July 2026 • Volume 89, Number 7

In this issue...
The Genii Speak • Will Houstoun
Singapore and twisted Aces

Mailbox
Standing against manufactured standing ovations

The July Almanac • Will Houstoun
Crushed looking pigeons and a cheap top

The Eye • Vanessa Armstrong
Music, stage, screen, politics, and podcasts

Features

In Search of Castle Dracula • Richard Wiseman A recently discovered scrapbook offers a glimpse behind the scenes of Castle Dracula, a full evening show by Charles Cameron, the Godfather of Bizarre Magick

Hayden Childress’ Hipster Downtown Magic • Carl Mercurio Meet Hayden Childress, the quirky creator of an underground world of deception, and discover why trash, cereal, and a $5,000 cat feature in his performances

Voices

Play With It • Annanya George
An exploration of play as a creative process with which to make artful magic

The Genii Questionnaire • Adam Rubin Adam Rubin responds to our questionnaire

Shelly Shazam • Julia Segal
A young character’s journey from the magical page to the musical stage

Cultural History • John Conway
Central questions for a better history of conjuring

In Practice

Magicana: Resonancia (Simplified) • Ignacio López A poetic handling for the Rising Cards

Magicana: Mentholism • Chen Ting A taste-full piece of magic

Magicana: Slow Filtration • Tomoya Horiki A coin visibly melts through the table

Magicana: A Glance Over the Shoulder • Markus Zink A novel idea for the Paper Balls Over the Head

Magicana: The Power to Find Cards • Hernán Maccagno A clever use of that principle

Card to Box Transpo • Adam Elbaum A sequence featuring a rear palm, a neat color change, and some clever subtleties

Inventing Magic • Blake Vogt Eric Jones joins Blake to talk about working on Disney Cruises, always being ready, and developing coin ideas

In Performance

The Magic Castle • Shawn McMaster Absence makes the heart grow fonder... coming home after two months on the road

Speakeasy Magick • Vanessa Armstrong Learn about the first eight years of New York City’s iconic magic experience

Marketplace

Book Excerpt • John Archer Learn a trick from the first book that will be published by Genii Enterprises

Reviews Wolfgang Moser Masterclass; Tom Stone Masterclass

Advertisers’ Index

Workshop

Tales From the Secret Diaries of Kid Show Magicians • David Kaye Sometimes things go very wrong...

What’s Love Got to Do With It? • Pete McCabe Use what you love to help your audiences love it too

The Secret Room • Alan Hudson How to reframe your walk-around gigs to make them better for you, your bookers, and your audiences

Perspectives

The Chamber of Secrets • John Gaughan Voisin’s Coins to Glass

Stylish Characters in Conversation: Part 3 • Prakash Puru and Rachel Wax Role and character for magicians

The Magician’s Choice • Howie Chen An art curator and a magician have more in common than you might think...

Mike Elizalde... on Magic Building an elevator shaft in the kitchen corridor