– Jack Carpenter
Hold ‘em is huge. Hold ‘em poker routines, until now, have been few and far between. In his new book, Tom Frame shares not ten or a dozen such routines, but over 30 items devoted to hold ‘em! With contributions from a veritable who’s who in card magic, you are sure to find a hold ‘em poker routine that suits both your skill level and presentation style. Bravo, Tom!
– Paul Cummins
The effects in this book are excellent. Some, in fact, are downright brilliant! Tom has done a great job of extracting the very best hold ‘em effects from some of the finest magicians in the world. Excellent job Mr. Frame.
– Jason England
If you are a player, purveyor, prestidigitator, prodigy, professional, or pasteboard presenter, you will not only embrace Hold ‘Em Magic, you will bear-hug it, dog-ear it, devour it, and then recklessly use it.
– Jon Racherbaumer
Germany’s Denis Behr is often regarded as the finest card technician of his generation. He has massive hands and he enjoys highly technical, smart card magic. He has quietly released two slim but dense volumes of card magic that have garnered universal praise. We are the only supplier, outside of Germany, that have them ready to ship today!
Here are two AMAZING tricks from his new book, so you can see them performed. They are ONLY explained in Handcrafted Card Magic 2:
Here is our AMAZING OFFER: BUY VOLUME ONE OR TWO (OR BOTH) AND GET DENIS BEHR’S Video Tutorial FREE (Ten dollar value). That’s right, when you buy his latest book, you will gain instant, free access to Denis teaching two effects. So while you wait for your book to arrive, you will have two outstanding card effects to work on, and you can get a feel for Denis’ inimitable style.
Welcome to our first ever contest, in which you have a great chance of winning a one of three massive packages of magic. It’s easy and fun to enter, and your entry may even be on display at Vanishing Inc. Magic!
One winner will win over $1,000 of magic and TWO winners will win our entire series of instant downloads (over $500 value). TEN third-prize winners will win a download of their choice.
How to enter – it’s easy!
Entering is easy. Our site is designed to make you a better magician with every visit. Now it’s YOUR TURN to get involved. You can enter the contest in two easy ways:
For a chance to win the $1,000 prize
Our site features “Two Minute Tips” videos in which we pass on helpful tips in videos that run less than two minutes in length. These can be on anything related to magic: a tip on a difficult sleight, pocket management, advice on practicing, a great book, your favorite move, a funny presentation, etc. ANYTHING that will inspire or make the Vanishing Inc. Community smile. Become part of the family by sending us your video for the other Vanishing Inc. viewers to see and enjoy.
For a chance to win one of the $500 prizes
Send us your favorite quote from your favorite magic book. Words of wisdom, sage advice, a funny thought—anything that inspires you. Our site is full of great advice from the best minds in magic. Help us collect even more inspiring quotes by sending us your favorite. We’ll feature your quote on our site and mention that YOU contributed it.
The third place prizes will be randomly picked from all entrants (video or quote).
By submitting a quote or video, you are automatically entered to win. We will draw the winners at random and post the results On 5th August 2011, at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. We’ll even include the best submissions on our website.
A heartfelt congratulations to my Vanishing Inc cofounder Joshua Jay, on being named the Milbourne Christopher Foundation’s Magician of the Year at the SAM National Convention in Pittsburgh. Josh has had an incredible year, with the debut of his full-evening show, Unreal, as well as a command performance at the prestigious Skirball Cultural Center. He is one of the hardest-working people I know, and very deserving of this award.
We are pleased to announce the release of our newest book: Hold ‘Em Magic by Tom Frame. You will find this book incredibly helpful, as the focus is on tricks and demonstrations that deal with Texas Hold ‘Em. Many poker routines exist, but everyone wants to know about Hold ‘Em, and now you have a collection of Hold ‘Em material from the best minds in magic.
