Dear forum members,

I would like to announce the birth of my first bizarre story telling effect: 'The Black Hole: A Coal Miner's Lament'.

I hope you enjoy the trailer: https://vimeo.com/239059020

The effect will be available soon. Stay tuned.

Cheers, Luc.

Intriguing, I will certainly stay tuned...

Black Hart

I look forward to hearing more of this, it is very intriguing

Great. Looking forward to hearing the backstory.

Luc,

Wishing you the best with this new release!

Looking good...

I can share I had the very good fortune to be one of the individuals at the Autumn People's Gathering last weekend to see Luc's prototype unveiled, read the back story, and handle the props. I was thoroughly impressed with the level of thought that had gone into both the story as well as the quality of the props. The effect is sufficiently simple to pull off (with multiple handling options) that it leaves one to focus on telling the story in a way that can captivate the spectators. The props included - many of which are vintage from the period - are a wonder to see and hold, especially in light of the story shared.

Bravo, Luc!!

David

Great review. Thanks.

Thanks for the review, David. I regret I was not able to make it to the annual APG this year...missed all of you "spooky" APG brethren and would certainly liked to have seen this creation!

Thanks a lot for all the kind words! One of the included props is over 300 million years old, and cause(d)(s) the slow death of hundreds of thousands (and probably millions) of coal miners...

Over 300 million years old? Where did you get my mother-in-law?

We’re all getting a lump of coal for Christmas, how thoughtful. Just like when I was a kid.

Interest piqued. My grandfather and great grandfather were coal miners. Looking forward to this.

Dear forum members,

The time has come to launch ‘The Black Hole: A Coal Miner’s Lament’!

First, I drop in the trailer again, to get you in the right mood:

https://vimeo.com/239059020

How does it feel if a coal miner survives a deadly accident because of sheer luck? You can now let your audience experience this feeling by having them participate in the sad story of a Dutch coal miner. It is a story about luck, guilt, the value of life and profound philosophical questions.

Here are some excerpts from the story, to get a flavor:

“Grandpa used to cough a lot. He coughed in long sequential crying howls, until he turned purplish red and nearly died of suffocation. You could see tiny swollen blood vessels appear on his cheeks. Usually the coughing attacks lasted about five minutes. Sometimes longer. It was a horrible sight, the poor man. He spat the material result of the coughing into a cup with a coffee filter. My grandmother changed the filter a couple of times a day. If she was too late according to his liking, he would shout at her. Sadly, her behavior was about the only thing he had left to control. Between the usual green and occasional red, his sputum was black as coal, and not without a reason.”


“I always felt that there was something bothering him, next to his illness. That he was keeping a dark secret, sitting silently on his couch. I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed that a painful mystery was tormenting him. I used to sit next to him when I visited, and he would tap on my knee, looking outside into the garden, absent-minded. When he was alone, he was always rubbing his brass tally token between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. The token always looked perfectly polished. It contained his unique miner number, which was minted into the brass.”

“If someone entered the living room, grandpa immediately packed the token away into a small wallet. If I asked questions about the token, he always downplayed them, but he promised me that I would get the token after his demise.”

“During my next visit to my grandmother, I asked her about the articles I had found. She sighed and said that she felt a great relief that she finally could tell someone about this. My grandfather had always forbidden her to talk about it.”

“According to my grandmother, my grandfather felt crippled with guilt for the rest of his life. He told her the story once, but he never talked about it again. His ‘relative luck’ mentally ate him from the inside, while his failing lungs took care of his physical remains...”

BUT WAS THAT REALLY THE WHOLE STORY?

You get a 30-page manual containing the coal miner’s story (told by his grandson), handling and alternative handlings of the effect, a description of the props, and more. You also get an old cigar box containing: three painstakingly sourced original miner’s tally tokens of a closed Dutch mine, a leather token wallet, two very old worn antique coins, one antique coin of one of the Dutch provinces, a silver Wilhelmina dime and quarter (Wilhelmina was the Dutch queen from 1890-1948), a Belgian 50 centimes coin with a coal miner on the face, two very old bullets from antique frontloading weapons (one musket bullet and one ‘pistolet’ bullet found at the fortification walls surrounding the city of Maastricht), 25 used stamps issued to commemorate that the coal mines in The Netherlands existed 50 years (1902-1952), a pencil stub, a switching envelope, two sets of four Bicycle 1800 cards, four beautiful genuinely old German or Austrian cards for a four-card handling, two aged newspaper articles mentioning a mining incident, a rusty paperclip, a bag with genuine anthracite coal, a Saint Barbara pendant (Saint Barbara is the patron Saint of the coal miners and protects against sudden death/accidents), 3 antique game pawns and a certificate of authenticity.

The price of the effect is 150 Euro’s (which is about 175 US dollars at the moment), excluding shipping costs (which will be around 25 Euro’s from The Netherlands to the USA and less to European countries). I will ship worldwide.

Quite a few of the props are extremely rare. Therefore, I can (and will) only sell 40 of these kits. I will start selling the first batch of 20 boxes right now. A 25 dollar ‘tool’ and 8 hand aged cards will be added to 4 of these 20 boxes, ad random. So you might find an additional gift in your box! If there is enough interest, I will make a second batch of 20 later on. And that will be all!

Please PM me if you are interested.

I’m looking forward to your response! Cheers, Luc (aka ‘Delimbeau’).

Ordered. I can tell this has been a true labor of love for Luc and I’m pleased to be one of the first (and one of the few) that will be able to enjoy all the effort Luc has put into this. And just in time to entertain family and friends for the holidays.

Hi Intrepid,
Luc’s effect is one I suspect you’ll really enjoy. His thinking into the routining is very logical and well-thought-out and it provides a great opportunity for a much deeper message about one’s choices in life, as well as one’s integrity, to come into the specs awareness, from a much broader level. I’m eager to hear your reaction as you see the vintage props and get to work with it. I’ve done this now for several folks - including last night after a large Thanksgiving dinner with lots of friends - to a very strong (and thought provoking) reaction.
All the best,
David

Hi! Thanks for all the nice words!

I'm going to do a little lottery. All the people who have ordered the effect by the end of this weekend will participate in a raffle. The winner will get a very old antique cigar box with hand carved figures on the top and on the sides (see pics below), instead of the standard cigar box (which is also nice and old, of course ).

Good luck!

Of course, the people who have already ordered will also participate!

My order is in. I know Luc is a new creator in this arena, but I like where his passion and mind is at. This story line doesn't looked rushed or pressed, and I believe that will reflect in the materials and presentation.

I'm looking forward to this.

Could someone post link for ordering this?
Thank you.