I've done it again! Committed another ebook: Prey of the Prestidigitator
Just cards and close-up this time, and almost no padding at all.

Can be found at:
http://shop.tomstone.se

Comments (good or bad) are, as usual, very welcome.

Another ebook from Tom Stone, produced as always in his beautiful and elegant style.

This ebook is rather different from his recent works which have been becoming more of a brainstorming session of ideas rather than worked out pieces. Prey of the Prestidigitator in contrast has more worked out pieces and concentrates on general close-up pieces. Some of the pieces could still benefit from being set in a longer context (the first trick is wonderfully quick), but I am happy that he is left them like this rather than republishing other people's work to pad out the routine.

Overall I enjoyed this ebook tremendously. He has included his usual creative thinking and has included a wide range of close-up effects - cards, coins (including some out of fashion stuff - 2 coin box items and Ramsey's cylinder), dice etc.

I look forward to working with many of these items more, but in the meantime I highly recommend this ebook to anybody who is prepared to work on the items and build on them to fit themselves and their own routines.

Tom Stone has published "Prey of the Prestidigitator", a 41 page ebook filled with some of the very best thinking in contmporary magic. He's got several card effects and a card sleight, The Stealth Reverse, which is of great interest. His presentatioon in The Collective Blink is nothing short of superb.

This time around Tom has included material from several other magicians. One of these, Beme's Corner, is by the late Sixten Beme and is somewhat reminiscent of both "Color Fusion" by Nash Fung and a color-changing card trick by Marc Oberon, although it preceded these by many years. In the trick,the back of one-quarter of a torn-up, signed selection changes color.

Tom has included a revision of his wonderful Cylinder and Coins trick which was originally published in Genii. It is a well thought-out, completely developed routine.

I love Kismet Poker by Jonas Ljung, a version of the Ten Card Poker Deal which introduces what I believe to be two new concepts -- the anti-Jonah Card and the Palindromic Stack.

Perhaps the item that got my brain working the hardest was Freedom Cuts, Tom's work on the John Hamilton/Gene Finnell Free Cut Principle. Tom states that use of this extraordinary technique is "seldom seen" and I'd have to agree, although I have seen some great presentations itilizing it done by Patrick Page.

Tom's use of misdirection and blocking (as exemplified by Tamariz's Crossing the Gaze Switch) throughout the book is wonderful.

One of my magic heroes is Tommy Wonder, and I rarely invoke his name when describing other magicians' work. But Tom Stone's thinking is in this stratosphere of creative magic.

Oh yes, there are over 100 illustrations!

The book is very highly recommended.

Matt Field

Just to clarify - I'm using the nameless Slydini technique that Juan Tamariz has dubbed "Crossing the Gaze".

Tamariz's "Double Crossing the Gaze Switch" is something else, and is not described or used in this manuscript. Perhaps later in another one.

Mr. Stone,

I've just downloaded the document. It is very impressive. I've been performing the Sach's/Sacks dice routine since I learned it from the Bruce Elliot book.

I really like the last effect in the book of Axel Adlercreutz; Time to Dice. I believe he has some video of that effect.

Would you be willing to put the web address up?

For the denizens herein;

Does anyone know of an earlier source of the progenitor of Axel's routine than:

The Secret's Out. I'm pretty sure it was published before Sleight of Hand. I've heard rumors that "The Secrets Out" was sourced from a French magic book.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh yeah, do not buy the book from Tom and learn Beme's Corner. You could fool any magician on earth with this thing. It is diabolical.

KG

If you keep in mind that it was shot with a webcam right after coming up with it, and was never intended for circulation:
http://shop.tomstone.se/film/time-to-dice.html

Since I try to avoid seeing or doing card tricks, I'll not comment on the card sections of this latest ebook. I'll leave such comments to those who really know and enjoy card magic.

For me the high points in this latest production from Tom Stone are "Monte Walks Again" (a clever effect with a Boston Box made into a smooth flowing routine that many will like), "Cylinder and Coins" (a nice fine tuning of Tom's article in Genii), quickie "Okito Osmosis" (another cute short routine with an Okito box). Such short effects are nice breathers in a close-up act.

Rather than the cardboard holder for the two dice in "Time To Dice", I would suggest the following as a more practical method to get or keep the two dice in position:

The bottom die has a 4 on top
The top die has a 6 on bottom

I suggest placing one of the tiny magnets (that I show in the "misspotted dice" thread here on Genii Forum) and here -
http://www.jamesriser.com/Magic/Custom/DiceMags00577.jpg -
in two diagonally opposite corner spots. These are arranged so that both have magnetic poles oriented the same. The bottom die magnets would be orientated so that they would attract the two magnets placed in diagonally opposite two corners of the top die.

This would weakly orient and hold the two dice together in the correct position by merely rolling the dice in the hand - a natural movement. The magnets would allow a quick and easy setup for the effect and do away with the need for any extra things like holders.
Jim