I am a great admirer of Rafael Benatar. His videos demonstrate the elegance and ease with which card magic should be performed.

I have so many questions for you! Before I ask some, I want to congratulate you on the extraordinary job you have done with Juan Tamariz's "Mnemonica."

So, to begin: I am sure you hold the master Ascanio in great regard. Were you a student of his? What would you say is the most important technique or lesson you have learned from his work?

And, on a selfish note, do you have any information about when the Ascanio volumes will be published in English?

And, on an equally selfish note: How about the big book of Rafael Benatar card magic?

Although I met you once only briefly, at a Lennart Green performance at Monday Night Magic in New York City, I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you in performance.

Matthew Field

Hi Matthew,

Good to see you here. Are you sure it was a Lennart Green performance when we met? I don't remember seeing him in MNM. Anyway, here we go. Thanks for the compliments.

The Mnemonica book was more work than anyone will know. And editor Stephen Minch went to great lengths to find all those cross references and a lot more.

I wasn't exactly an official student of Ascanio, but I spent a lot of time with him, mostly talking. He would be delighted to talk if he knew someone was listening attentively. We hit it off when we discovered we could have pleasant talk. And not only about magic. That started during a visit to Madrid, before I moved to Spain.

The strongest influence was actually when I read one of his books, and later the personal encounters. The attention to detail. Why there is always a certain way to do something that is better than another, even if only slightly better. If you put the deck on the table, why this way is better.. that sort of thing. And his theories and smooth handling. As we talked he often had two cards in his hands, held as one. Moving them around, without doing anything fancy, just playing.

Here is an interesting quote (not written, just what I remember: "The cover has to be so good that you would get away with sloppy technique. And the technique has to be so good that it doesn't need cover. Put the two together..."

The Ascanio volumes. Volume I (all theory) is about ready. It's almost in the typesetting stages. I translated it. It has been a long process but it will probably see print by February. It will be published in English by Paginas, in Spain. The other volumes I don't know. They will probably be done in the near future.

As to my own book, I just mentioned it elsewhere in this forum. I have done parts of it. Have been wanting to do it for years but things get in the way. Thanks for reminding me. It helps quite a bit.

Hope to see you soon. Blackpool, maybe?